Principal Mechanical Design Engineer, Industrial Enclosures

About the role

Imagine defining the physical backbone of a product that will reshape how the world generates and distributes power. The Power Systems Innovation team housed within the office of the CTO is building Enphase's first-ever Solid State Transformer, a breakthrough technology that replaces bulky, legacy transformer hardware with sleek, software-defined power conversion. As our Principal Mechanical Design Engineer, you will own the structural envelope that protects this technology in the field: the enclosure, thermal architecture, and environmental sealing that let a cutting-edge power electronics platform survive punishing outdoor conditions while looking and feeling like the future.

This is a rare greenfield opportunity—early-stage, high-visibility, and deeply cross-functional—where your design choices will directly define the product's form factor, reliability, and market readiness. If you thrive on turning blank-sheet challenges into production-ready hardware and want your fingerprints on a product that will be deployed across the energy grid, this role is for you.

Responsibilities

• Arcitect the complete enclosure system for Enphase's Solid State Transformer—structural frames, panels, rails, and mounting systems—balancing ruggedness, weight, cost, and aesthetics from first sketch through volume production
• Own ingress protection end-to-end: define IP55/IP65 sealing strategies, select gaskets and drainage paths, run validation tests, and iterate until every field scenario—driving rain, dust storms, coastal salt spray—is covered
• Lead structural analysis and FEA across static loads, vibration, shock, and seismic qualification, turning simulation results into lighter, stiffer, more cost-effective designs
• Drive material and corrosion-protection decisions—sheet metal alloys, polymers, coatings, plating, and galvanic isolation—ensuring long term outdoor durability in harsh climates
• Design high-performance door and access systems with integrated latching, locking, and hinge mechanisms that balance security, weather resistance, and fast field serviceability
• Integrate forced-air cooling architectures into the enclosure to support aggressive thermal targets without compromising environmental sealing
• Define verification strategy: author functional and performance requirements, design test plans, execute tests, and close the loop with rigorous design-test-analysis documentation
• Shape the team's technical culture by mentoring junior engineers, championing best practices in enclosure design, and contributing to a fast-moving, innovation-driven environment
• Accelerate your technical growth—work shoulder-to-shoulder with PhD-level engineers, firmware architects, and systems thinkers who challenge assumptions and raise the bar daily; this team will stretch you in ways no ordinary engineering role can
• Expand your impact beyond enclosures—contribute to system-level trade-offs across thermal, electrical, and mechanical domains, gaining exposure to the full Solid State Transformer architecture and broadening your expertise into adjacent disciplines
• Help build a category-defining product—Enphase is a proven innovator that disrupted the solar microinverter market and now aims to do the same for medium-voltage power conversion; your work will be visible at the highest levels of the company and across the energy industry

Requirements

• 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
• Independent problem-solver who thrives in ambiguity—you can navigate early-stage product development where requirements are still being written and turn uncertainty into elegant solutions
• Relentless ownership mentality—you juggle multiple high-stakes workstreams simultaneously, drive them to closure, and never let a critical detail slip
• Structural FEA authority—vibration, fatigue, seismic, and load-bearing analysis specific to enclosure structures is second nature to you; you turn simulation into a competitive advantage
• Materials & corrosion-protection strategist—sheet metal (steel, aluminum), stainless steel, polymers, composites, and coatings; you know how to pair them for decades of outdoor durability
• Corrosion protection validation chops—hands-on experience specifying and proving out e-coat, powder coat, hot-dip galvanizing, anodizing, and hardware selection for dissimilar-metal environments
• Door & access system designer—latching, locking, and hinge mechanisms for security, weather resistance, and fast field serviceability are in your design DNA
• Thermal-mechanical integration pro—you've integrated fans, filters, and louvers into enclosure and door designs, balancing thermal performance with ingress protection
• Manufacturing-savvy engineer—you leverage sheet metal stamping, weldments, casting, extrusion, and injection molding to hit cost, quality, and volume targets
• Joining techniques expert—welding, adhesives, riveting, and bolted joints; you pick the right method for every interface and know the trade-offs cold
• CAD power user—high proficiency with an enterprise 3D CAD package (SolidWorks preferred); your models are production-ready and parametrically clean
• Clear communicator & documenter—you translate complex mechanical decisions into crisp reports, specs, and presentations that move programs forward
• Hands-on prototyping instincts—you're as comfortable on the shop floor building assemblies as you are behind a screen running simulations
• Proven mentor and design leader—you have a track record of coaching junior engineers, elevating their technical skills, and leading end-to-end design efforts from concept through production release

Qualifications

• Multi-physics modeling proficiency—coupled thermal-structural-electromagnetic simulation that unlocks deeper design insight
• Medium-voltage insulation design experience (>1 kV)—creepage, clearance, and dielectric considerations that are critical to next-gen power electronics enclosures
• Standards fluency—working knowledge of UL, IEC, and NEMA standards for electrical equipment, enabling faster certification cycles

Skills

• Work Location Austin, TX
• The base pay range for this position is $180,000 to $226,000. 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.