---
title: 'Staff Automation Engineer at SPAN'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-automation-engineer-span-san-francisco-qcrtdqg6sebm'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Staff Automation Engineer at SPAN

- **Company:** SPAN
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $135k–$200k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-05-29
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/span/ea864f0c-d069-4542-ac82-4a8669e11a46/application

**Skills:** Python, C++, Rust, TypeScript, CI/CD, PostgreSQL, gRPC, Ansible, AWS, S3, Time-series data ingestion, Embedded systems testing, CAN bus, SWD debugging, Firmware update flows, Lab instrumentation control, Power analyzers, Load simulators, Signal generators, Relay boards

> SPAN is seeking a Staff Software Engineer in Automation to design test automation infrastructure, diagnose failures across firmware and hardware, and manage hardware test rigs. The role involves architectural ownership of critical systems like CI/CD pipelines, data pipelines, and test execution frameworks.

## Job description

## Our Mission

SPAN is enabling electrification for all ⚡

We are a mission-driven company designing, building, and deploying products that electrify the built environment, reduce carbon emissions, and slow the effects of climate change.

- Decarbonization is the process to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, from entering our atmosphere.
- Electrification is the process of replacing fossil fuel appliances that run on gas or oil with all-electric upgrades for a cleaner way to power our lives.

At SPAN, we believe in:

- Enabling homes and vehicles powered by clean energy
- Making electrification upgrades possible
- Building more resilient homes with reliable backup
- Designing a flexible and distributed electrical grid

## The Role

As a Staff Automation Engineer, you'll play a crucial role in ensuring the quality and reliability of our products through a combination of automated and manual testing methodologies. This is a high impact role that will work closely with SPAN’s internal Software, Device Software, Hardware Engineering, Systems, and QA teams.

## Role & Responsibilities

As a Staff Automation Engineer, you will be expected to:

- Co-design test automation infrastructure with Systems and Test Infrastructure. Automation provides the platform and drivers; partner teams write the tests.
- Diagnose automated test failures across firmware, hardware, and test infrastructure.
- Help manage and grow a fleet of 50+ hardware test rigs across offices.
- Monitor hardware and software infrastructure health.

You will take architectural ownership of one or more of the team's critical systems. Examples of where you might focus:

- Hardware-in-the-loop test execution: on-premise orchestration of test sequences on physical hardware, integrated into CI/CD for PR gating and release qualification.
- Test data pipeline: telemetry ingestion from rigs, structured storage in PostgreSQL, reporting dashboards for release readiness and reliability.
- Test execution framework: instrument driver library, sequence engine, and the gRPC services that tie rigs together.

The specific focus depends on your strengths and the team's needs at the time you join.

## About You

Required Qualifications

- Demonstrable proficiency building reliable tools and services in Python.
- Able to read and reason about C++, Rust, TypeScript, or similar. Not your daily language, but enough to follow a bug across a boundary.
- Experience with hardware-adjacent software: software that controls, monitors, or ingests data from physical devices or instruments.
- Experience owning internal platform infrastructure where your users are other engineers and your systems are in the critical path.
- Comfortable standing up new tooling from scratch and retiring it when needs change.
- Experience operating CI/CD infrastructure, particularly pipelines that run on physical hardware.

Additionally, there are three primary focus areas, you should fit into one or more of these: HITL-relevant:

- Understanding of hardware-in-the-loop testing, reliability testing, and certification testing methodologies.
- Experience managing fleets of physical test cells or lab infrastructure (Ansible, AWX, or similar).
- Experience with embedded systems or firmware testing (CAN bus, SWD debugging, firmware update flows).

Data pipeline-relevant:

- Experience with time-series data: ingestion, storage, and querying of telemetry.
- Experience with PostgreSQL, S3/AWS.
- Experience building reporting dashboards for engineering or leadership audiences.

Framework-relevant:

- Experience with gRPC or similar RPC frameworks.
- Experience with lab instrumentation control. Power analyzers, load simulators, signal generators, relay boards.
- Experience designing automated test rigs or test cells from requirements through physical buildout to software integration.

