The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for operating a shutdown process in a fuel cell system including connecting a passive electrical load to a fuel cell stack in the fuel cell system before initiating the shutdown process, disconnecting a DC-DC converter by a system controller, initiating nitrogen blanketing after a current passing through the DC-DC converter is reduced to about zero, ensuring water content in the fuel cell stack is about zero, and sending a signal to the system controller to initiate the shutdown process.