--- title: 'Senior Power Electronics Test & Validation Engineer at Heron Power' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-power-electronics-test-validation-engineer-heron-power-scotts-valley-nmstx1yamf2z' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-12' --- # Senior Power Electronics Test & Validation Engineer at Heron Power - **Company:** Heron Power - **Location:** Scotts Valley, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-09-03 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/heron-power/42b32493-fcae-4293-a826-6a2688aaf293 ## Job description What to Expect Heron Power is a startup company building cutting-edge power electronics for the 21st-century grid. We aim to debottleneck the growth of electricity generation and consumption with scalable, innovative, and less costly hardware solutions, accelerating the electrification of everything. Our first focus goal is to build better converters (inverters & rectifiers) to connect large-scale renewables, storage, and loads to the grid. Heron Power’s leadership team is made up of seasoned veterans who have designed and shipped gigawatts of power conversion products over the past decade. We understand that no one individual knows everything. We will all learn a lot together and from each other. We strive to build a collaborative, enriching environment conducive to personal, technical, and career growth. You can expect to work in a dynamic and collaborative environment, driven by first principles engineering, solving difficult problems. Job Overview The Senior Power Electronics Test & Validation Engineer will own application-specific testing of Heron's solid state transformer (SST) across its core use cases: powering AI data centers, utility-scale BESS, and PV plants. That means bringing up hardware in the lab and at pilot sites, writing scripts to drive test equipment and power converters, and debugging performance against what each application demands, from MPPT performance and PPC/EMS/BMS communication to AI load smoothing and DC protection coordination. You will work hand in hand with the Systems Integration team: they own the SST platform; you own the applications. ## How You Will Contribute - Own end-to-end application testing of a novel high C-rate battery pack (SuperBBU) with Heron's SST, validating ripple mitigation, backup capability, slew rates, and power-loss profiles. - Support SST and utility-scale BESS integration testing at pilot sites, covering EMS-to-SST communication, black start and grid-forming coordination, charge/discharge cycling, and round-trip efficiency. - Support integration testing of the SST with commercial off-the-shelf DAS, SCADA and EMS systems. - Own Heron's first pilot deployments: review field performance, identify feature gaps, and work with SW/FW teams to turn findings into product improvements. - Write and maintain Python-based test automation to command power converters, sequence tests, log data, and turn manual procedures into repeatable automated loops. - Safely operate power converters, chillers, contactors, and protection hardware, and set up cabling, instrumentation, and data acquisition for high-power test runs. ## What You Will Bring We have a short list of must-have requirements. We prioritize a strong grip on first principles, hands-on skills, and a sense of initiative. Must-Have Requirements - 5+ years of hands-on experience in power electronics, energy storage, EV, grid, or a comparable hardware-intensive environment. - Strong grasp on DC circuit fundamentals: resonances, parasitics, slew rates, and inductive spikes. You can correlate test data with simulation results. - Strong scripting and test-automation skills to drive instruments and power converters and to log and analyze data. - Working knowledge of power conversion and battery systems: inverters and converters, BMS, DC pre-charge, contactors and protection, and thermal and cooling loops. - Comfort with lab instrumentation (oscilloscopes, power analyzers, DAQ systems) and comms protocols such as CAN and Modbus TCP. - Scrappy mindset: you get things done with a hundred hurdles in front of you. Nice-to-Haves - Experience with solid state transformers or grid-forming inverters. - Familiarity with utility-scale BESS commissioning, grid-support functions, or EMS integration. - Prior experience in systems-level testing of power electronics or energy storage products - Hands-on experience with circuit and system simulation tools such as LTspice, Simscape, or PLECS. If you are passionate about the energy transition and enjoy working at the frontier of power electronics and grid integration, we would love to hear from you. Join us in accelerating the electrification of everything at Heron Power. Heron Power provides competitive compensation (salary and equity) and benefits. The salary for this role ranges from $130,000 to 160,000 per year. ## About Heron Power ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Heron Power develops next-generation medium-voltage power electronics, including solid-state transformers, to modernize the electrical grid for AI data centers, renewable energy, and surging electricity demand. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series B) - **Headquarters**: Scotts Valley, California, United States - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: Drew Baglino ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Electric Power Transmission, Control, and Distribution; Industrial Power Electronics; Energy Infrastructure - **Target customers**: B2B — hyperscale data center operators, solar and storage developers, utility-scale energy project developers, and the broader electricity sector. - **Mission or purpose statement**: To build power electronics purpose-built for the 21st-century grid, helping the electricity sector grow faster and more affordably with scalable, reliable, and software-integrated infrastructure. ## Products & Services - **Heron Link for Data Centers**: An integrated solid-state transformer + SuperBBU (battery backup unit) solution purpose-built for AI and hyperscale power needs, enabling more efficient, scalable, and reliable power delivery. - **Heron Link for Solar & Storage**: An integrated solid-state transformer and inverter in one infinitely scalable platform, designed to streamline the connection of renewable generation and battery storage to the grid. