
Mechanical Engineering Intern 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
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
At Base, we’re building the future of residential energy. Our unique battery, power inverter, and interconnection systems are designed from the ground up to deliver affordable, reliable, and resilient power to households that are underserved by today’s aging and overloaded electrical grid.
Unlike conventional energy storage solutions that cost 5–10x more, our vertically integrated approach allows us to deliver larger, more powerful batteries at a fraction of the price. We’re combining innovative hardware, clever business models, and local manufacturing to get this product in the hands of real people–fast.
As a Hardware Engineering Intern, you'll be hands-on with every phase of product development–from early prototyping to production support. You'll work alongside experienced engineers in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment, solving challenging problems in mechanical and electrical design for cutting-edge batteries, inverters, and microgrid interconnection devices. You’ll learn by doing–and what you do will ship.
What You'll Do
- Collaborate with senior engineers to design, simulate, build, and test electrical and mechanical systems.
- Participate in hands-on prototyping, debugging, and iterative testing of early- and late-stage hardware.
- Support both R&D and production efforts–from first breadboard to high-volume manufacturing.
- Help diagnose and solve real-world performance, thermal, and integration issues.
- Contribute to system documentation, test procedures, and design reviews.
What You'll Bring
- Current junior or senior in an undergraduate program, or a graduate student, in Engineering, Physics, Math, or a related technical field.
- Strong understanding of electrical or mechanical engineering fundamentals (depending on focus).
- Passion for hands-on hardware development and building things that work in the real world.
- Experience with CAD design (e.g., SolidWorks, Fusion 360, or similar) is a plus.
- Curious, self-motivated, and eager to work on hard problems with real-world impact.
Why Base? You won’t be stuck on the sidelines. At Base, interns contribute to meaningful product work that ships. You’ll gain real experience with real stakes–mentored by engineers who’ve built systems at scale across the energy, aerospace, and hardware industries. This is a chance to make a dent in the energy transition, not just study it. Come help us build something better.
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.