
Hardware Test Engineer at Base Power Company (Austin, TX)
Base Power Company· Austin, TX·
Role details
Base Power Company at a glance
Base Power installs home batteries and sells below-market energy in Texas, earning its margin from the grid instead of your bill.
Base Power is a next-generation power company that installs whole-home backup batteries and sells fixed-rate, below-market electricity to homeowners, primarily in Texas. It coordinates its fleet of distributed batteries as a single grid asset, earning revenue from wholesale energy markets so it can keep customer rates low.
$1.3B raised · latest: Series C · $1B · October 2025 · backed by Addition, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Summary
Design and run validation tests for hardware systems to ensure reliability under real-world conditions. Build automated test setups, analyze data, and lead root cause analysis to drive engineering decisions.
Job description
About Base
Base is America’s next-generation power company. We’re rebuilding the foundation of modern civilization–electricity–by deploying a vast network of distributed batteries that is transforming today’s fragile, centralized grid into a resilient and abundant system. We are engineers, operators, and creatives solving some of the most complex, interdisciplinary challenges of our time.
About the Role
We are looking for a hardware test engineer to design and run tests that ensure our hardware systems perform reliably under real-world conditions. You will be responsible for building and automating test setups, analyzing results, and sharing findings in a clear, useful way. This role is ideal for someone who’s hands-on, detail-oriented, and comfortable working across mechanical, electrical, and software domains.
What You'll Do
- Drive a wide spectrum of validation efforts—including electrical, mechanical, and reliability to ensure our hardware meets and exceeds engineering and reliability requirements
- Design and build tests by designing mechanical fixtures and PCBAs, sourcing power supplies, sensors, and other test equipment and automating test equipment, environmental chambers, and DAQ systems
- Lead root cause and failure analysis on hardware issues to produce actionable test findings
- Work with large amounts of test data and automate data analysis and anomaly detection
- Distill complex technical results into high-signal reports that drive critical design decisions across the engineering organization.
What You'll Bring
- Electrical Engineering and/or Mechanical Engineering work experience with 2+ years of hands-on experience in test engineering of electromechanical products which run embedded firmware
- Proficient with Data Acquisition (DAQ) systems, including sensor selection, signal conditioning, and troubleshooting.
- A proven track record of designing and executing tests that define the limits of mechanical, electrical, and reliability performance.
- Strong programming skills in Python and/or LabVIEW for instrument control, test sequencing, and data analysis.
- Uncompromising standards for documentation; you take pride in producing clear, actionable test reports that tell a story with data.
About the Team
The Hardware Reliability and Test team ensures our equipment exceeds engineering and reliability standards through rigorous mechanical, electrical, and environmental testing at the component, sub-assembly, and system levels. When we find failure points, we leverage data-driven insights to identify root causes and provide actionable improvements and mitigations. We act as a tight feedback loop for the design team, accelerating product maturity and ensuring we deliver a stellar experience for our members.
Please note: Base is a startup, which means priorities shift and evolve quickly. Your role may expand or change based on the needs of the business at any given time, so the responsibilities listed may not be exhaustive.
Our Values
- First Principles Thinking: Question assumptions. Principles > rules.
- Operate at Base Pace: Focus on what matters, act quickly, and learn by doing.
- Give & Get Feedback: Be direct, be humble, and maintain a growth mindset.
- Everyone’s an Owner: Follow through on commitments and own results.
- Strong Opinions, Loosely Held: Drive clarity and make calls with imperfect information.
- Committed to the Mission: Rebuilding the grid is a big challenge. We work hard because we care deeply about the impact we’re creating. We work in-person. It’s not a 9-to-5. We are all-in.
- Fun & Optimism Coexist with Grit: Collaboration and celebration coincide with the intensity of building real things.
Do the best work of your life at Base.
Why work at Base Power Company
- Culture: Described as "intense, fast-paced, and deeply mission-driven." The company demands high output, ownership, and a bias toward action. It's explicitly stated as "not for everyone, and that's by design." This is a high-ownership, low-ambiguity environment.
- Work Model: On-site at Base HQ in Austin, Texas. Proximity to the product and team is central to how they move fast. "Do I need to be based in Texas? Yes."
- Hiring Speed: Fast process — aim for 1st conversation to offer in ~2 weeks.
- Interview Process: 3-4 hour on-site including technical assessments and behavioral/team conversations. Focus on "how [you] approach problems, communicate tradeoffs, and collaborate."
- Non-traditional backgrounds: Explicitly welcome: "We care about what you've built and how you think, not the logos on your resume. Some of our best people came from non-traditional paths."
- Engineering Culture: Heavy focus on hardware + software + field operations. Talent sources heavily from Tesla, Anduril, SpaceX — firms known for hardcore engineering and manufacturing excellence. Roles span hardware engineering, firmware, software, manufacturing, field installation/service, operations, growth, and design.
- Team Composition: ~29% of employees are in technical roles; ~15% in operations; significant representation of trades workers (11).
- Notable Perks: Opportunity to work on physical infrastructure deployed at scale; chance to contribute meaningfully to grid modernization and American energy resilience.