Current job openings

Job Position details

  • Job Title: Product Manager
  • Reporting: Chief Product Officer
  • Workplace: Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Starting date: Immediate
  • Duration and rate: Permanent, 100%
  • Contact: HR department hiring@zaphiro.ch

About us:

Zaphiro is an ambitious startup company, with a vision and the courage to shape a better and sustainable future. Our smart grid products are already in operation with several well-known power utilities worldwide, and we have been recognized by several international innovation competitions, including Free Electrons and SET award.

Located on the beautiful shores of Lake Geneva, we care about delivering the greatest Swiss-quality products to our customers. With a Series A funding closed and strong strategic focus of our Investors, we are set to grow and expand the business internationally.

Our SynchroGuard solution is the first monitoring and automation system for electrical distribution grids. Based on the most advanced monitoring technology currently available, Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs), SynchroGuard provides instant visibility into distribution grids performance, helps integrate more renewables and EVs, and, thanks to unique fault location algorithms, reduces the impact of blackouts.

What we offer:

  • Being part of a company committed in heart and mind to contribute to a sustainable future.
  • Dynamic and passionate work environment with flexible working time models.
  • Creative freedom to innovate and create solutions for the energy transition.

Position Overview:

We are seeking a dynamic, customer-focused Product Manager with a business mindset and passion for driving and improving Zaphiro products and their competitive positioning.

The Product Manager will be responsible for overseeing Zaphiro product lifecycle from concept through launch and beyond. This role requires strong strategic thinking, market insight, and the ability to translate customer needs into actionable product requirements. The Product Manager will work closely with engineering, design, marketing, sales, and other departments to deliver high-quality products that meet market needs and align with the company’s business goals.

Key Responsibilities:

  1. Product Strategy & Vision:
    • Develop and communicate a clear product vision and strategy that aligns with the company’s business objectives.
    • Define product positioning, value proposition, and go-to-market strategies.
    • Conduct market research to identify customer needs, market trends, and competitive landscape.
    • Benchmark Zaphiro’s products versus competition.
    • Analyze product/market requirements and define hardware/software specifications of the next generation of Zaphiro products.
    • Conduct customers survey to measure customers satisfaction.
  2. Product Development:
    • Lead the product development process, from ideation to launch.
    • Create detailed product requirements and specifications based on market trends and analysis.
    • Collaborate with engineering and design teams to ensure product specifications are met.
    • Prioritize product features and enhancements based on customer feedback, business impact, and resource constraints.
    • Develop product documentation for both internal and external stakeholders.
    • Identify and obtain the necessary certifications and homologations prior to product launch.
    • Maintain the documentation for the existing certifications.
  3. Stakeholder Management:
    • Act as the main point of contact between cross-functional teams, including engineering, marketing, sales, and customer support.
    • Support the sales team in the business development process and in the creation of technical contents for marketing material.
    • Interact with external partners and suppliers, and be responsible for supplier/partner agreements.
    • Gather and incorporate feedback from customers, sales, and support teams to continuously improve the product.
    • Actively participate in technical committees and working groups to shape and influence industry standards and best practices.
  4. Product Lifecycle Management:
    • Manage the product lifecycle, including planning, development, launch, and post-launch activities.
    • Develop and maintain the Bill Of Material of Zaphiro products to guarantee proper project deliveries.
    • Monitor product performance and KPIs, using data analytics to inform product decisions.
    • Identify opportunities for product optimization and enhancement.

Qualifications:

  • Education: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Business Management, Marketing, or a related field; Master’s or advanced degree preferred.
  • Required skills and experience:
    • 5+ years of experience in product management, with a proven track record of managing successful products in the Energy field, ideally in the power grid industry.
    • Strong understanding of product management principles and methodologies.
    • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate with diverse stakeholders.
    • Analytical, cost-conscious mindset with strong problem-solving skills.
    • Capable to prepare yearly budget and take ownership for the same.
    • Ability to manage multiple priorities and projects in a fast-paced environment.
  • Desirable skills and experience:
  • Experience in electrical/electronic equipment design and manufacturing.
  • Demonstrated success in launching products in international markets.
  • Knowledge of technical standards and technologies (sensing, synchronization and communication) used in the power grid industry.
  • Technical background or understanding of electrical distribution hardware and software.

