Intern, Electronics Design Engineer, Fall 2026/Winter 2027

Heron Power; Scotts Valley (CA); On-site; USD 28,000 - 50,000; Part time

Job summary

Heron Power, a startup building cutting-edge power electronics, invites an intern to join the Electronics Design team in Scotts Valley, CA. You will contribute to subsystem design, ECAD/library work, simulations, and prototype bring-up.

Work with a hands-on EE team to select components, verify performance, and help develop test plans and documentation. This role emphasizes learning, collaboration, and practical problem solving in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
• Hands-on hardware debugging experience with oscilloscopes and multimeters.
• Experience with circuit simulation and ECAD tools (LTSpice, Altium).
• Familiarity with microcontrollers, their peripherals and board-level comms (I2C, SPI, UART, CAN).

Responsibilities

• Own ECAD component library and review design components.
• Identify suitable components and evaluate alternatives for designs.
• Verify circuit performance via simulation and prototype testing.
• Participate in design reviews and subsystem trade-off analyses.
• Develop bring-up test plans and firmware/software requirements for new designs.
• Test PCB interfaces with sensors, actuators, and communication buses.
• Support LV systems validation during prototype and production builds.
• Coordinate with firmware, test, and manufacturing teams for integration and serviceability.

Skills

First principles thinking

Hands-on debugging

Independent work

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical Engineering

Tools

LTSpice

Altium

Job description

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 like datacenters 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 an Intern, Electronics Design Engineer, you will be responsible for participating in subsystem architecture design, design and analysis/simulation of subcircuits, ECAD library management, layout, schematic capture and performing component and circuit cost and sourcing analysis. You will work with the EE team developing functional test, bring-up procedures, testing and debugging prototypes.

How You Will Contribute

• Own the role of ECAD librarian creating components and providing reviews of design components.
• Work with the EE team to identify suitable components for designs as well as evaluating and identifying alternate solutions.
• Verify circuit performance through simulation and testing of prototypes, including development and facilitation of test procedures.
• Participate in design reviews and trade-off analysis for sub-system architectures.
• Develop bring-up test plans and FW/SW requirements for new designs, performing testing of prototype hardware and managing test data.
• Test electrical interface integrity across PCBs, sensors, actuators, and communication buses (e.g., CAN, RS-485, Ethernet, LV analog/digital I/O).
• Support validation and bring-up of LV systems during prototype and production builds, including DVT and integration testing.
• Coordinate with firmware, test, and manufacturing teams to ensure proper system behavior, testability, integration, and serviceability.

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

• Currently pursuing a bachelors or masters in Electrical Engineering.
• 1+ term of previous internship experience in an EE field or examples of hardware projects you have worked on.
• Experience with circuit simulation and ECAD tools (eg. LTSpice, Altium...).
• Experience with microcontrollers, their peripherals and standard board level communication protocols (I2C, SPI, QSPI, UART, CAN).
• Familiarity with analog circuits, power conversion and power supply topologies.
• Hands-on experience with debugging and testing electrical systems using oscilloscopes, multimeters, and similar tools.
• Passion for learning and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience with LV systems in high-voltage environments
• Familiarity with fieldbus communication protocols like CAN or industrial ethernet.
• Knowledge of EMC and UL/IEC standards.
• Knowledge of IPC standards for PCB design and manufacturing.
• Experience in creating engineering drawings, wiring harness drawings, and related specifications.
• Exposure firmware development and debugging tools.
• Knowledge of failure mode analysis and root cause investigations of electrical systems.
• A portfolio that showcases your passion for electronics.

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.