--- title: 'Senior/Staff Power Electronics Engineer at Heron Power' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-power-electronics-engineer-heron-power-scotts-valley-ggfb483hwt0h' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-19' --- # Senior/Staff Power Electronics Engineer at Heron Power - **Company:** Heron Power - **Location:** Scotts Valley, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-06-12 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-19 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/heron-power/5813408a-15c8-4fa6-8d10-eaa86dfc7a0d ## 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 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 As a Senior Power Electronics Engineer, you will lead the design and development of high-power, grid-connected converter hardware. You will be part of a small, focused engineering team responsible for delivering robust and efficient power conversion systems from concept through production. Your work will span early-stage architecture, detailed circuit and system design, simulation, prototyping, validation, and product industrialization. You will collaborate cross-functionally with teams across firmware, mechanical, reliability, and manufacturing to ensure seamless integration and high performance. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, values ownership, and is passionate about advancing energy technology. ## How You Will Contribute - Architect, design, and deliver grid-tied power converters. - Own the full hardware development lifecycle—from requirements definition and modeling through schematic capture, PCB layout, prototyping, testing, validation, and manufacturing support. - Develop detailed electrical models of converter circuits and topologies to support performance analysis and design optimization. - Select power components, design protection circuitry, and ensure compliance with relevant safety and grid standards. - Collaborate closely with systems, mechanical, layout, firmware, reliability, and manufacturing teams to bring designs from concept to production at scale. - Drive innovation in power converter architectures to achieve industry-leading performance in efficiency, power density, and reliability. ## 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 - Degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent practical experience. - Minimum 3 years of hands-on experience in the design, prototyping, testing, and industrialization of power converters. - Deep understanding of power electronics topologies, both theoretical and applied, including isolated and non-isolated architectures. - Proven experience with high-voltage semiconductor devices such as IGBTs, Si/SiC MOSFETs, and diodes, as well as design of gate drivers and sensing circuits. - Strong grasp of magnetic component design and selection—inductors, transformers—as well as capacitor types (film, ceramic, electrolytic) for high-voltage/high-frequency operation. - Solid understanding of switching behavior, semiconductor loss mechanisms, and experience with power loss and thermal modeling. - Proficient in schematic capture, simulation tools (SPICE, PLECS, LTspice, Simulink etc.), and familiar with lab instrumentation such as oscilloscopes, network analyzers, and power analyzers. - Experience in PCB layout for power electronics, including strategies to reduce parasitics, improve thermal management, and ensure manufacturability and EMC compliance. - Working knowledge of product safety, reliability, and environmental standards for industrial applications. - Basic understanding of control systems and experience working with embedded firmware; familiarity with UL, CE, and grid interconnection standards (such as IEEE 1547, UL347A, etc.) relevant to power converters. - Work authorization in the United States Nice-to-Haves - Experience designing or testing medium-voltage systems (e.g., 5kV–35kV), including insulation coordination, clearance/creepage, and partial discharge considerations. - Familiarity with grid-tied hardware such as medium-voltage converters, switchgear, circuit breakers, or protective relays. - Knowledge of insulation materials, shielding techniques, and arc flash mitigation for high-voltage systems. - Background in reliability engineering and accelerated life testing (HALT, HASS, FMEA) for power electronics. - Exposure to manufacturing processes for high-power assemblies (e.g., busbars, potting, conformal coating, HV connectors). - Hands-on experience with test automation using Python, LabVIEW, or embedded scripting for power hardware validation. - Participation in standards committees or familiarity with emerging grid codes and interconnect standards is a plus. 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 $120,000 to $200,000 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. 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