Job Details: R&D Sr. Reliability Engineering Computational Modeling

Job Title R&D Sr. Reliability Engineering Computational Modeling
Company SunPower Corporation
Location Richmond CA (US)
Date Posted 06/03/10
The solar electric industry is an exciting and rapidly growing business, providing excellent career opportunities and the great satisfaction of having a positive impact on the environment. SunPower Corp. (www.sunpowercorp.com) designs, manufactures and deploys the world’s highest efficiency solar panels, and is a top-three global provider of large-scale solar power systems, with over a thousand megawatts contracted or in construction.
SunPower’s R&D team developed the original 20% all-back contact solar cell in 2005, released the 22% cells in 2007 and is presently working on the next generation technology. Enabling this high rate of innovation while maintaining world-class reliability requires a deep understanding what makes efficiency degrade over time. The ideal candidate is motivated by solving the highly complex puzzles embodied in the physics of cell, module, and PV-system degradation.
We are looking for an exceptionally smart and motivated candidate who has demonstrated a capacity for scientific innovation and leadership. This person should have experience that spans a variety of problems solved with computational modeling, using different tools and methods. Some laboratory and field experience is a plus.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
• Use computational modeling to quantify reliability for PV cell and module products, as well as solar field infrastructure (inverters, tracking systems, etc.), over the 25 year warranty period, in various field conditions.
• Create models from the basic physics of degradation, validate with experimental results, and make degradation-rate predictions for various field conditions.
• Manipulate large datasets from different data sources to derive field stresses, and to pull key trend data from noisy signals.
• Work closely with other engineers, and lead cross-functional teams with a strong drive for results.
• Innovate, and provide technical leadership for solving challenging technical problems with a positive, solution-oriented approach.
Education, Experience, and Qualifications
• Masters or PhD in Engineering, Applied Math or Physics, or related fields, with significant experience in computational modeling of physical phenomena (heat transfer, fluid dynamics, E&M, etc.).
• Demonstrated capability in computational solutions, starting from the analytical assessment of the underlying equations to make appropriate simplifications, then the execution of the simulations and validation against experimental results. This should involve different tools, such as COMSOL, MatLab, self-programmed, etc.
• Additional background in statistics is highly desirable.
• Clear communication style.
• Creative, self-motivated and self-directed, and able to multi-task a large variety of projects in a fast-paced environment.

SunPower offers an attractive compensation package that consists of a competitive salary and equity. The company also offers an array of generous employee benefits.

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