Senior Systems Engineer
ALWAYS PAMOJA: We are one global team with one dream!
Our diverse team at ZOLA Electric, dispersed across 4 continents and 13+ different nationalities, share a common vision and commitment to solving the Energy Access challenge that afflicts over 2 billion people and hundreds of millions of businesses globally. This is one of the world's great problems, impacting our most vulnerable and driving inequality across income, healthcare, education and climate change. As one of us, you are equally passionate about making an impact as you are creating the technologies that will eradicate Energy Inequality.
ZOLA Electric was born in and around the Serengeti in Tanzania, initially installing smart, connected devices (batteries and solar) that powered basic energy needs such as lighting for rural communities. Our theory that thousands of networked, connected devices will form the basic architecture of energy provision in emerging markets holds true today. ZOLA doesn’t design and enable discrete products, we design networks which combine the power of a family of products all controlled by one operating system, VISION. Today we are proud to say that our network delivers reliable, affordable and smart power to over 2 million people and businesses across three continents. This is only the beginning.
Zola provides distributed energy solutions to enable community-level electrification.
To support its mission, Zola is looking for a hands-on Senior Systems Engineer to participate in the development of its next generation systems and support the existing product portfolio. The ideal candidate will have experience in designing electrical systems, in building prototypes, participating in EVT and DVT designs testing along the development. He/her will help the transition of the designs to high volume manufacturers in Asia. The candidate will work closely with cross-functional teams to review the electrical designs. The ideal candidate is passionate about renewable energy including solar generation, battery storage and power conversion.
Roles & Responsibilities
- Participate in design and development of digital and analog electronics to control high-power electronics systems.
- Product level electrical design including component selection, circuit design, subsystem design and schematic capture and PCB layout in Altium.
- Prototypes bring-up and debugging, hardware bug tracking, functional verification, and signal characterization.
- Work with product management to convert product requirements into engineering specifications.
- Generate electrical design specifications for subsystems and oversee end-to-end product introduction activities.
- Develop and execute hardware and system test plans and perform tests for pre-compliance, environmental and reliability.
- Work directly with Contract Manufacturers in Asia and component suppliers to ensure quality deliverables.
- Collaborate with mechanical engineers to optimize system level electro-mechanical design including thermal management.
- Participate in DFMEAs, Design for Quality (DFQ) and Design for Reliability (DFR) and assist in defining process objectives.
- Develop numerical simulations and data analysis techniques to support the creation of control algorithms and decision-support software, making extensive use of field and laboratory experimental data.
- Develop numeric models and simulations of hierarchical control schemes for decentralized microgrids in time domain.
- Define aggregation methods for multiple distributed energy systems compatible with industry gateway standards (e.g., IEEE 2030).
- Develop peer-to-peer energy sharing and demand-response schemes.
- Prototype preventive maintenance decision-support software.
- Prototype methods for long-term battery health management and estimation.
- Develop methods to size energy systems under demand uncertainty.
- Develop fault diagnosis and failure prognosis algorithms.
Key Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Physics or Mathematics. PhD preferred.
- 5 years of Electrical design experience with digital and analog electronic and power electronic systems and architecture
- Strong understanding of electric power principles including Distribution networks, Dynamics and control, and Electric power conversion
- Knowledge of power electronics and real-time digital simulation (HIL). Understand the XIL product development framework (MIL, SIL, PIL and HIL)
- Deep knowledge of electric power conversion systems (converter, rectifier and inverter concepts). You master modeling and simulation techniques for distributed energy applications and are attuned to the industry technical and regulatory trends.
- Experience with power electronics performance measurements and testing procedures including some familiarities with test standards (UL, UN, IEEE, CE and etc.).
- Hands-on experience in microgrid control
- Extensive hands-on experience with lab instruments such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, electronic loads, and signal generators
- Experience in development of digital and analog interfaces for PC-based test systems, especially (Labview, Matlab-Simulink-Simscape, Altium, PLECS, Python) and signal conditioning and conversion, Discrete semiconductor design and mixed-signal design
- Highly skilled in numerical simulation software.
- Highly trained in computational intelligence such as Machine learning, Expert systems and Control theory
- Expert systems wizard. You swim in large datasets with ease and can teach a computer to see patterns and react to signs of anomalies.
- Technical intuition. You can smell when the behavior of a complex system doesn’t add up and come up with efficient ways to get to the bottom of things.
- Experience with wireless technologies, such as Cellular, WiFi or Bluetooth
- Familiarity with EMI/EMC design and mitigation techniques
- Familiar with international safety and EMC regulations, such as UL, ISO, IEC FCC, and NEC related to product safety
- Strong desire to be part of a start-up / high growth company with an entrepreneurial spirit and a fast-paced, results oriented culture
- Excellent written and verbal communication
Physical Requirements
- Ability to lift and carry items weighing up to 25 pounds.
- Ability to stand, walk, and move around for extended periods.
- Ability to climb ladders or stairs and work at heights.
Working Conditions
- Hybrid (4 days in office, 1 day remote)
What we offer:
Zola Electric's compensation and benefits package includes:
- Competitive compensation structure that includes performance bonus and generous equity
- Health benefits designed to fit the needs of you and your family — including medical, dental, and vision plans. Zola contributes 90% of premiums for employees and their dependents.
- FSA/HSA plans
- Generous Flexible Time Off policy to log off and recharge
- 12 Paid Company Holidays
- 401(k)
- Company Sponsored Life Insurance and AD&D
- Company Sponsored Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
- Commuter Benefits
Perks:
- Paid office lunches, unlimited snacks and beverages
- Office happy hours and engagement activities
- Meet some of the smartest, most hard working people in a distributed environment.
- The opportunity to directly improve millions of lives by bringing sustainable energy to a part of the world where 80% of people have no grid access
- An informal culture which is always open to new ideas
- Work hard but also share good things together
Equal Opportunity Employer
Zola Electric is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital/familial status or any other protected class under federal, state, or local law. Zola Electric also complies with all provisions of the U.S. Government's Executive Order 11246 dated September 24, 1965 and the rules, regulations and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor.
