---
title: 'Senior Manager, Software Test & Validation at Redwood Materials'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-software-test-validation-redwood-materials-san-francisco-3wzcjjjpbpwm'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-09'
---

# Senior Manager, Software Test & Validation at Redwood Materials

- **Company:** Redwood Materials
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $220k–$348k
- **Posted:** 2026-11-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-09
- **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/redwoodmaterials/jobs/6242475004?gh_jid=6242475004

## Job description

## About Redwood Materials

Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by JB Straubel, co-founder and former CTO of Tesla, on a simple but radical idea: the critical minerals powering the energy transition already exist. They just need to come back. Today Redwood is the largest lithium-ion battery recycler in North America — recovering, refining, and redeploying critical minerals from end-of-life batteries back into the supply chain. On the energy side, Redwood has deployed the largest second-life battery project in the world, delivering power to AI data centers in months rather than years using proprietary energy architecture engineered entirely in-house. The company is profitable, the market it operates in is projected to grow 20 to 50 times over the next decade, and Redwood is the only company with the supply chain, the technology, and the operational scale to lead it.

Position Summary:

At Redwood Materials, we are moving beyond battery recycling to build the most advanced, circular energy ecosystem on the planet—shifting the industry from static, hardware-heavy infrastructure toward agile, software-defined energy assets. The Software Test and Validation organization is the ultimate gatekeeper of quality, reliability, and operational readiness across our entire hardware and software portfolio.

As the Senior Manager for Software Test & Validation, you will build and lead the engineering teams responsible for four mission-critical pillars: Power Electronics and Site-Level SIL/HIL Simulation, Manufacturing Test Software, Site Commissioning Tooling, and Fleet Data Analytics for Preventive & Predictive Maintenance. You are the bridge between pure code, factory production, and long-term grid reliability. We are looking for a hands-on technical leader who can architect high-fidelity real-time simulation plants, scalable factory test frameworks, and predictive fleet health models alongside their engineers—driving quality across multiple concurrent hardware programs from R&D bring-up through volume manufacturing and multi-year field operations.

This position is based in our San Francisco office and operates on an onsite work model.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Multi-Level SIL & HIL Validation Architecture

- Power Electronics & Site-Level Simulation: Direct the architecture and scaling of our Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) infrastructure (Typhoon HIL, Opal-RT) across both sub-microsecond power conversion stages and multi-asset, site-level controllers.
- Custom HIL Hardware & Plant Modeling: Oversee the design of custom signal-conditioning interface hardware, fault-injection panels, and high-fidelity virtual plant models (battery arrays, resonant DC/DC and multi-level AC/DC converters, and dynamic grid conditions) to stress-test embedded firmware and site software before field deployment.
- Continuous Verification & CI/CD: Integrate automated SIL and HIL regression suites into containerized CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions/Jenkins, Docker), serving as the definitive release gate for all production-bound embedded Rust, C/C++, and site-level software.

Manufacturing Software & Factory Test

- Production Line Software: Lead the development of automated manufacturing test software and end-of-line (EOL) functional test frameworks for multiple Redwood hardware product lines, including our custom Power Conversion Systems (PCS) and energy storage enclosures.
- Factory-to-Engineering Integration: Build reliable firmware flashing, hardware calibration, serialization, and automated pass/fail diagnostics systems that scale from low-volume prototype builds (EVT/DVT) to high-volume factory production.

Site Commissioning & Predictive Fleet Analytics

- Commissioning Tooling: Architect and deliver intuitive, automated field commissioning tools that streamline site bring-up, verify hardware-software wiring and communications (CAN, Modbus TCP, Ethernet, SPI), and execute automated site acceptance testing (SAT) for new energy storage deployments.
- Preventive & Predictive Maintenance Analytics: Lead the architecture of fleet-wide data analytics frameworks and time-series observability pipelines (e.g., InfluxDB, Prometheus, Grafana, Python) that ingest continuous telemetry from deployed field assets to drive preventive and predictive maintenance.
- Prognostics & Early Fault Detection: Develop automated health-monitoring models and anomaly detection algorithms that track thermal drift, component degradation, switching efficiency shifts, and battery state-of-health (SoH) trends—flagging incipient hardware or control issues for proactive servicing before they cause unplanned downtime.

