Principal Mechanical Design Engineer, Industrial Enclosures
Description
Enphase Energy is a global energy technology company and a leading provider of solar, battery, and electric vehicle charging products. Founded in 2006, our innovative microinverter technology revolutionized solar power, making it a safer, more reliable, and scalable energy source. Today, the Enphase Energy System enables users to make, use, save, and sell their own power. Enphase is also one of the most successful and innovative clean energy companies in the world, with more than 80 million products shipped across 160 countries.
Join our dynamic teams designing and developing next-gen energy technologies and help drive a sustainable future!
About the Role
The Enphase Power Systems Innovation team in the office of the CTO is responsible for defining, prototyping, and supporting Enphase’s Solid State Transformer products. The team is an integrated, multi-disciplinary group looking for motivated individuals who can contribute and collaborate closely with the team to deliver innovative solutions. As a team member, you will solve some of the most exciting problems in the energy space and help shape the direction of our products. We are looking for a Principal Mechanical Design Engineer with a strong background in industrial enclosure design, including structural analysis, ingress protection, and thermal integration, who will own the design of the outer enclosure for Enphase’s first generation Solid State Transformer product.
What You Will Do
- Design robust industrial equipment enclosures— including structural frames, panels, rails, and mounting systems
- Own the ingress protection (IP) design for outdoor-rated industrial enclosures, ensuring compliance with target IP ratings through seal design, gasketing, and drainage strategies
- Perform structural design and FEA for enclosure systems, including load-bearing analysis, vibration and shock analysis, and seismic qualification
- Conduct material selection for enclosure components, evaluating metals, polymers, and coatings for strength, weight, cost, and environmental suitability
- Specify and validate corrosion protection strategies — including coatings, plating, material pairing, and galvanic isolation — for outdoor and harsh environments
- Design door systems with integrated latching/locking mechanisms that meet security, serviceability, and reliability requirements
- Design and integrate forced air-cooling systems to support thermal management while maintaining IP ratings
- Produce 2D drawings and 3D CAD models, evaluate parts, and collaborate with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and contract manufacturing partners to bring your design to market
- Specify key functional and performance requirements; design and execute verification test plans
- Complete documentation for design, testing, and analysis
- Hands-on fabrication of electromechanical assemblies and prototypes
- Mentor junior staff
Who You Are and What You Bring
- BS/MS/PhD Mechanical Engineering or closely related discipline
- BS and 15+ years / MS and 12+ years / PhD and 8+ years of mechanical design experience
- Candidates with greater levels of experience may be considered and are encouraged to apply
Minimum Skills, Knowledge, and Special Attributes
- Ability to solve problems independently and work effectively on early-stage product development efforts with ambiguous requirements and tasks
- Ability to take ownership of development tasks and manage various high importance tasks simultaneously
- Significant experience in enclosure mechanical design for large electrical equipment or analogous products (e.g. automotive body structures)
- Strong proficiency in IP-rated enclosure design — seal design, gasket selection, drainage, and test validation to IP55/IP65 or equivalent
- Expertise in structural FEA and analysis for vibration, fatigue, seismic, and load bearing specific to enclosure structures
- Demonstrated experience in material selection for enclosure applications — sheet metal (steel, aluminum), stainless steel, polymers, and composites
- Experience specifying and validating corrosion protection approaches (e.g., e-coat, powder coat, hot-dip galvanizing, anodizing, hardware selection for dissimilar metals)
- Experience designing door systems with latching, locking, and hinge mechanisms for security, weather resistance, and field serviceability
- Experience integrating fans, filters, and louvers into enclosure and door designs for thermal management while maintaining ingress protection
- Expertise in leveraging various high-volume component manufacturing approaches such as sheet metal stamping, weldments, casting, extrusion, and injection molding
- Expertise in various joining techniques such as welding, adhesives, riveting, & bolted joints
- High proficiency with an enterprise CAD package (SolidWorks preferred)
- Good communication and documentation skills
- Strong hands-on mechanical prototyping skills
Additional Desired Skills
- Proficiency with multi-physics modeling
- Medium voltage >1kV insulation design and creepage/clearance considerations for enclosures
- Familiarity with common standards for electrical equipment (UL, IEC, NEMA)
- Experience with thermal management integration at the enclosure level (airflow path design, heat dissipation, CFD)
Work Location
Austin, TX
The base pay range for this position is $130,000 to $183,000. This salary range may be modified in the future. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, education or training, work location, and market conditions. This position is also eligible for bonus, equity, and benefits.
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