Senior/Staff Mechanical Engineer, Power Electronics at Heron Power (Scotts Valley, CA)
Heron Power· Scotts Valley, CA·
Role details
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 Mechanical Engineer, you will design, develop, and validate cutting-edge medium-voltage power electronics systems. You will design a wide range of associated parts and assemblies using a first principles design approach. Your role will involve performing a variety of tasks, including CAD, analysis, prototyping, testing, and hands-on work. You will collaborate closely with electrical, test, and manufacturing engineering teams, as well as external suppliers. You will own your designs from concept through high-volume production.
How You Will Contribute
- Design mass-manufacturable parts and assemblies for power converters, such as enclosures, plastics, heatsinks, insulators, transformers, connectors, PCBAs, bolted joints, and adhesive joints
- Own parts and assemblies from initial concept to high volume production
- Design with a first principles approach, optimizing parts through analysis (e.g. structural, thermal, tolerance)
- Create 3D designs and 2D drawings using CATIA V6/3DX
- Perform hands-on work such as prototyping and testing
- Collaborate with different engineering disciplines, including mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, and reliability teams, as well as external partners and suppliers
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. Domain-specific knowledge and experience will help determine the career level for each hire.
Must-Have Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, mechatronics, or similar
- 4+ years of full-time industry experience
- Demonstrated exceptional ability designing mechanical parts or assemblies
- Demonstrated exceptional ability working with 3D CAD (bonus if there is experience with CATIA V6/3DX)
- Strong engineering fundamentals including a basic understanding of electronics
- Experience designing electromechanical parts or assemblies
- Experience with high volume manufacturing and processes such as fastening, sheet metal bending, stamping, injection molding, diecasting, extruding, and dispensing
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team
- Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience designing power electronics converters
- Experience with PCBAs, connectors, fuses, and other electronic components
- Experience with FEA, CFD, multi-physics modeling, or associated software (Ansys, MATLAB, Python, Simulink, StarCCM, etc.)
- Experience with GD&T and tolerance analysis
- Experience with reliability and validation testing, as well as DFMEAs
- Experience with product lifecycle management (PLM) and controlled release processes
- Experience with medium voltage (34.5kV) or grid-related products, such as converters, switchgear, circuit breakers, insulation, and shielding
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 Heron Power.
Heron Power provides competitive compensation (salary and equity) and benefits. The salary for this role ranges from $120,000 to $220,000 per year.
Why work at Heron Power
- 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.