---
title: 'Senior/Staff Manufacturing Engineer at Heron Power'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-manufacturing-engineer-heron-power-scotts-valley-ybxxcvxkm5yt'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-17'
---

# Senior/Staff Manufacturing Engineer at Heron Power

- **Company:** Heron Power
- **Location:** Scotts Valley, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-09
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/heron-power/864ced18-6088-496f-b47e-0672b3278154

## 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 goal is to build better converters (inverters & rectifiers) to connect large-scale renewables, storage, and loads to the grid. Heron’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 As a Sr./Staff Manufacturing Engineer - Advanced Processes, Inspection & Test, you will be responsible for developing, testing, deploying and scaling the processes, inline inspection and electrical test strategies that guarantee high process capability at line rate for our high-volume transformer assembly lines. This role spans medium to high viscosity potting and dispense systems, surface treatment, high-speed plastic welding – from void, surface energy and delamination detection to a variety of electrical tests. You will work closely with product, mechanical and electrical design teams early and often through DFM, design processes from a first principles approach and close the feedback loop to ensure both the product and the lines that make it are robust. You will collaborate closely with external suppliers and equipment partners to land scalable, reliable and highly repeatable equipment lines and processes, owning them from concept to production ramp.

## How You Will Contribute

- Lead development of inline inspection, process monitoring and automated electrical test across the Transformer Assembly line, from concept and vendor selection through FAT/SAT, commissioning, validation and ramp
- Develop and deploy high-speed automated inspection of potted assemblies for voids, delamination, incomplete fill and cure defects – using technologies such as inline X-ray/CT, ultrasonic, thermography and machine vision
- Develop surface treatments processes such as atmospheric plasma/corona treatment, solvent/chemical cleaning and adhesion preparation along with inline verification of treatment uniformity and quality (surface energy, contact angle etc)
- Architect and deploy automated high volume electrical test equipment – capacitance, inductance, DC resistance, conductivity/resistivity, impulse, AC resistance, hipot and partial discharge – including test sequencing, fixturing, shielding/noise control, limit setting to balance cycle time, yield and escape risk
- Partner with other manufacturing engineers in developing high-viscosity 1k/2k potting and dispense systems, high-speed plastic welding processes like ultrasonic, hot plate and IR welding with robust inline process monitoring and destructive/non-destructive weld validation
- Lead MSA, Gage R&R and test method validation for inspection and electrical test systems, including golden/limit samples and correlation to lab methods such as sectioning and CT
- Apply PFMEA, control plans, SPC methodology and structured problem solving to maintain world class process capability
- Support automation integration with robots, conveyors and inline QA

## What You Will Bring

Must-Have Requirements 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. Domain-specific knowledge and experience will help determine the career level for each hire.

- Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing/Industrial/Mechanical/Electrical/Chemical Engineering
- 7+ years of experience in high volume manufacturing with a focus on process engineering, inline inspection, production test or automation for electromechanical, power electronics, magnetics or battery products
- Hands-one experience deploying automated non-destructive inspection (X-ray/Ct, ultrasonic, thermography or vision) to detect voids, delamination or bond-line defects in production
- Experience developing and validating automated electrical test for high volume production
- Experience with design, optimization and validation for high-viscosity potting and dispense systems including material supply, metering, mixing, vacuum potting and degassing strategies
- Experience with surface preparation processes and quantitative surface quality measurement
- Experience with ultrasonic, hot plate and/or IR welding of plastics, including process monitoring and weld validation
- Proficiency in statistical analysis, SPC, Cp/Cpk studies, hypothesis testing and Minitab/JMP
- Demonstrated ability to run DoE’s and optimize complex processes
- Experience implementing PFMEA’s, control plans, process flow diagrams
- Hands-on experience with automation, robotics, PLCs and vision systems

## Nice to Have

- Experience with injection molding processes and tooling

If you are passionate about technology and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, 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 $180,000 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

- [Hardware Applications Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-applications-engineer-heron-power-scotts-valley-kfxvw2cs0bwy) — Scotts Valley, CA
- [Senior Technical Account Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-account-manager-heron-power-scotts-valley-akxh1tnam866) — Scotts Valley, CA
- [Senior/Staff Mechanical Engineer, Power Electronics](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-mechanical-engineer-power-electronics-heron-power-scotts-valley-kapv2bzqxhgb) — Scotts Valley, CA
- [Power Electronics Test & Validation Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/power-electronics-test-validation-engineer-heron-power-scotts-valley-nmstx1yamf2z) — Scotts Valley, CA
- [Product Test Engineer, Energy Storage Applications](https://feeny.ai/job/product-test-engineer-energy-storage-applications-heron-power-scotts-valley-jpvdhkdth144) — 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/Staff Hardware Applications Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-hardware-applications-engineer-heron-power-scotts-valley-j87zqh31qfc9) — Scotts Valley, CA
- [Senior/Staff Power Electronics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-power-electronics-engineer-heron-power-scotts-valley-ggfb483hwt0h) — Scotts Valley, CA
- [Senior/Staff Electronics Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-electronics-design-engineer-heron-power-scotts-valley-956esv6rydpw) — Scotts Valley, CA
- [Staff/Senior Staff Global Supply Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-senior-staff-global-supply-manager-heron-power-scotts-valley-jkh0am8mf5jw) — Scotts Valley, CA