The board
Internship
Engineering
Intern, Automation Controls Engineer (Spring 2027)
Heron Power · Engineering
- Where
- Scotts Valley
- Posted
- Jul 31
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 focus goal is to build better converters (inverters & rectifiers) to connect large-scale renewables, storage, and loads 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.
What you'd do
- Wire control panels, fabricate enclosures and brackets, and support mechanical build-out of automation equipment.
- Specify, order, and install sensors and field devices (cables, junction boxes, labeling) to a consistent, production-ready standard.
- Support PLC/HMI programming tasks under guidance, following existing naming conventions and documentation standards.
- Read and red-line electrical schematics, and use tools such as Claude in PowerPoint/Excel to communicate scope of work.
- Help document standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the pilot line and lab equipment.
- Track task timelines and keep stakeholders informed of progress.
- Sheet-metal or shop-class experience.
- Exposure to PLC/HMI programming (e.g., basic sensor logic, ladder logic).
- Schematic drafting experience (electrical or mechanical).
- Experience sourcing industrial components (e.g., AutomationDirect).
What they want
- Organized, methodical work habits, with strong written documentation instincts.
- Willingness to ask “what’s the best approach?” before building, rather than working in isolation.
- Ability to follow and extend existing engineering conventions rather than starting from scratch.
- Basic understanding of electrical/controls concepts (sensors, digital and analog I/O, wiring fundamentals).