Student/internship projects

Project type

  • Semester project
  • MSc – Master of Science

Contact point

mayank.nagendran@zaphiro.ch

Project description and objectives

Zaphiro uses different algorithms for faulted area identification and fault distance estimation based on the type of grids and types of faults. Zaphiro’s algorithms are based on power system protection principles such as differential, directional and distance relaying and they are adapted to include PMUs.

The objective of the project is to generate datasets and to test the fault location approaches on several practical grids to identify gaps in the algorithms.

Tasks

  • Understand the algorithms implemented by Zaphiro for fault location.
  • Import the model of the electrical network and develop scripts in PowerFactory to create multiple fault scenarios.
  • Collect the faulty waveforms and feed them to our fault location algorithms. Collect in a structured manner the fault locator outputs.
  • Analysis of the results to identify the strengths/weaknesses of each approach.
  • Perform a literature survey to identify remedies for the gaps.

Required skills

  • Strong understanding of distribution grids, especially fault analysis.
  • Knowledge of Power Factory.
  • Knowledge of Python for scripting faults.

Other benefits and/or compensation

Depending on the final project type, scope and deliverables, Zaphiro may consider providing additional adequate compensation.

 

Zaphiro student projects – Testing Fault Location Algorithms

Project type

  • Semester project
  • Internship

Contact point

info@zaphiro.ch

Project description and objectives

The IEEE C37.118.2 communication protocol used in most Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) deployments nowadays does not encrypt the traffic. VPN solutions allow to add an extra layer of security by sending the traffic into a secured tunnel.

Zaphiro’s PMU is based on out-of-the-shelf components (an NI cRIO from NI, an optional router from DIGI, etc). Its modularity, for example, allows to add or remove the router according to the communication technology in place. As of today, it is possible to have VPN tunnels between the router and the destination. However, in all the cases where the communication is wired (e.g., fiber) the router is not present, and the VPN tunnel is not created.

The objective of the project is to integrate a VPN technology inside the NI cRIO device to establish a VPN tunnel also when using wired communication technology. Few VPNs technologies that can be run on cRIO have to be evaluated. The chosen technology has to be implemented and tested.

Tasks

  • Evaluate compatible VPN technologies that can be seamlessly integrated into the NI cRIO device for wired communication scenarios.
  • Select the most suitable VPN technology based on criteria such as security features, compatibility, and performance benchmarks.
  • Implement the chosen VPN technology into the NI cRIO, followed by rigorous testing to ensure secure and efficient data tunnelling over wired connections.

Required skills

  • Confidence with command line on Linux systems
  • No LabVIEW knowledge required 
  • Previous knowledge of VPN is desirable

Other benefits and/or compensation

Depending on the final project type, scope and deliverables, Zaphiro may consider providing additional adequate compensation.

Project type

  • Semester project
  • Internship

Contact point

info@zaphiro.ch

Project description and objectives

Security of data is key in the management of energy systems. Collected information can be exploited to attack energy infrastructures and disrupt an entire nation. The aim of this project is to explore the different options to encrypt data at rest with PostgreSQL, compare them in term of ease of use, level of security and performance impact.

Tasks

  • Survey and document available solutions.
  • Provide a framework to compare them.
  • Compare solutions with the aim of defining the best trade-off between security, complexity, and performance.

Required skills

  • Basic understanding of encryption.
  • SQL knowledge to test and demonstrate different solutions.
  • Analytical capacities to survey solutions and compare them.

Other benefits and/or compensation

Depending on the final project type, scope and deliverables, Zaphiro may consider providing additional adequate compensation.

Project type

  • Semester project
  • Internship

Contact point

info@zaphiro.ch

Project description and objectives

In the field of critical infrastructures, being able to detect security events and prevent and stop attacks is key to guarantee the security of infrastructures such as power grids. SIEMs are solutions that collect logs of events from different sources and facilitate the identification of threats. The scope of the project is to explore the space of open-source solutions providing SIEM functionalities following a Cloud Native approach (i.e., running on Kubernetes).

