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Scotts Valley, California, United States
Onsite
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.
The Systems Team at Heron unite the systems engineering, integration, reliability, testing, and failure analysis into a cohesive group across the design lifecycle of our products. Our goal is to be the technical conscience of the product — mastering how it works, why it works, and how it can fail — and setting new standards for architecture, integration, and validation in our industry. As a Mechanical System Integration and Test Engineer, you will architect, design, build, and operate the mechanical fixtures and test infrastructure that let us integrate, validate, and ship medium-voltage power converters at volume.
This role owns the loop from: architecture input → interface definition → fixture and test stand design/build → test execution → failure analysis → verified fix → production readiness. If you thrive on owning complex system integration end to end, from a seat at the architecture table through reliability sign-off, this role will be a great opportunity.
Manufacturing & Test Fixture Design
Design, release mechanical fixtures, wiring diagrams, automated High Voltage connections, etc. for automated end-of-line and functional circuit testers.
Design and build assembly fixtures for shock and vibration testing.
Design and build Ingress Protection (IP) test setups, dust chambers, spray/water-jet nozzles, immersion tanks, and enclosure mounting fixtures, per IEC 60529 test methods.
Mechanical Integration & Architecture
Create and maintain 3D system layouts, packaging studies, interface definitions, and 2D drawings
Track integration milestones (interface freeze, fixture readiness, first article build) and drive resolution of schedule risk.
Define and manage mechanical and packaging interfaces between subsystems, including enclosures, power electronics assemblies, busbars, cable routing, cooling systems, insulation, fasteners, and assembly hardware
Reliability & Environmental Test Development
Own the full test cycle for mechanical components: test plan, fixture/stand design, execution, data analysis, and report-out.
Develop physics-of-failure models for mechanical components, translating mechanical, thermal, and environmental stresses into expected degradation and lifetime, with defined acceleration factors and failure criteria.
Run IP, shock/vibration, and accelerated life testing hands-on, from bring-up through full test campaigns.
Define instrumentation and DAQ plans (thermocouples, strain gauges, accelerometers, load cells) for long-duration test campaigns.
Failure Analysis
Lead root cause analysis on mechanical failures (fasteners, seals, enclosures, structural elements), separating root cause from secondary damage.
Translate findings into design, material, or interface changes, and verify fixes through re-test.
This role owns the fixtures, test stands, and reliability data that decide whether a design is provable, buildable, and testable, with a seat at the table when architecture is still being decided. You are the person who makes sure interfaces between subsystems don't fall through the cracks, and who turns failure physics into real test setups rather than reaching for an off-the-shelf tester.
What You Will Bring
We prioritize first principles thinking, hands-on skill, and initiative over keywords. Domain-specific experience will help determine the career level for each hire.
Must-Have Requirements
Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, mechatronics, or similar.
3+ years of full-time industry experience designing mechanical fixtures, test hardware, or electro-mechanical assemblies.
Strong experience with 3D CAD (bonus for CATIA V6/3DX).
Experience designing fixtures or test setups for manufacturing, functional test, environmental sealing (IP ingress), or shock/vibration qualification.
Experience with reliability modeling (physics-of-failure, accelerated lifetime testing, or degradation modeling) and leading failure analysis on mechanical components.
Experience developing instrumentation and DAQ strategies for long-duration testing.
Experience defining and managing interfaces between mechanical and electrical subsystems (harnessing, connectors, fasteners, thermal interfaces).
Comfortable running hands-on test execution on hardware you build, not just handing it off to someone else.
Comfort influencing design decisions during early architecture phases and tracking integration milestones across a program.
Excellent communication skills, strong problem-solving skills, and attention to detail.
Scripting experience in Python or MATLAB for test automation and data analysis.
Nice-to-Haves
Experience with GD&T and tolerance analysis.
Experience facilitating DFMEAs.
Experience with creepage/clearance, grounding, insulation systems, and safety requirements.
Experience with thermal systems, including air or liquid cooling integration.
Experience with FEA or associated software (Ansys, SolidWorks Simulation, etc.).
Experience with product lifecycle management (PLM) and controlled release processes.
Experience with medium voltage (34.5kV) or grid-related products, such as converters, switchgear, circuit breakers, insulation, and shielding.