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: Total Funding of **$178 million** across two rounds (Series A: $38M led by Capricorn Investment Group in June 2025; Series B: $140M led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz in February 2026). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: - **Investors**: Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz (American Dynamism Fund), Capricorn Investment Group, Gigascale Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Energy Impact Partners, Powerhouse. - **Advisors**: JB Straubel (Tesla Co-Founder), Zach Kirkhorn (Former Tesla CFO). - **Strategic Partner**: LG Energy Solution Vertech (collaboration to integrate Heron Link with U.S.-manufactured battery energy storage systems). - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount has grown **975% year-over-year** to 72 employees, with 58 active job postings. - Awarded **$26.375 million** in tax credit incentives from the state of California to build a 40-gigawatt manufacturing facility and create 600+ advanced manufacturing jobs. - Rapidly scaling from engineering prototypes to early customer deployments with major industry partners. ## Competitive Advantages - **Deep technical moat**: Heron’s core technology is an integrated solid-state transformer (SST) — a fundamental re-architecture of medium-voltage power electronics that is more scalable, software-integrated, and efficient than traditional copper-and-iron transformers. - **Founder pedigree**: CEO Drew Baglino was a 18-year veteran and SVP of Powertrain and Energy at Tesla, where he led development of the 4680 battery cell, Megapack, and built multi-billion-dollar energy and charging businesses. - **Strategic backing**: Backed by a world-class syndicate of climate-tech and deep-tech investors (Breakthrough Energy, a16z, Valor) and advised by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel and former Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn. - **Manufacturing-first approach**: Already planning a 40 GW U.S. manufacturing facility with state incentives secured, signaling a focus on high-volume, cost-competitive production from the start. ## Strategic Focus - **Scale manufacturing**: Building out a large-scale U.S. factory to meet demand from AI data centers and renewable energy projects. - **Commercial deployment**: Moving from engineering prototypes to delivering integrated solutions with strategic partners like LG Energy Solution Vertech. - **Debottleneck the grid**: Targeting the critical infrastructure bottleneck where traditional transformers and grid equipment cannot keep pace with surging electricity demand from AI, electrification, and renewables. ## Why Work Here - **High-impact mission**: Work on foundational hardware that directly enables the energy transition and AI infrastructure — systems that will be deployed and operated for decades. - **Engineering culture**: Values rapid iteration ("build, test, learn"), first-principles reasoning, and cross-functional collaboration across hardware, software, manufacturing, and operations. - **Ownership and autonomy**: Strong emphasis on taking accountability for outcomes, not just tasks, and working across team boundaries to deliver an impeccable product. - **Transparent and direct**: Culture prizes clear communication, honest feedback, and progress over posturing — "no defensiveness, no ego." - **Location and flexibility**: Based in Scotts Valley, California (near Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley), with a presence in Canada. The work is highly hands-on (hardware, lab, factory), so on-site presence is expected for engineering roles. - **Growth trajectory**: Explosive headcount growth (975% YoY) and 58 open roles across electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, software, and supply chain disciplines — offering significant career acceleration for early hires. - **Notable perks**: Opportunity to work alongside a team with deep expertise from Tesla, Meta, and KKR, with direct mentorship from a proven founder. ## Sources 1. [heronpower.com](https://heronpower.com/) 2. [heronpower.com/about](https://heronpower.com/about) 3. [heronpower.com/careers](https://heronpower.com/careers) 4. [linkedin.com/company/heron-power-electronics](https://www.linkedin.com/company/heron-power-electronics) 5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/heron-power](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/heron-power) ## Other roles at Heron Power - [Staff Industrial Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-industrial-designer-heron-power-scotts-valley-fpx59mmenp7f) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Accounting Manager/Senior Accounting Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/accounting-manager-senior-accounting-manager-heron-power-scotts-valley-fnvtfa8188q9) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Staff Supplier Industrialization Engineer - Mechanical](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-supplier-industrialization-engineer-mechanical-heron-power-scotts-valley-957jykeqt1bf) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Staff Supplier Industrialization Engineer - PCBA](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-supplier-industrialization-engineer-pcba-heron-power-scotts-valley-eva12vmsvtfh) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Head of People Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-people-operations-heron-power-scotts-valley-w6j1waf56azk) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Hardware Validation Systems Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-validation-systems-developer-heron-power-scotts-valley-rt7hhp0tqay6) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Test Engineer – Power Electronics](https://feeny.ai/job/test-engineer-power-electronics-heron-power-scotts-valley-68sp21xs5b1x) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Electrical / Electronics Design Engineer - PCBA Test Automation](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-electronics-design-engineer-pcba-test-automation-heron-power-scotts-97hcjwyaz5kk) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Systems Integration Engineer, SST & BESS Applications](https://feeny.ai/job/systems-integration-engineer-sst-bess-applications-heron-power-scotts-valley-vgbkn6jhna14) — Scotts Valley, CA - [Senior Product Test Engineer, Energy Storage Applications](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-test-engineer-energy-storage-applications-heron-power-scotts-jpvdhkdth144) — Scotts Valley, CA