This listing pays about $215,000 a year. Across 85 open chief engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $101,500 to $228,000 and the median is $155,500. That is inside the middle half of those listings, 38% above the median.

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About the job

Karman Industries

Karman Industries is a Torrance-based thermal technology company building the backbone for giga-scale AI infrastructure. Founded by a team from SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and GE, Karman is moving beyond legacy cooling with the launch of the HPU (Heat Processing Unit)—a new category of thermal architecture designed for the 100kW+ rack era.

The HPU shrinks the exterior mechanical yard by up to 80% while reducing peak energy consumption by 10%+. Unlike traditional systems, the Karman HPU provides zero-water (WUE 0) cooling that ensures high-TDP GPUs and HBM4 memory stay at optimal thermal setpoints without throttling.

Founded in 2024, we’re a fast-growing team of passionate professionals dedicated to making a tangible impact on the future of humanity. We design, build, and test real hardware, and we lead with ownership: you’ll own your work from concept to hardware and help shape how we scale. Our values are Ownership, Performance Excellence, Radical Transparency, and Customer-Centricity.

Join us in our mission to transform the industry and contribute to a more sustainable world.

Chief Engineer, Electrical

Karman Industries is seeking a Chief Electrical Engineer to serve as the company's senior technical authority for power electronics and electrical systems across our engineering organization, with direct application to the high-speed electrically driven turbomachinery core at the heart of our Heat Processing Unit (HPU). This is not a facilities or building-electrical role — we need someone who can own the electrical architecture of a high-speed motor-drive system from first principles: power conversion, high- and low-voltage distribution, and the electrical safety case for a novel electromechanical product — and who sets the technical standards the rest of the electrical engineering team designs against.

Responsibilities

- Own the technical architecture and design standards for power electronics (converters, inverters, motor drives) driving Karman's high-speed turbomachinery core

- Define and govern high-voltage and low-voltage distribution, protection, switchgear, and grounding/bonding practice across programs

- Lead electromagnetic and thermal analysis of power electronics and electrical machines, including FEA-based design verification

- Chair electrical design reviews and hold final technical sign-off on electrical system risk decisions

- Own Karman's electrical safety and EMI/EMC compliance strategy

- Partner with Thermal, Mechanical, and Dynamics & Controls leadership on integrated system trade-offs (e.g., motor-drive cooling, control interfaces)

- Mentor senior and principal electrical engineers and build the discipline's technical bench strength

- Lead root-cause investigation and corrective action for electrical system failures or field issues

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

- 15+ years of experience in power electronics, high-voltage systems, or electrical machine design, including technical leadership of complex electromechanical programs

- Demonstrated depth in AC/DC power conversion and high/low-voltage system design from first principles

- Proven track record owning electrical technical decisions with program-wide or company-wide impact

- Strong communication skills and the ability to set technical direction across a growing engineering organization

Preferred Qualifications

- M.S. or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering

- Experience with electromagnetic FEA and power system simulation tools (e.g., Ansys Maxwell, JMAG, Motor-CAD, PSCAD)

- Background in high-speed electric machines, motor drives, or grid-scale power electronics

- Familiarity with electrical safety and compliance standards (NEC, IEC, UL) relevant to novel industrial hardware

Karman Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Karman Industries is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Direct applicants only — we are not working with outside recruiters or agencies for this role.