Leadership & Organization Building

- Team Growth & Technical Mentorship: Recruit, mentor, and lead a multidisciplinary team of validation, test automation, manufacturing software, and data/reliability engineers; foster an engineering culture obsessed with breaking complex state machines and catching failure modes early.
- Cross-Functional Execution: Partner closely with Power Electronics Controls, Embedded Firmware, Hardware Engineering, Manufacturing Operations, and Field Service teams to close the loop between factory test signatures, HIL models, and real-world predictive maintenance actions.

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

## Qualifications

- Education & Experience: MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field (or BS with equivalent elite depth), combined with 10+ years of industry experience in software validation, HIL simulation, manufacturing test, and fleet reliability analytics for complex hardware systems, and 5+ years leading technical engineering teams.
- SIL/HIL & Power Systems Mastery: Proven track record architecting real-time simulation environments (Typhoon HIL, Opal-RT, or dSPACE) for both high-frequency power electronics converters and distributed system/site controllers.
- Manufacturing & Commissioning Software: Demonstrated experience building and deploying automated factory test software (ICT/FCT/EOL), hardware bring-up utilities, and field commissioning frameworks across multiple hardware product lifecycles.
- Predictive Analytics & Software Toolchain: Expert-level proficiency in Python (Pytest, Pandas, SciPy, time-series and predictive modeling stacks) for test automation and fleet prognostics, alongside solid working fluency in Rust and C/C++ to inspect, instrument, and debug low-level firmware and application codebases.

-

- Data Infrastructure & DevOps: Strong experience designing automated CI/CD pipelines for hardware-in-the-loop targets, containerization (Docker), and scalable time-series telemetry architectures for fleet health monitoring and predictive maintenance.
- Hardware & Lab Fluency: Deep comfort operating in high-voltage power electronics lab environments, utilizing oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, and industrial communication protocols (CAN/CAN-FD, Ethernet, Modbus, SPI) to isolate elusive hardware-software interactions.

Bonus Qualifications

- Experience validating grid-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), utility-interactive inverters, or mixed-chemistry/second-life EV battery installations against UL 1741, UL 1973, and IEEE 1547 standards.
- Proven experience building prognostic algorithms that correlate factory EOL baseline signatures with in-field operational telemetry to predict remaining useful life (RUL) of power electronics or energy storage components.
- Track record of designing custom automated fault-injection hardware and custom breakout PCB interfaces for multi-rack HIL testbeds.

In accordance with California pay transparency laws, the salary range for this position is listed below. Actual compensation may vary based on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and skills.

California Pay Range: $220,000—$347,500 USD

The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.

We collect personal information (PI) from you in connection with your application for employment with Redwood Materials, including the following categories of PI: identifiers, personal records, professional or employment information, and inferences drawn from your PI. We collect your PI for our purposes, including performing services and operations related to your potential employment. If you have additional privacy-related questions, please contact us at privacy@redwoodmaterials.com.

## About Redwood Materials

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Redwood Materials recycles lithium-ion batteries to recover critical minerals and deploys large-scale energy storage systems, building a domestic circular supply chain for batteries.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Late-stage; Series E closed at $425M in October 2025)
- **Headquarters**: Carson City, Nevada, USA (with campuses in Northern Nevada, South Carolina, and an R&D center in San Francisco)
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: JB Straubel (former Tesla CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Battery recycling, critical materials production, and energy storage
- **Target customers**: B2B – automotive OEMs, data center operators, utilities, and grid-scale energy storage buyers
- **Mission/purpose**: “Securing U.S. critical materials. Powering America’s energy future.” – building a resilient domestic supply chain for batteries and enabling the energy transition.

