Research Intern, Hardware Implementation and Validation (Energy Storage and Power Electronics)

Hitachi; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 28,000 - 41,000; Full time

Job summary

Hitachi America, Ltd. is seeking a Research Intern in Santa Clara, CA to advance a hybrid energy storage system for data centers.

You will own the hardware implementation and validation of the storage system and its controllers, comparing measurements to models and feeding insights back into design. This hands-on role blends lab work with a research component, including potential contributions to publications and patents.

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in a graduate program in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• Strong fundamentals in power electronics and power systems.
• Experience with energy storage technologies is an asset.

Responsibilities

• Build and validate a hardware-energy storage system bench, with programmable loads and real-time control.
• Implement control strategies on real-time hardware and compare with simulations.
• Design a validation campaign including test cases and instrumentation.
• Document procedures, results, and potential design updates.

Job description

Location:

Santa Clara, California, United States

Job ID:

R0144505

Date Posted:

2026-09-09

Company Name:

HITACHI AMERICA, LTD.

Profession (Job Category):

Administration & Facilities

Job Schedule:

Full time

Remote:

No

Job Description:

Title: Research Intern, Hardware Implementation and Validation (Energy Storage and Power Electronics)

Company: Hitachi America

Division: R&D | Strategic Solution Lab

Location: Santa Clara, CA

Status: Full time, 3-6 month internship

The Company

About Hitachi America, Ltd.

Hitachi America, Ltd. is the regional headquarters for Hitachi Group companies in the Americas, overseeing the U.S., Canada, and Latin America markets. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Hitachi Americas has been deeply committed to its Social Innovation Business since its establishment in 1959, addressing society's most pressing challenges through innovative solutions. Leveraging its expertise and resources, Hitachi Americas and its subsidiary companies operate across diverse sectors, including transportation, energy, mobility, industrial manufacturing, healthcare, digital engineering, data analytics and others. Driven by Digital, Green, and Innovation, Hitachi Americas remains at the forefront of pioneering solutions that shape the future. For further details, please visit https://www.hitachi.us/.

AboutHitachi,Ltd.

Through its Social Innovation Business (SIB) that brings together IT,OT(Operational Technology)and products, Hitachiaims to be a global leader in continuously transforming social infrastructure through digital, contributingto a harmonized society where the environment, wellbeing, and economic growth are in balance.Hitachioperatesworldwide acrossfour sectors - Digital Systems & Services, Energy, Mobility, and Connective Industries -as well as aStrategic SIB Business Unitfocused onnew growthareas. With Lumada at its core, Hitachicreatesvalueby combiningdata,technologyand domain knowledgeto solve customer and social challenges.Revenues forFY2025(ended March 31, 2026) totaled10,586.7billion yen, with 606 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 290,000 employees worldwide. Visit us at www.hitachi.com.

Summary

AI training and inference clusters produce large, fast, synchronized power swings. A single GPU rack can move more than half of its rated load in milliseconds, and when hundreds of racks move together the effect reaches the facility boundary and the grid. We are developing a hybrid energy storage system for data centers to protect upstream infrastructure and increase usable capacity.

We are seeking a Research Intern (Hardware Implementation and Validation) to take this system from design to hardware. You will own the implementation and validation of the storage system and its controllers, compare the design's predicted behavior against what the hardware actually does, and feed the differences back into the design. Where the measurements show that the architecture, sizing, or control law needs to change, you will propose and implement the change. This is a hands-on engineering role with a research component. Results are expected to be reported internally and, where appropriate, to feed conference publications and standards discussions.

Job Responsibilities

• Build, commission, and safely operate a bench-scale hybrid energy storage system (batteries, supercapacitors, bidirectional DC/DC converters, common DC bus) with programmable loads and a real-time control platform.

• Implement power-split and energy management controllers on real-time hardware and evaluate candidate control strategies head-to-head under repeatable transient test profiles.

• Design and execute a validation campaign: define test cases from realistic load traces, instrument the bench at the required time resolution, and measure response time, bus voltage deviation, energy split, and state-of-charge behavior.

• Compare measured results against simulation models, identify where the models are incomplete (converter dynamics, sensing and communication latency, storage non idealities), and update them.

• Recommend and implement design updates to storage sizing, converter control bandwidth, and the interface between fast local control loops and the supervisory controller.

• Document hardware, test procedures, and findings so the work can be reproduced and extended.

• Communicate results via technical reports, presentations, and contributions to publications and patents as appropriate.

A Day in the Life

• Align with technical leads on build milestones, test plans, and success metrics.

• Work in the lab wiring, commissioning, and debugging converters, storage modules, and instrumentation.

• Deploy a control design from simulation to the real-time target and run it against transient test profiles.

• Analyze measurement data, compare it with model predictions, and propose the next design or model change.

• Present progress through demos, written updates, and research discussions.

Requirements

• Currently enrolled in a PhD program (preferred) or MS program in Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering, or a related field.

• Solid fundamentals in power systems and power electronics: DC/DC converter topologies and control, DC bus dynamics, and protection.

• Experience with battery and supercapacitor energy storage, including electrical and thermal characteristics,