Sr Staff System Engineer - San Jose, United States
$160,000 - $235,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 11 August 2026 by the employer — open 39 days. Relisted by the employer on 17 September 2026.
Define the future of power semiconductor portfolios, focusing on GaN-based power stage and motor driver circuits.
About the role
What you'll do
- Translate system-level application requirements into detailed IC specifications.
- Develop and influence future chip architectures based on system-level understanding of GaN-based power stage and driver IP and sensing topologies.
- Collaborate with IC Design, R&D, and Marketing teams to ensure silicon implementation matches application realities.
- Design, schematic-capture, layout, and validate high-power-density system-level prototypes and evaluation boards (EVBs).
- Perform technical trade-off analyses, worst-case circuit simulations, and competitive benchmarking.
- Support key tier-1 customer engagements at the architecture level, co-designing and influencing their future system topologies.
What you'll need
- Experience designing integrated circuits with power drivers and related circuitry like slew rate control, current sensing, short circuit protection, high voltage level shifting, bootstrap, and charge pump supplies.
- Experience designing detailed schematics for motor driver circuits including gate drivers, discrete transistors, and power stages utilizing MOSFETs, IGBTs, or Wide-Bandgap SiC / GaN devices.
- Experience designing motor control hardware protection and diagnostics that can withstand fault conditions like short circuit, over current, open circuit, over/under voltage, sudden loss of power, and over temperature.
- Advanced knowledge of PCB layout optimization for high-power switching, including minimizing parasitic inductance, mitigating EMI/EMC, and managing thermal dissipation.
- Proficiency with model-based design using Mathworks (Matlab, Simulink, Simscape), Saber, PLECS, or PSIM to simulate motor drive system, or co-simulation of mechanical and electrical system using Simplis for power inverter and Simulink for motor mechanics and control.
- Proven track record of successful product definition and customer support in motor drive / control applications taking a product from conception through mass production.
- Expertise translating system-level requirements and customer needs into an IC architecture with concrete electrical specifications documented in the device hardware requirements and the customer datasheet.
- Hands-on experience characterizing motors and motor control systems utilizing motor control hardware and software together with standard lab equipment and a motor test stand.
- 5-7+ years of experience in power electronics, semiconductor systems, or motor drive design.
- Solid understanding of power semiconductor physics, specifically comparing Wide Bandgap (WBG) materials like GaN against silicon MOSFETs, including gate charge (Qg), reverse recovery (Qrr), and parasitic inductances.
- BS in Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics, or a related field.
Nice to have
- MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics, or a related field.
Skills: GaN-based power stage, motor driver circuits, Wide-Bandgap SiC / GaN, power semiconductor physics, IC architecture, system engineer
This role has been open 38 days — well below the 57-day median for Power Electronics roles.
Power Electronics · Power Conversion
|
Open roles in category
53
|
Median days open
57 d
|
Median salary
$185k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Renesas Electronics | All employers we track in this specialty (53 roles · 24 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 5 | 53 |
| Open roles in the wider Analog & Mixed-Signal family | 87 | 1339 · 105 employers |
| Median days open | 38 d | 57 d (−19 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $185k |
Skills observed across this category: GaN-based power stage, motor driver circuits, Wide-Bandgap SiC / GaN, power semiconductor physics, IC architecture, system engineer
Who's hiring in this category
- Infineon Technologies · 7 open roles · median 31 d
- Renesas Electronics (this employer) · 5 open roles · median 38 d
- Power Integrations · 4 open roles · median 48 d
- Analog Devices · 3 open roles · median 57 d
- Navitas Semiconductor · 3 open roles · median 23 d
- onsemi · 3 open roles · median 123 d
How we counted: 53 open Power Electronics (Power Conversion) roles from 24 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 19 Sept 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Analog & Mixed-Signal family row. Figures refresh nightly.