## Products & Services
- **Critical Materials Production**: Recovers lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper from end-of-life batteries (recycling) and produces cathode active material at scale. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/)
- **Redwood Energy**: Designs, integrates, and deploys large-scale energy storage systems (BESS) for data centers and the grid, using both new and repurposed batteries. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/)
- **Battery Bin**: Consumer-facing recycling program launched in December 2025 to collect end-of-life batteries. [redwoodmaterials.com/about/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/about/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: ~$6 billion (as of October 2025, per Wikipedia)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised >$1.4B (over $1B in 2023 plus $425M Series E in 2025). Annual revenue not publicly disclosed.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Partners include Volkswagen Group of America, Panasonic, GM/Ultium Cells, Volvo, Amazon, Toyota, Southern Company, BMW of North America, Crusoe, Lime, Caterpillar, Isuzu. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/)
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Opened South Carolina recycling campus (2025) and SF R&D center (2025)
  - Launched Redwood Energy storage division (2025)
  - Expanded into Europe (2022)
  - Recognized as Fast Company’s World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies (2024, 2026) and Time100 Climate (2024)
  - Active job postings: 79 (as of mid-2026), with monthly growth of +83.7% [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/redwood-materials)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Technology moat**: Recovers >95% of metals (nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper) from end-of-life batteries, creating a low-cost domestic source of critical materials.
- **Vertical integration**: Combines recycling, refining, cathode production, and energy storage deployment under one roof.
- **Strategic partnerships**: Deep relationships with nearly every major automotive OEM and energy companies, ensuring feedstock and offtake.
- **First-mover in U.S. battery circularity**: One of the largest domestic sources of critical minerals, reducing reliance on foreign supply chains.

## Strategic Focus
- Scale domestic battery material production and energy storage manufacturing to meet U.S. grid and EV demand.
- Expand Redwood Energy as a standalone business unit for utility and data center storage.
- Grow consumer recycling programs (Battery Bin) and deepen partnerships with automakers and energy companies.
- Continue R&D in advanced battery chemistries and recycling processes at the San Francisco innovation center.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven culture**: Employees are motivated by building a resilient U.S. energy future and solving climate challenges.
- **Pioneering environment**: Described as “pioneers, innovators, and collaborators” working on chemistry, materials science, automation, and advanced equipment design. [redwoodmaterials.com/join/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/join/)
- **Locations**: Multiple campuses – Tahoe (Northern Nevada), Carolina (South Carolina), and downtown San Francisco R&D center.
- **Growth opportunities**: Rapid scaling with 79+ open roles across engineering, operations, EPC, software, and business functions. Top talent sources include Tesla (207 alumni), Panasonic, Rivian, and Chewy.
- **Work style**: Hybrid/office presence expected at campuses; culture emphasizes making difficult decisions and implementing design constraints to drive impact.

## Sources
1. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/)
2. [redwoodmaterials.com/about/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/about/)
3. [redwoodmaterials.com/join/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/join/)
4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/redwood-materials)
5. [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Materials)

## Other roles at Redwood Materials

- [Senior Battery Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-battery-systems-engineer-redwood-materials-san-francisco-jr6wsea68x4j) — San Francisco, CA
- [Chemical Operator](https://feeny.ai/job/chemical-operator-redwood-materials-mccarran-j0tytjx7bdhy) — Mccarran, NV
- [Senior Manager, Power Electronics Controls and Software](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-power-electronics-controls-and-software-redwood-materials-san-6pab5bhqdh30) — San Francisco, CA
- [Senior Production Material Planner, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-production-material-planner-energy-storage-redwood-materials-mccarran-s39yp31ehqt0) — Mccarran, NV
- [Software Validation Engineer, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/software-validation-engineer-energy-storage-redwood-materials-san-francisco-nzr4hvg1t5q6) — San Francisco, CA
- [Staff Global Supply Manager - Solar, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-global-supply-manager-solar-energy-storage-redwood-materials-san-francisco-537kwtxw97e1) — San Francisco, CA
- [Battery Software & Controls Integration Engineer, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/battery-software-controls-integration-engineer-energy-storage-redwood-materials-xzf3a58rscb7) — San Francisco, CA
- [Chemical Operator III](https://feeny.ai/job/chemical-operator-iii-redwood-materials-mccarran-sx2qd3ykgnmm) — Mccarran, NV
- [Staff Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-controls-engineer-redwood-materials-ridgeville-2gmj9trjss7j) — Ridgeville, SC
- [Senior Accountant, Fixed Assets](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-accountant-fixed-assets-redwood-materials-carson-city-jr3m94a5566g) — Carson City, NV