Principal Engineer - Electrical Design

Product Engineering Central Texas (Greater Austin region) Full-time

The Principal Engineer - Electrical Design will report to the Head of Product Engineering (“HoPE”) and own electrical design and test validation for Terminus’ transformer product line. Working closely with Mechanical Design and the software team, this role will provide electrical power transformer design expertise to our internal design and parametric CAD platform: the common design architecture all Terminus transformers will follow.

This is a hands-on role embedding electrical calculations and validated design rules into configurable products, with close integration across Manufacturing and Supply Chain from design through testing.

• Electrical Design:
  Own core and winding design, insulation coordination, impedance, losses, dielectric performance, and thermal calculations; specify bushings, tap changers, and electrical interfaces.
• Parametric CAD Platform:
  Develop electrical calculation modules, design rules, and component libraries; connect ratings and performance requirements to core, winding, insulation, and mechanical CAD parameters.
• Design & Test Validation:
  Define test plans and acceptance criteria with the test team; support factory testing, analyze results, investigate failures, and feed validated findings into design rules and models.
• Mechanical Integration:
  Partner with Mechanical Design on winding envelopes, insulation clearances, lead routing, cooling, and short-circuit forces; resolve interfaces through joint design reviews.
• Design for Manufacturability:
  Work with Manufacturing to translate electrical requirements into winding, insulation, assembly, and process controls that support automation, repeatability, and quality.
• Supply Chain
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Develop specifications with Supply Chain for core steel, conductors, insulation, bushings, and tap changers; evaluate substitutions against performance and production requirements.
• Standards & Design Release:
  Apply relevant IEEE, ANSI, IEC, and customer requirements; maintain calculations, design records, and test traceability, incorporating production feedback into platform improvements.

• 10+ years of electrical design experience in power transformers (over 115 kV), including responsibility for designs taken through manufacturing and factory testing.
• Deep understanding of core and winding design, insulation coordination, impedance, loss optimization, thermal performance, and short-circuit withstand.
• Strong foundation in electromagnetic theory.
• Solid understanding of vectors, vector groups, and phase connections.
• Understanding of dielectric materials and electrical components.
• Specific knowledge of protections, relays, sensors, and schematic diagram handling. This role leads that controls work at the start; a dedicated controls designer may follow as the workload grows.
• Proficiency with transformer design and simulation tools such as ANSYS Maxwell, COMSOL, Flux, or proprietary platforms; experience in parametric modeling or design automation.
• Hands-on experience with transformer test planning, results analysis, and failure investigation, including dielectric, partial-discharge, loss, impedance, and temperature-rise testing.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline; ability to translate engineering calculations into reusable software requirements and work across Manufacturing and Supply Chain.
• U.S. citizenship or permanent residency (due to defense-grade program requirements).