Senior Power Systems Engineer Jobs in Palo Alto, CA

INTRODUCTION

PsiQuantum’s mission is to build the first useful quantum computers—machines capable of delivering the breakthroughs the field has long promised. Since our founding in 2016, our singular focus has been to build and deploy million-qubit, fault-tolerant quantum systems. Quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that even the most advanced supercomputers or AI systems will never reach. Their impact will span energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, agriculture, transportation, materials, and other foundational industries. Our architecture and approach is based on silicon photonics. By leveraging the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry—including partners like GlobalFoundries—we use the same high-volume processes that already produce billions of chips for telecom and consumer electronics. Photonics offers natural advantages for scale: photons don’t feel heat, are immune to electromagnetic interference, and integrate with existing cryogenic cooling and standard fiber-optic infrastructure. In 2024, PsiQuantum announced government-funded projects to support the build-out of our first utility-scale quantum computers in Brisbane, Australia, and Chicago, Illinois. These initiatives reflect a growing recognition that quantum computing will be strategically and economically defining—and that now is the time to scale. PsiQuantum also develops the algorithms and software needed to make these systems commercially valuable. Our application, software, and industry teams work directly with leading Fortune 500 companies—including Lockheed Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Mitsubishi Chemical—to prepare quantum solutions for real-world impact. Quantum computing is not an extension of classical computing. It represents a fundamental shift—and a path to mastering challenges that cannot be solved any other way. The potential is enormous, and we have a clear path to make it real. Come join us.

JOB SUMMARY

Power Systems Architect, Quantum Infrastructure will serve as the critical interface between the hardware architecture team, the facility engineering team, and the internal electronics design team. This role will define how utility power is brought into the building, conditioned, distributed, isolated, and grounded to support a large-scale quantum computing system with exceptionally demanding requirements for power integrity, harmonic control, conducted and radiated EMI mitigation, noise suppression, and system reliability. This person will help shape the electrical foundation of a next-generation quantum computing facility, ensuring that large building-scale power systems and sensitive electronics are designed as one coherent architecture. This is a highly cross-functional role for someone who is equally comfortable discussing electrical noise, harmonic distortion, grounding, shielding, transformers, UPS modes, filters, conducted EMI, radiated EMI, and power quality with facilities teams, while also guiding electronics and hardware teams on grounding, AC-DC power conversion, and noise mitigation strategies at the equipment level.

Responsibilities

- Serve as the primary technical interface between the hardware architecture team and facility engineering for all matters related to building power, conditioning, distribution, grounding, isolation, shielding, EMI, and power quality.
- Develop and own top-level specifications for facility electrical power systems supporting quantum computing hardware, including utility power characteristics, distribution architecture, fault tolerance, redundancy, and maintainability requirements.
- Define power quality requirements for sensitive hardware and translate those requirements into actionable specifications for facility and equipment design.
- Analyze and mitigate the impact of electrical noise, harmonic distortion, voltage transients, conducted EMI, radiated EMI, common-mode disturbances, and other interference mechanisms on sensitive systems.
- Analyze and mitigate coupling paths between building-scale aggressor loads and noise-sensitive circuits and subsystems.
- Define grounding, bonding, shielding, and cable management strategies across the facility and equipment stack to minimize noise, crosstalk, common-mode disturbances, harmonic propagation, radiated emissions, susceptibility, and ground loop issues.
- Establish architectural guidance for segregation and isolation of noisy and sensitive loads, including panelization, transformer strategy, cable routing, shielding approach, and physical/electrical zoning.
- Evaluate and specify the use of isolation transformers, filters, surge protection, harmonic mitigation methods, shielding techniques, and other power conditioning approaches as needed.
- Define UPS architecture and operating strategy for different classes of loads, including selection of UPS type, operating mode, ride-through requirements, and interactions with downstream power supplies.
- Partner with internal electronics and system design teams to provide equipment-level input derived from facility power conditions and distribution constraints.
- Guide electronics teams on grounding practices, including signal ground, chassis ground, bonding strategy, shielding implementation, and EMC-conscious design.
- Provide architectural direction for AC-DC power conversion and power supply unit requirements, including performance targets related to noise, ripple, harmonics, conducted emissions, radiated emissions, isolation, transient behavior, and reliability.
- Help define internal power distribution architecture within the facility, from service entrance and major distribution points down to equipment-level interfaces.
- Support system-level trade studies involving efficiency, reliability, serviceability, safety, cost, power quality, EMI risk, and power integrity.
- Participate in design reviews with internal and external stakeholders to ensure alignment between facility infrastructure and hardware requirements.
- Identify technical risks related to power integrity, grounding, harmonic distortion, EMI/EMC performance, electrical interference, resilience, and integration, and drive mitigation plans early in the design cycle.
- Contribute to electrical design standards, interface control documents, and commissioning/validation strategies for facility and equipment power systems.
- Support installation, bring-up, and troubleshooting of integrated facility and hardware power systems during commissioning and ramp-up.

EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS

- Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field.
- Significant industry experience in electrical power architecture, power distribution, power systems engineering, or infrastructure design for complex technical facilities or high-performance hardware systems.
- Strong understanding of facility electrical systems, including utility interfaces, switchgear, transformers, distribution topologies, grounding/bonding, UPS systems, shielding, and power quality.
- Strong understanding of electrical noise mechanisms, harmonic distortion, conducted EMI, radiated EMI, transients, ripple, and interference propagation in power systems and sensitive equipment environments.
- Experience translating system-level electrical requirements into facility and equipment-level specifications.
- Strong knowledge of grounding, bonding, shielding, and EMC principles for mixed-signal or noise-sensitive systems.
- Experience evaluating and mitigating EMI, conducted noise, radiated noise, common-mode noise, crosstalk, harmonic issues, and interactions between high-power and sensitive electrical loads.
- Familiarity with AC-DC power conversion, power supply architectures, and equipment-level power distribution.
- Ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary teams, including facilities, hardware, electronics, manufacturing, and operations.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly across organizational boundaries.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- PhD in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.
- Experience with power distribution architecture in data centers or other large-scale mission-critical facilities.
- Experience designing infrastructure for highly sensitive scientific, semiconductor, cryogenic, computing, medical, or industrial systems with demanding power integrity requirements.
- Deep understanding of power quality analysis, including harmonic distortion, sags, swells, transients, imbalance, flicker, and mitigation techniques.
- Experience with EMI/EMC analysis and mitigation, including both conducted and radiated emissions and susceptibility considerations.
- Experience specifying or selecting isolation transformers, filters, harmonic mitigation equipment, shielding approaches, and surge suppression solutions.
- Experience defining UPS strategies for mixed criticality loads, including online versus eco-mode tradeoffs, redundancy schemes, battery autonomy, and maintainability considerations.
- Experience guiding PCB/system electronics teams on grounding, shielding, EMI mitigation, and chassis integration.
- Familiarity with relevant electrical, safety, EMC, and facility design standards and codes.
- Experience supporting commissioning, validation, and root-cause analysis of complex electrical infrastructure.
- Background in mission-critical infrastructure, advanced computing, semiconductor fabs, research facilities, or large technical installations.

Note: PsiQuantum will only reach out to you using an official PsiQuantum email address and will never ask you for bank account information as part of the interview process. Please report any suspicious activity to recruiting@psiquantum.com. We are not accepting unsolicited resumes from employment agencies.

COMPENSATION

The ranges below reflect the target ranges for a new hire base salary. One is for the Bay Area (within 50 miles of HQ, Palo Alto), the second one (if applicable) is for elsewhere in the US (beyond 50 miles of HQ, Palo Alto). If there is only one range, it is for the specific location of where the position will be located. Actual compensation may vary outside of these ranges and is dependent on various factors including but not limited to a candidate's qualifications including relevant education and training, competencies, experience, geographic location, and business needs. Base pay is only one part of the total compensation package. Full time roles are eligible for equity and benefits. Base pay is subject to change and may be modified in the future.

• U.S. Base Pay Range: $195,000—$220,000 USD
• Bay Area Pay Range: $250,000—$260,000 USD