Electrical / Electronics Design Engineer - PCBA Test Automation

Heron Power; Scotts Valley (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary and equity

Job summary

Heron Power Inc. seeks an Electrical / Electronics Test Engineer - PCBA to build automated test infrastructure for validating and shipping at scale from PCBA-level tests to full production test systems.

You will own the lifecycle of test architecture, fixtures, and data pipelines, collaborating across design and manufacturing to enable reliable, repeatable high-volume testing of low-voltage electronics and high-power converter assemblies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience in designing and delivering automated test setups for high-voltage / high-power systems.
• Strong fundamentals in circuits and instrumentation.
• Hands-on experience with scopes, DMMs, power supplies, electronic loads, DAQs, and digital interfaces (CAN, Ethernet, SPI, I2C, UART).
• Demonstrated ownership of a test system from concept through deployment and sustainment.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and drive issues to closure.

Responsibilities

• Define functional test coverage for PCBAs, subsystems, and full systems.
• Architect test solutions balancing coverage, cycle time, cost, and maintainability.
• Partner with design engineering to drive Design-for-Test (DFT): test points, boundary scan, firmware testing, and observability.
• Define regression strategy to prevent re-learning the same lessons across builds and firmware releases.
• Establish pass/fail criteria grounded in real system performance and reliability goals.
• Design and deliver automated bi-directional converter testers for AC/DC and DC/DC systems capable of source and sink operation.
• Architect high-power test cells including bidirectional AC/DC sources, regenerative loads, grid simulators, HV measurement chains, interlocks and safe operating procedures.
• Implement automated test sequences for power cycling, efficiency mapping, transient response, fault injection, protection validation.
• Ensure high-voltage testing is safe, repeatable, and production-ready.
• Design and build PCBA functional fixtures, harnesses and interface racks, subsystem and system-level interface racks, and fault-injection rigs.
• Specify and integrate instrumentation including power supplies, electronic loads, DAQs, DMMs, oscilloscopes, power analyzers, CAN/Ethernet/RS-485 tools, and sensors.
• Deliver stations that are robust, safe, maintainable, and scalable.
• Drive rapid debug loops when tests fail.
• Improve test observability and diagnostic resolution.
• Own station version control, calibration, uptime, and software releases.
• Partner with manufacturing to improve yield, reduce escapes, and accelerate learning loops.
• Close the loop with design and reliability teams.

Skills

Circuit fundamentals

Instrumentation

Cross-functional collaboration

Test system ownership

High-voltage test experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics, or equivalent

Tools

Scopes

DMMs

Power supplies

Electronic loads

DAQs

CAN

Ethernet

SPI

I2C

UART

Job description

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.

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

High-reliability products are built on high-quality test infrastructure. As the Electrical / Electronics Test Engineer - PCBA, you will build the automated hardware test infrastructure that allows us to validate and ship at scale—from PCBA-level functional circuit testing through subsystem validation, end-of-line system testing and all the way to test systems developed for high volume manufacturing of low-voltage electronics and high-power converter assemblies. You will architect and deliver complete automated test cells that integrate power hardware, instrumentation, control software, and data pipelines into reliable, repeatable production and engineering tools. This role owns the lifecycle loop from: test requirements coverage strategy test architecture fixture/bench design automation software deployment sustainment regression and continuous improvement. If you like turning “we need a test” into a working system that engineering and manufacturing can depend on, this role will feel like home.

How You Will Contribute

Test Strategy & Architecture (PCBA System EOL)

• Define functional test coverage for PCBAs, subsystems, and full systems.
• Architect test solutions balancing coverage, cycle time, cost, and maintainability.
• Partner with design engineering to drive Design-for-Test (DFT): test points, boundary scan, firmware testing , and observability.
• Define regression strategy to prevent re-learning the same lessons across builds and firmware releases.
• Establish pass/fail criteria grounded in real system performance and reliability goals.

High-Power / High-Voltage Bi-Directional Converter Testers

• Design and deliver automated bi-directional converter testers for AC/DC and DC/DC systems capable of source and sink operation.
• Architect high-power test cells including bidirectional AC/DC sources, regenerative loads, grid simulators (as needed), HV measurement chains, contactors and protection systems, interlocks and safe operating procedures, grounding strategy.
• Implement automated test sequences for power cycling, efficiency mapping, transient response, fault injection, protection validation.
• Ensure high-voltage testing is safe, repeatable, and production-ready.

Test Hardware & Fixture Development

• Design and build PCBA functional fixtures (bed-of-nails, pogo, interface boards), harness and connector validation fixtures, subsystem and system-level interface racks, and fault-injection rigs.
• Specify and integrate instrumentation including power supplies, electronic loads, DAQs, DMMs, oscilloscopes, power analyzers, CAN/Ethernet/RS-485 tools, and sensors.
• Deliver stations that are robust, safe, maintainable, and scalable.

Debug, Yield & Continuous Improvement

• Drive rapid debug loops when tests fail.
• Improve test observability and diagnostic resolution.
• Own station version control, calibration, uptime, and software releases.
• Partner with manufacturing to improve yield, reduce escapes, and accelerate learning loops.
• Close the loop with design and reliability teams.

What Makes This Role Different

• You will build the automated tester capability from the ground up.
• Real breadth: PCBA functional engineering validation high-power HIL end-of-line testing production.
• Direct ownership of high-voltage, high-energy automated test systems.
• High agency and high slope — the testers you build directly determine how fast we can iterate and ship.

What You Will Bring

We prioritize first-principles thinking, practical skill, ownership, and a proactive mindset. We care as much (or more) about how you work as what you already know. We calibrate seniority based on demonstrated results, depth, and ownership — not keywords.

Must-Have Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience in designing and delivering automated test setups for high-voltage / high-power systems.
• Strong fundamentals in circuits and instrumentation.
• Hands-on experience with scopes, DMMs, power supplies, electronic loads, DAQs, and digital interfaces (CAN, Ethernet, SPI, I2C, UART).
• Demonstrated ownership of a test system from concept through deployment and sustainment.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and drive issues to closure.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience with bi-directional AC/DC or DC/DC power sources and regenerative loads.
• Experience with HIL development or embedded firmware validation infrastructure.
• Experience with PCBA manufacturing functional test and yield improvement.
• Familiarity with production traceability systems and calibration discipline.
• Experience developing test systems for medium-voltage or high-power converter products.

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 $150,000 to $200,000 per year.