Hardware Engineer - Power Distribution Unit

At Mentee Robotics, we are redefining humanoid automation with an AI-first approach - combining perception, reasoning, and dexterous manipulation into fully autonomous systems that continuously learn and improve. We offer an exceptional opportunity to participate in building next-generation commercial humanoid robots from 0 to 1, alongside competitive compensation and an international engineering environment. We are expanding with a new robotics Engineering Center in China, working hand-in-hand with our engineering teams in headquarters. Its mission: to rapidly develop our next-generation full-size humanoid platform and bring it to production.

We are looking for a Power Distribution Unit (PDU) Hardware Engineer to own the design and development of our humanoid robot’s high-density power architecture, battery management system interfaces, dynamic power distribution, protection circuits, and transient power handling for high-peak-current joint actuation.

Who you are:

• A power electronics hardware expert who thinks in thermal dissipation, transient response, power density, and safety margins under high peak dynamic motor currents.
• Hands-on: you design schematic/PCB layouts, select high-efficiency switches, build test benches, and validate board-level power systems under full dynamic loads in the lab.
• Meticulous about electrical safety, EMC/EMI mitigation, and power fault containment in high-voltage DC mobile robotic platforms.
• A strong collaborator across battery management, joint actuation, harness, and system embedded firmware teams.

Responsibilities:

• Own the full life-cycle design of the Power Distribution Unit (PDU) hardware, including DC-DC conversion, dynamic load switching, power sequencing, and fault protection.
• Design robust transient surge protection, over-current, over-voltage, reverse-polarity, and inrush current limiting circuits tailored for high-torque BLDC joint actuation.
• Execute multi-layer high-current PCB layout (heavy copper, thermal vias, optimized loop inductances) in compliance with strict mechanical footprint constraints.
• Integrate smart power monitoring (voltage, current, temperature sensing) via EtherCAT (main protocol), CAN, or PMBus interfaces for dynamic telemetry feed into the main compute system.
• Perform thermal modeling, derating analysis, and loss calculation for power switches, MOSFETs, and magnetics under continuous and peak burst operating conditions.
• Conduct board-level bring-up, signal integrity measurement, power integrity optimization, and environmental stress testing.
• Collaborate with harness and mechanical teams to define connector pinouts, busbars, pass-through features, and structural thermal interfaces.
• Lead power safety qualification and EMC/EMI compliance testing (ISO 13849, IEC 61508, IEC 61000) for mobile robot power distribution systems.

Requirements:

• B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics, Mechatronics, or related technical disciplines.
• 5+ years of experience in high-density DC-DC converter design, power electronics, or PDU development for robotics, electric vehicles, or aerospace systems.
• Proficiency in Altium Designer, Cadence Allegro, or KiCAD for schematic capture and multi-layer high-current PCB design.
• In-depth understanding of MOSFET/GaN/SiC power switches, gate drivers, current sensing topologies, and power supervisory ICs, with embedded system capabilities to independently complete full-board hardware and software design.
• Hands-on experience with hardware debugging using oscilloscopes, electronic loads, power analyzers, and thermal cameras.
• Solid knowledge of power system safety clearances, creepage/clearance rules, and thermal dissipation strategies.
• Strong problem-solving skills and experience conducting root-cause failure analysis (8D/FMEA) on power hardware.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and iterate hardware designs rapidly.

Advantages:

• Direct experience designing PDUs or power electronics for humanoid robots, quadrupeds, or electric vehicles.
• Familiarity with ISO 26262 or IEC 61508 functional safety design requirements for power distribution systems.
• Experience with embedded firmware for power management ICs and communication protocols (EtherCAT as primary, CAN-FD, PMBus, SMBus).
• Comfortable communicating technical topics in English with international teams.