Senior/Staff Power Electronics Engineer

Department: Engineering

Location: Scotts Valley

Employment Type: FullTime

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.