Bonus Qualifications We would love to hire someone who has:

- Experience working in a startup environment.
- Experience working in the renewable energy industry.
- Experience with Ansible or similar configuration management for physical infrastructure.
- Experience with or preference for a rapid or continuous release cadence

Life at SPAN Headquartered in San Francisco’s vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a ‘make it happen’ approach to addressing complex challenges. SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We’re hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN. The Perks: ⚡ Competitive compensation + equity grants at a well-funded, venture-backed company ⚡ Comprehensive benefits: 100% employee premiums for base plans on medical, dental, vision with options for additional coverage.  Parental leave up to twenty four (24)  weeks depending on eligibility ⚡ Comfortable, sunny office space located near BART and Caltrain public transit ⚡ Strong focus on team building and company culture: Employee Resource Groups, monthly social events, SPANcakes recognition breakfast, lunch, and learns ⚡ Flexible hours, one holiday per month, and flexible time off

Interested in joining our team? Apply today and we’ll be in touch with the next steps!

## About SPAN

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: SPAN designs and manufactures a smart electrical panel that replaces traditional circuit breakers, providing real-time, circuit-level energy management and control to optimize home energy use.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Smart Home Energy Management, Clean Technology, Electrical Infrastructure
- **Target customers**: B2C (homeowners), B2B (builders, installers, and partners in the solar/battery/HVAC ecosystem)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Decarbonize our future" by designing, building, and deploying products that electrify homes and slow the effects of climate change [span.io/about](https://www.span.io/about).

## Products & Services
- **SPAN Panel**: A smart electrical panel that replaces a home’s standard circuit breaker box. It provides real-time, circuit-level energy data, control, and automation via an intuitive mobile app. It manages all electricity in the home, enabling smarter energy use, cost savings, and longer backup power during outages.
- **SPAN Home App**: The software interface for the SPAN Panel. It offers an all-in-one dashboard for real-time energy monitoring, circuit-level control, and energy-saving insights.
- **SPAN PowerUp**: An integrated technology within the SPAN Panel that automatically manages appliance loads to prevent overloads, allowing homeowners to add major appliances (like EV chargers, heat pumps) without costly utility service upgrades.
- **SPAN XFRA**: A distributed data center solution announced in April 2026, designed to close the speed-to-power gap for AI compute demand [span.io](https://www.span.io/).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised of **$426.72M** (Series C) [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/spanio)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Partners include Tesla, Carrier, Eaton, FranklinWH, and Mitsubishi Electric [span.io](https://www.span.io/).
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Ranked **#5 out of top 500 startups** [span.io/mission-careers](https://www.span.io/mission-careers).
  - Launched a campaign with Carrier, Tesla, and others to lower electricity costs by unlocking underused grid capacity (March 2026).
  - Announced a collaboration with Eaton (March 2026).
  - Expanding into distributed data center solutions with XFRA (April 2026).

## Competitive Advantages
- **First-mover in smart panels**: SPAN reinvented the 100-year-old electrical panel, creating a new category of home energy management.
- **Hardware + Software Moat**: The combination of a physical panel (UL 1741 PCS certified) with sophisticated software for circuit-level control is difficult to replicate.
- **Ecosystem Integrations**: Deep partnerships with major players like Tesla, Carrier, and Eaton create a sticky, integrated product experience.
- **Safety & Reliability**: Unrivaled leadership in electrical safety, meeting rigorous industry standards (NEMA 3R rated for indoor/outdoor placement).

## Strategic Focus
- **Electrification of homes**: Core mission is to enable all-electric homes with solar, battery storage, EV charging, and heat pumps.
- **Grid modernization**: Pushing for policy changes and technologies (like the campaign with Carrier and Tesla) to unlock underused grid capacity.
- **New market expansion**: Moving beyond residential into distributed data center infrastructure with XFRA.
- **Deepening integrations**: Continued collaboration with major OEMs to ensure seamless installation and interoperability.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven**: Employees are united by the goal to decarbonize the world and slow climate change [span.io/about](https://www.span.io/about).
- **Company values**: "Know your stuff" (curiosity, expertise), "Make it happen" (execution mindset), and "In it together" (team success) [span.io/mission-careers](https://www.span.io/mission-careers).
- **Growth & recognition**: Ranked #5 out of top 500 startups, indicating strong momentum and market validation.
- **Culture**: "Safe, productive, and flexible work environment that enables innovation and creativity" [span.io/mission-careers](https://www.span.io/mission-careers).
- **Compensation & benefits**: Competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, flexible paid time off, and team-building/career growth opportunities.
- **Locations**: Offices in San Francisco (HQ), South San Francisco (R&D Lab), and Bengaluru, India.
- **Employee Resource Groups**: Active ERGs for community connection.

## Sources
1. [span.io](https://www.span.io/)
2. [span.io/about](https://www.span.io/about)
3. [span.io/mission-careers](https://www.span.io/mission-careers)
4. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/spanio)
5. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/spanio)

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