Senior/Staff Manufacturing Engineer

Heron Power Inc.; Scotts Valley (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Heron Power Inc. in Scotts Valley, CA seeks a Sr./Staff Manufacturing Engineer - Advanced Processes to design, test, and scale inline inspection and electrical test strategies for high-volume transformer assembly lines.

You will partner with design and external suppliers to land repeatable equipment lines, lead MSA and PFMEA efforts, and drive DoEs to optimize complex high-viscosity potting and dispense systems. This is a hands-on, collaborative role in a fast-paced startup.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing/Industrial/Mechanical/Electrical/Chemical Engineering.
• 7+ years of experience in high volume manufacturing with a focus on process engineering, inline inspection, production test or automation for electromechanical, power electronics, magnetics or battery products.
• Hands-on experience deploying automated non-destructive inspection (X-ray/Ct, ultrasonic, thermography or vision) to detect voids, delamination or bond-line defects in production.
• Experience developing and validating automated electrical test for high volume production.
• Experience with design, optimization and validation for high-viscosity potting and dispense systems including material supply, metering, mixing, vacuum potting and degassing strategies.
• Experience with surface preparation processes and quantitative surface quality measurement.
• Experience with ultrasonic, hot plate and/or IR welding of plastics, including process monitoring and weld validation.
• Proficiency in statistical analysis, SPC, Cp/Cpk studies, hypothesis testing and Minitab/JMP.
• Demonstrated ability to run DoE’s and optimize complex processes.
• Experience implementing PFMEA’s, control plans, process flow diagrams.
• Hands-on experience with automation, robotics, PLCs and vision systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead inline inspection, process monitoring and automated electrical test across the Transformer Assembly line.
• Develop high-speed automated inspection of potting assemblies for voids, delamination, and curing defects using X-ray/CT, ultrasonic, thermography and vision.
• Develop surface treatments with atmospheric plasma/corona, cleaning and adhesion prep with inline verification.
• Architect and deploy automated high-volume electrical test equipment with fixtures and noise control.
• Collaborate with manufacturing engineers on potting/dispense systems and high-speed plastic welding processes.
• Lead MSA, Gage R&R and test method validation for inspection and electrical tests.
• Apply PFMEA, control plans, SPC and structured problem solving to achieve world-class process capability.
• Support automation integration with robots, conveyors and inline QA.

Skills

First principles thinking

Hands-on

Process engineering

Inline inspection

Electrical test development

Statistical analysis

DoE optimization

PFMEA & control plans

Automation & robotics

Vision systems

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Tools

Minitab

JMP

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 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 and collaborative environment, driven by first principles engineering, solving difficult problems.

Job Overview

As a Sr./Staff Manufacturing Engineer - Advanced Processes, Inspection & Test, you will be responsible for developing, testing, deploying and scaling the processes, inline inspection and electrical test strategies that guarantee high process capability at line rate for our high-volume transformer assembly lines. This role spans medium to high viscosity potting and dispense systems, surface treatment, high-speed plastic welding – from void, surface energy and delamination detection to a variety of electrical tests. You will work closely with product, mechanical and electrical design teams early and often through DFM, design processes from a first principles approach and close the feedback loop to ensure both the product and the lines that make it are robust. You will collaborate closely with external suppliers and equipment partners to land scalable, reliable and highly repeatable equipment lines and processes, owning them from concept to production ramp.

How You Will Contribute

• Lead development of inline inspection, process monitoring and automated electrical test across the Transformer Assembly line, from concept and vendor selection through FAT/SAT, commissioning, validation and ramp

• Develop and deploy high-speed automated inspection of potted assemblies for voids, delamination, incomplete fill and cure defects – using technologies such as inline X-ray/CT, ultrasonic, thermography and machine vision

• Develop surface treatments processes such as atmospheric plasma/corona treatment, solvent/chemical cleaning and adhesion preparation along with inline verification of treatment uniformity and quality (surface energy, contact angle etc)

• Architect and deploy automated high volume electrical test equipment – capacitance, inductance, DC resistance, conductivity/resistivity, impulse, AC resistance, hipot and partial discharge – including test sequencing, fixturing, shielding/noise control, limit setting to balance cycle time, yield and escape risk

• Partner with other manufacturing engineers in developing high-viscosity 1k/2k potting and dispense systems, high-speed plastic welding processes like ultrasonic, hot plate and IR welding with robust inline process monitoring and destructive/non-destructive weld validation

• Lead MSA, Gage R&R and test method validation for inspection and electrical test systems, including golden/limit samples and correlation to lab methods such as sectioning and CT

• Apply PFMEA, control plans, SPC methodology and structured problem solving to maintain world class process capability

• Support automation integration with robots, conveyors and inline QA

What You Will Bring

Must-Have Requirements

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.

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing/Industrial/Mechanical/Electrical/Chemical Engineering

• 7+ years of experience in high volume manufacturing with a focus on process engineering, inline inspection, production test or automation for electromechanical, power electronics, magnetics or battery products

• Hands-on experience deploying automated non-destructive inspection (X-ray/Ct, ultrasonic, thermography or vision) to detect voids, delamination or bond-line defects in production

• Experience developing and validating automated electrical test for high volume production

• Experience with design, optimization and validation for high-viscosity potting and dispense systems including material supply, metering, mixing, vacuum potting and degassing strategies

• Experience with surface preparation processes and quantitative surface quality measurement

• Experience with ultrasonic, hot plate and/or IR welding of plastics, including process monitoring and weld validation

• Proficiency in statistical analysis, SPC, Cp/Cpk studies, hypothesis testing and Minitab/JMP

• Demonstrated ability to run DoE’s and optimize complex processes

• Experience implementing PFMEA’s, control plans, process flow diagrams

• Hands-on experience with automation, robotics, PLCs and vision systems

Nice to Have

• Experience with injection molding processes and tooling

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 $130,000 to $180,000 per year.