Tasks

  • Survey and document available solutions.
  • Provide a framework to compare them.
  • Compare solutions with the aim of defining the best trade-off between security, complexity, and performance.

Required skills

  • Basic understanding of cybersecurity.
  • Analytical capacities to survey solutions and compare them.
  • Docker and/or K8S (or strong interest to learn and use them) to test solutions and realize a demo.

Other benefits and/or compensation

Depending on the final project type, scope and deliverables, Zaphiro may consider providing additional adequate compensation.

Project type

  • Semester project
  • Internship

Contact point

info@zaphiro.ch

Project description and objectives

Modern electrical distribution networks increasingly require advanced monitoring to maintain high-quality power delivery. In line with this, Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) are becoming indispensable tools. However, the current generation of PMUs often focuses predominantly on fundamental frequency analysis. This project aims to extend the capabilities of PMUs by integrating harmonic analysis directly into the units in order to increase the types of electrical events that can be detected and analysed on the PMU itself.

Tasks

  • Develop New File Formats for Saving on PMU: Currently, PMUs use specific file formats for data storage. This task involves developing additional file formats like COMTRADE and PQDIFF to enhance the PMU’s data compatibility and interchangeability.
  • Study Types of Harmonic Analysis: Before diving into implementation, it’s important to perform a comprehensive study on what types of harmonic analysis could be valuable.
  • Online Integration: Upon determining the types of harmonic analysis to implement, the next step involves incorporating these algorithms for real-time, online monitoring.

Required skills

  • Understanding of Signal Processing Concepts: A foundational grasp of signal processing techniques, particularly those relevant to power systems, is important for understanding and developing harmonic analysis algorithms.
  • LabVIEW RT: This project will employ Labview Real Time for algorithm implementation and integration into our PMUs. Experience with this platform is important.
  • Basic Software Engineering Knowledge: Understanding the principles of modularity in software design, as well as techniques for robust code testing, will be important for creating maintainable and reliable code.
  • Use of GitLab: GitLab will serve as the version control system for this project. Familiarity with GitLab’s features—such as repositories, branching and merge requests.

Other benefits and/or compensation

Depending on the final project type, scope and deliverables, Zaphiro may consider providing additional adequate compensation.

Project type

  • Semester project
  • MSc thesis
  • Internship

Contact point

info@zaphiro.ch

Project description and objectives

As we transition into a more digitally connected era of electrical distribution, Zaphiro Technologies is looking to future-proof its Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). In the context of this work, we are looking to rewrite part of our codebase in embedded C. This port will optimize our PMUs for increased efficiency, lower power consumption, and more robust operational capabilities.

The primary objective of this project is to develop core functionalities in embedded C that are currently implemented in LabVIEW.

Tasks

  • Synchrophasor to C37.118 Conversion Module: Develop a module that can efficiently convert synchrophasor data into a data frame that conforms to the IEEE C37.118 standard.
  • UDP Streaming Module: Subsequent to the conversion, create a separate module responsible for streaming these C37.118 compliant data frames via UDP.
  • TCP Protocol Support: While UDP is essential for low-latency applications, TCP support is equally crucial for applications that require reliable, ordered data delivery.
  • C Applications for Synchrophasor Estimation: Develop applications in embedded C that can perform synchrophasor estimation.

Required skills

  • Embedded Linux RT and Embedded C Development: Strong skills in embedded Linux RT (Real-Time) and embedded C are imperative for this project. Prior experience in developing real-time applications would be beneficial.
  • Git for Version Control: A good grasp of Git for version control is essential. Experience with branching strategies, pull requests, and resolving merge conflicts will be advantageous.
  • Understanding LabVIEW Code: While the primary language for this project is C, understanding LabVIEW is a significant plus.
  • Network Protocol Knowledge: Familiarity with TCP and UDP, would be beneficial.

Other benefits and/or compensation

Depending on the final project type, scope and deliverables, Zaphiro may consider providing additional adequate compensation.