Electrical Systems Engineer Jobs in Menlo Park, CA

Are you a systems-level thinker who thrives on untangling complex hardware mysteries? Do you prefer the thrill of deeply investigating and solving structured, multi-domain problems over routine schematic drafting? Mainspring Energy is looking for a highly autonomous, intellectually curious Senior Electrical Systems & Sustaining Engineer to anchor a brand-new sub-team within our Electrical Engineering (EE) organization. Unlike traditional sustaining roles confined to component obsolescence paperwork, this is a high-visibility engineering position built for an organizational anchor and leader. As the inaugural member of this sub-team, you will have the execution autonomy to establish the foundational sustaining framework for the entire EE department, creating a blueprint for the team's future expansion.

Job Overview

• CAPA Leadership & Escalation Ownership: Serve as the single point of contact for all EE Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) issues. Take charge of investigating fleet issues, establishing immediate containment paths, and driving permanent resolutions
• Hands-on Lab Diagnostic Validation: Conduct intensive hands-on electrical lab bench testing to reproduce fleet and manufacturing anomalies. Utilize standard laboratory diagnostic equipment (oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, power supplies, logic analyzers, and electronic loads) to validate containment strategies and prove out root-cause theories
• Root Cause & Failure Analysis: Lead end-to-end problem resolution spanning from initial telemetry data parsing to deep-dive root cause analysis. Partner closely with our internal Failure Analysis (FA) experts to diagnose complex electronics and hardware system failures
• Design Ownership for Reliability: Directly drive the continuous improvement of our deployed hardware ecosystem. You will have the technical authority to own and execute the engineering change lifecycle—from designing and releasing targeted PCBA revisions to identifying, testing, and qualifying strategic off-the-shelf (OTS) components—to permanently eliminate failure modes and improve system performance
• Cross-Functional Tiger Team Representative: Act as the authoritative EE voice on the cross-functional CAPA Tiger Team. Interface daily with Core Reliability, Mechanical, Software, and Manufacturing teams to ensure a unified approach to system-level reliability
• Technical Triage & Strategy: Function as the primary gatekeeper for incoming electrical engineering challenges. For specialized issues, triage, prioritize, and collaboratively map out resolution strategies with design specialists across the EE department
• Metrics & Infrastructure Management: Own and optimize the EE Atlassian/Jira Problem dashboard. Systematically track, analyze, and report on key performance indicators (e.g., Mean-Time-Between-Swaps/MTBSwap) to demonstrably reduce field failure rates and eBox replacements
• Technical Knowledge Capture & Standards: Author comprehensive failure analysis reports, root-cause whitepapers, and standardized electrical triage workflows. You will turn deep-dive technical findings into institutional knowledge, creating the foundational documentation required to scale this sub-team and uplevel the broader engineering organization

• 5+ years of experience with a Bachelor's degree, or 4+ years of experience with a Master's degree, in Electrical Engineering or a related field. This background must be in an Electrical, Product, or Reliability Engineering capacity with a clear track record of owning complex circuit/schematic analysis, physics-based root-cause investigations, and the full engineering change (EC) design lifecycle
• Technical Acumen: Strong foundational expertise in complex electronics and hardware systems (preference for broad mechatronics/electronics experience over purely facility power systems)
• Hands-on Lab Experience: Proven competency in a physical hardware lab environment setting up test benches, instrumenting hardware under test, and maintaining clean, safe laboratory testing practices
• Problem-Solving DNA: A genuine passion for hardware debugging and structured root-cause failure analysis (e.g., 8D, 5 Why, Fishbone diagrams) on complex physical systems. You are not satisfied with the first layer of failure and have a tenacity towards finding the true root cause
• Design Ownership for Reliability: Directly drive the continuous improvement of our deployed hardware ecosystem. You will have the technical authority to own and execute the engineering change lifecycle—from designing and releasing targeted PCBA revisions to identifying, testing, and qualifying strategic off-the-shelf (OTS) components—to permanently eliminate failure modes and elevate system robustness
• Systems-Level Perspective: The ability to zoom out and understand complex interdependencies across circuitry, firmware, manufacturing and mechanical wear mechanisms within a massive multi-domain machine
• Cultural Alignment: Embody Mainspring's foundational pillars on a daily basis: bring Pragmatic Optimism to highly complex engineering challenges, exercise Excellence without Ego when collecting or delivering rigorous technical feedback, and drive Proactive Collaboration across separate team boundaries

• Full Hardware Lifecycle Exposure: Experience navigating the full hardware development life cycle—from initial requirements gathering and schematic capture through manufacturing optimization and sustaining field support
• Process Discipline & Tools: Prior experience working within formal CAPA structures, quality management frameworks, and bug/incident tracking ecosystems (e.g., Jira, Confluence)
• Fast-Paced Environments: Prior experience working within a startup, rapid product development environment, or a scaling hardware company where agility and self-direction are mandatory
• ECAD Tools: Proficiency with professional ECAD software layout and schematic design tools, preferably Altium Designer
• Software & Scripting: Familiarity with the Python for data parsing, automated test script creation, or querying hardware telemetry logs
• Modern Version Control: Experience utilizing Git-based version control workflows (GitHub or GitLab) for tracking hardware code, scripts, or engineering documentation