About this Electrical Engineer, Energy Storage role at Redwood Materials
About Redwood Materials
Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by JB Straubel, co-founder and former CTO of Tesla, on a simple but radical idea: the critical minerals powering the energy transition already exist. They just need to come back. Today Redwood is the largest lithium-ion battery recycler in North America — recovering, refining, and redeploying critical minerals from end-of-life batteries back into the supply chain. On the energy side, Redwood has deployed the largest second-life battery project in the world, delivering power to AI data centers in months rather than years using proprietary energy architecture engineered entirely in-house. The company is profitable, the market it operates in is projected to grow 20 to 50 times over the next decade, and Redwood is the only company with the supply chain, the technology, and the operational scale to lead it.
Position Summary:
The Electrical Engineer, Energy Storage designs and develops the system controller hardware that serves as the brain of Redwood's next-generation high-power electromechanical products — power converters that interface with battery packs, battery modules, photovoltaic (PV) systems, and the grid for large-scale energy storage applications, including AI data centers. This is a fully on-site role, based at 100 Hooper or LH 2. The engineer independently owns the low-voltage (LV) electrical system architecture, including system controller PCBA design, MCU selection and communication protocols, isolated sensing circuits, auxiliary power supplies, and protective circuits (breaker/contactor drivers, E-stop loops), devising solutions to new and unusual system-integration challenges from limited precedents. The role partners extensively with Mechanical, Firmware/Controls, Systems, Compliance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Reliability teams to define requirements and take designs from concept through production. Success depends on sound engineering judgment, hands-on lab validation skills, and the ability to resolve ambiguous system-level trade-offs with limited direction.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Own low-voltage (LV) electrical system architecture for power electronics products, including the system controller PCBA that coordinates parallel/series-connected power converter modules
- Design and integrate system controller hardware, including MCU selection, communication protocols (CAN, Ethernet, etc.), and control logic for module synchronization, current-sharing, and startup/shutdown sequencing
- Design isolated sensing circuits (current, voltage, temperature feedback) and auxiliary power supply architecture across LV subsystems (~100W)
- Design and coordinate protective circuits (breaker/contactor drivers, hardware interlock/E-stop loops), ensuring insulation coordination and high-voltage safety compliance at the system level
- Define LV wiring architecture, grounding, and interconnect strategy across the entire product and sub power modules
- Lead electrical testing and validation for system controller PCBA and complete power electronics products, including power cycling, fault analysis, and performance characterization
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Mechanical, Controls/Firmware, Validation, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Reliability, Compliance) to define system requirements, test specifications, and achieve industry certifications (e.g., IEEE 1547, UL 1741)
Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, with a focus on embedded systems, controls, or power electronics
- 3–5 years of experience in electrical engineering, with a strong focus on system-level control architecture for power conversion or energy storage products
- Hands-on experience designing MCU-based system controllers, including MCU selection, memory/peripheral budgeting, and system-level control for power converters
- Experience with industrial communication protocols (CAN, Ethernet) for module-to-controller and controller-to-grid/BMS interfaces
- Deep understanding of protection coordination (breaker/contactor drivers, hardware interlock and E-stop loops, fault detection and sequencing logic) and proficiency with circuit simulation/CAD tools (e.g., Altium Designer, LTspice, Simulink)
- Demonstrated ability to lay out control PCBs in noise-sensitive, high-power environments, and proficiency with lab equipment (oscilloscopes, logic/protocol analyzers, signal generators)
- Ability to travel up to 10% of the time
The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.
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