Redwood Materials→
Software Validation Engineer at Redwood Materials in San Francisco, CA
Job Description
About Redwood Materials
Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by JB Straubel, co-founder and former CTO of Tesla, on a simple but radical idea: the critical minerals powering the energy transition already exist. They just need to come back. Today Redwood is the largest lithium-ion battery recycler in North America — recovering, refining, and redeploying critical minerals from end-of-life batteries back into the supply chain. On the energy side, Redwood has deployed the largest second-life battery project in the world, delivering power to AI data centers in months rather than years using proprietary energy architecture engineered entirely in-house. The company is profitable, the market it operates in is projected to grow 20 to 50 times over the next decade, and Redwood is the only company with the supply chain, the technology, and the operational scale to lead it.
The Redwood Vision: Architecting the Future of the Grid
We are at the precipice of a global energy transition. At Redwood Materials, we are moving beyond battery recycling to build the most advanced, circular energy ecosystem on the planet. Our goal is to shift the industry from static, hardware-heavy infrastructure toward agile, software-defined energy assets. The Software Validation team ensures that these complex systems are safe, resilient, and ready for grid-scale deployment.
As a Software Validation Engineer, you are the bridge between pure code and physical reality. You will design and maintain the environments—Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL)—that allow us to stress-test our power electronics and site controllers. Your mission is to build the automated frameworks that catch edge cases before they hit the field, ensuring every product we ship meets the highest standards of reliability.
Key Responsibilities
- Validation Environment Design: Architect and scale our SIL and HIL environments (using platforms like Typhoon HIL, Opal-RT, or similar) to provide high-fidelity simulations of battery assets and grid conditions
- Test Automation Frameworks: Lead the development of automated test suites in Python. You will transition our validation processes from manual intervention to a fully automated, scalable framework
- V&V Strategy: Define and execute comprehensive Verification and Validation (V&V) plans, ensuring all software requirements for the site controller and embedded power electronics are met under normal and fault conditions
- CI/CD Integration: Integrate automated HIL/SIL testing into our CI/CD pipelines, providing real-time feedback to the development teams and serving as the final gate for production-ready code
- Hardware-in-the-Loop Interfacing: Design custom interface hardware and wiring for HIL benches, bridging physical I/O from our controllers to simulated power stages
- Root Cause Analysis: Work closely with the firmware and systems teams to debug complex failures found during validation, using logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and telemetry logs to pinpoint issues
Qualifications
- Background: A BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field, combined with 2+ years of professional experience in software validation or test automation for hardware-focused systems
- HIL/SIL Mastery: Proven experience with real-time simulation platforms (Typhoon HIL, Opal-RT, or dSPACE) and a deep understanding of how to model power electronics components in a virtual environment
- Automation Toolchain: Expert proficiency in Python (specifically for test automation frameworks like Pytest) and familiarity with Rust and C/C++ to navigate embedded codebases
- Hardware Literacy: Comfortable in a high-voltage lab environment. You should be proficient with standard lab equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies, electronic loads) and digital protocols like CAN, SPI, and Ethernet
- Systematic Thinking: A dedicated mindset for "breaking" software. You have a track record of finding critical edge cases in complex state machines and control loops
- Infrastructure: Experience with Git, Jenkins/GitHub Actions, and containerization tools like Docker for managing consistent test environments
In accordance with California pay transparency laws, the salary range for this position is listed below. Actual compensation may vary based on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and skills.
California Pay Range:
$152,500 - $342,500 USD
The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.
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