Senior/Principal Applications Engineer

Team – Applications

Location – Cambridge, UK

Contract – Full-time, Permanent

About CGD

Making Sustainable Power Electronics Possible

A spin-out of the Cambridge University, Cambridge GaN Devices (CGD) is a fabless semiconductor company that develops a range of energy-efficient GaN-based power devices to make greener electronics possible.

The global power semiconductor market is expected to exceed $50BN. In addition to the multi-million seed fund and Series A and now B private investments, CGD has so far successfully secured four projects funded by iUK, BEIS and EU (Penta). The technical and commercial expertise of the CGD team combined with an extensive track record in the power electronics market has been fundamental in early market traction of our proprietary technology.

Bringing Innovation into Everyday Life

The environmental need for solutions to resolve the world’s most significant challenges (energy consumption and CO2 emissions) inspires us to contribute to society by preserving nature with energy-efficient power solutions.

With a mindset on pushing the limits of semiconductor (GaN) properties and an outstanding team of worldwide experts leveraging knowledge, IP, and decades of research, we demonstrate technological advancement by developing green solutions for everyday electronics, respecting our planet’s natural resources, and creating a more sustainable future for the generations to come.

Why Work for CGD

We Champion Commitment, Celebrate Empowerment, and Reward the Brave.

We are interested in change-makers with a passion for power semiconductors who are willing to explore unconventional ways to meet the company’s green agenda.

At CGD, we pride ourselves on putting empowerment and commitment at the core of our company culture. We offer a relaxed yet productive working environment where everybody is valued and respected and becomes part of commercial success while experiencing professional growth.

If your heart beats for innovation, challenge, and growth, and if the prospect of joining a friendly and game-changing company is for you, we want to hear from you.

The Opportunity

CGD are looking for a Senior/Principal Applications Engineer with management aspirations to join our growing engineering team, and help shape our application focus and customer orientation. This is an excellent opportunity to join the team at an early stage and help influence the future direction of the CGD applications engineering function. There is also the opportunity to lead the team in the future.

The team is responsible for demonstrating the benefits of GAN in various applications, through creating reference designs and form factor evaluation boards. The applications engineering team is customer oriented and instrumental in supporting the design in process with sales and marketing.

The outcome of your work will be the successful adoption of CGDs GaN products in customer applications.

Main Responsibilities

Reporting directly to the VP of R&D, you will work in close collaboration with sales, business development, marketing, system engineering and product development as well as with our regional teams to:

• Lead the development of high performance and/or high-density power converter demonstrators and reference boards with HV and LV GaN products for consumer, industrial and automotive applications
• Understand customers´ platforms, their trends and how our GaN devices will help them achieve their system goals
• Provide outstanding technical application support to our customers, offering a real hands-on approach to the development of bespoke hardware, reference design development and novel feature validation
• Keep up to date with the competition. Ensure we understand the strengths & weaknesses of alternative solutions by performing part benchmarking & competitor analysis, and working closely with our world-class device designers to ensure we maintain our advantage
• Provide technical applications training to internal teams, external partners and customers
• Spread the word by creating high quality application notes, white papers, design guides and other technical documents
• Provide a significant contribution to our product roadmap

Requirements

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Considerable experience in the field of systems engineering, field application engineering, applications engineering, or technical marketing
• A Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or in a similar technical subject 
• Experience in power electronics, switch mode power supplies, PCB layout, PCB prototyping, control techniques and EMI management, simulation software
• Experience in measuring/characterising devices and AC/DC or DC/DC converters
• Basic knowledge of wide bandgap semiconductors
• Experience working with customers directly, willing to travel and be on-site if needed
• Pro-active by nature, responsive to changing needs of the projects and business with a results-oriented approach
• Excellent communication skills and motivation to collaborate with multiple stakeholders
• Fluent English communication skills

Desirable

• Experience on GaN-based applications
• Experience in managing and leading technical teams

Benefits

• Excellent salary
• Share options scheme available (so you own a piece of the company!)
• Pension scheme (6% Company contribution)
• Life Assurance (3x Salary)
• BUPA Cash Plan (Level 3)
• Flexible working options (both location and times)
• Annual leave allowance of 33 days (including bank holidays)
• Training and development
• Cycle to work scheme
• IP bonus scheme
• Involvement in collaborative projects and grants with University of Cambridge and other partners
• Recruitment referral bonus
• Regular social events including frequent company lunches, annual summer party, Christmas party, team building and wellbeing activities

We believe in equal opportunities

It takes a diverse and inclusive community of passionate, talented and committed people to build a system to shape the future of power electronics.

We are committed to providing equal opportunities to all current and prospective employees regardless of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.

We believe that a more inclusive workplace, where people of different backgrounds work together, ensures better outcomes for all employees. We aspire to have a diverse workforce because, in our view, diversity enables better business outcomes. From application to interview, we place inclusion at the heart of all we do.

We are well set up for collaborative hybrid working, with some members of the team working in the UK office and some from home in the UK and other cities in Europe and Asia.