Intern, System Integration & Test Automation (Spring 2027)
Heron Power · Scotts Valley
Extracted from the posting
Builds and operates electrical test benches for inverters, DC/DC converters, and bidirectional power stages, and executes burn-in, power cycling, thermal, and abuse reliability campaigns. Writes Python instrument control and hardware tests over CAN, UART, Modbus, and TCP/IP, including firmware flashing and EOL station software. Spring 2027 internship for students pursuing a BS or MS in EE or Mechatronics.
What to Expect
Heron Power is a startup company building cutting-edge power electronics for the 21st-century grid. We aim to de-bottleneck 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 environment, driven by first principles engineering, solving difficult problems—with a strong bias toward hands-on execution and learning by doing.
Job Overview
You will build and operate the test infrastructure we use to validate grid-tied converters. This role owns a meaningful slice of the development loop: test bench design and build, test execution, data analysis, failure isolation, and verified fixes. You will uncover real design and process failures by running physical tests and building automated equipment and data workflows. We prioritize a strong foundation in first principles, practical skill, and a bias toward getting things done. We care as much about how you work as what you already know.
How You Will Contribute
Test Bench Architecture & Build
- Design and build electrical reliability test benches for power electronics hardware—inverters, DC/DC converters, bi-directional power stages.
- Specify, procure, and integrate lab equipment: programmable power supplies, electronic loads, DAQ systems, sensors, protection hardware, interlocks, and cabling.
- Own the bench system design: grounding, measurement integrity, EMI-aware instrumentation, protection strategy, safe operating procedures, and maintainability.
Software & Test Automation
- Contribute to our software test infrastructure for system integration and reliability testing — test architecture, hardware abstraction layers, and result reporting pipelines.
- Write software tests that interact directly with hardware and firmware over CAN, UART, Modbus, TCP/IP — debugging signal integrity, protocol failures, and firmware edge cases.
- Write concurrent, fault-tolerant software for our next-generation manufacturing test platform: Firmware Flashing, FCT, EOL stations running autonomously on the factory floor.
- Build AI agents that manage test execution across facilities — initiating runs, monitoring anomalies, implementing test script and firmware changes in response to failures, and routing issues to humans
Test Execution & Reliability Campaigns
- Translate test goals and suspected failure mechanisms into test plans, stress profiles, instrumentation plans, and pass/fail criteria.
- Execute reliability campaigns—burn-in, power cycling, thermal stress, and abuse tests—and evolve them as we learn where the real failure cliffs are.
- Drive fast debug loops during excursions: isolate, instrument deeper, reproduce, and verify that corrective actions eliminate the failure.
What You Will Bring
We prioritize a strong foundation in first principles, practical skill, an inquisitive mindset, and a proactive attitude. We care as much—or more—about how you work as what you already know.
Must-Have Requirements
- Pursuing a BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field.
- Hands-on experience designing, building, or operating electrical test setups for complex hardware—power electronics strongly preferred.
- Comfort with bench power equipment and measurement methods: scopes, DMMs, power analyzers, electronic loads, DAQ, and sensors.
- Ability to design safe test systems for high-power hardware: interlocks, protection, grounding, and safe operating procedures.
- Strong debugging instincts and ability to drive root-cause closure with engineering partners.
- Programming experience in Python—including instrument control or data automation.
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience with accelerated or environmental stress testing (HALT/HASS, thermal/humidity cycling, power cycling).
- Familiarity with failure mechanisms in power electronics and structured root cause/corrective action loops.
- Experience designing repeatable test cells with drawings and instructions to turn scrappy setups into production-quality ones.
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.
