---
title: 'Software Validation Engineer, Energy Storage at Redwood Materials'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-validation-engineer-energy-storage-redwood-materials-san-francisco-nzr4hvg1t5q6'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-09'
---

# Software Validation Engineer, Energy Storage at Redwood Materials

- **Company:** Redwood Materials
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $153k–$343k
- **Posted:** 2026-11-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-09
- **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/redwoodmaterials/jobs/6238341004?gh_jid=6238341004

## 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.

The Redwood Vision: Architecting the Future of the Grid

We are at the precipice of a global energy transition. At Redwood Materials, we are moving beyond battery recycling to build the most advanced, circular energy ecosystem on the planet. Our goal is to shift the industry from static, hardware-heavy infrastructure toward agile, software-defined energy assets. The Software Validation team ensures that these complex systems are safe, resilient, and ready for grid-scale deployment.

As a Software Validation Engineer, you are the bridge between pure code and physical reality. You will design and maintain the environments—Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL)—that allow us to stress-test our power electronics and site controllers. Your mission is to build the automated frameworks that catch edge cases before they hit the field, ensuring every product we ship meets the highest standards of reliability.

## Key Responsibilities

- Validation Environment Design: Architect and scale our SIL and HIL environments (using platforms like Typhoon HIL, Opal-RT, or similar) to provide high-fidelity simulations of battery assets and grid conditions
- Test Automation Frameworks: Lead the development of automated test suites in Python. You will transition our validation processes from manual intervention to a fully automated, scalable framework
- V&V Strategy: Define and execute comprehensive Verification and Validation (V&V) plans, ensuring all software requirements for the site controller and embedded power electronics are met under normal and fault conditions
- CI/CD Integration: Integrate automated HIL/SIL testing into our CI/CD pipelines, providing real-time feedback to the development teams and serving as the final gate for production-ready code
- Hardware-in-the-Loop Interfacing: Design custom interface hardware and wiring for HIL benches, bridging physical I/O from our controllers to simulated power stages
- Root Cause Analysis: Work closely with the firmware and systems teams to debug complex failures found during validation, using logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and telemetry logs to pinpoint issues

## Qualifications

- Background: A BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field, combined with 2+ years of professional experience in software validation or test automation for hardware-focused systems
- HIL/SIL Mastery: Proven experience with real-time simulation platforms (Typhoon HIL, Opal-RT, or dSPACE) and a deep understanding of how to model power electronics components in a virtual environment
- Automation Toolchain: Expert proficiency in Python (specifically for test automation frameworks like Pytest) and familiarity with Rust and C/C++ to navigate embedded codebases
- Hardware Literacy: Comfortable in a high-voltage lab environment. You should be proficient with standard lab equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies, electronic loads) and digital protocols like CAN, SPI, and Ethernet
- Systematic Thinking: A dedicated mindset for "breaking" software. You have a track record of finding critical edge cases in complex state machines and control loops
- Infrastructure: Experience with Git, Jenkins/GitHub Actions, and containerization tools like Docker for managing consistent test environments

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: $152,500—$342,500 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)

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