Director Mechanical Engineering

Key Responsibility Areas:

• Own the technical baseline for primary and secondary mechanical fusion systems, including requirements, design, development, analysis, verification, though manufacturing, commissioning, and operation.
• Drive system-level trades across relevant performance domains (e.g. thermal, structural, electromagnetic, nuclear, vacuum, cryogenic).
• Maintain accountability for the key performance metrics that define system success.
• Define and enforce interface controls.
• Work with core system-level development teams to define requirements.
• Lead system design and development, addressing the complex 3D non-axisymmetric geometry unique to stellarators.
• Drive disciplined design trades balancing performance, manufacturability, and schedule.
• Own the analysis campaigns required to demonstrate system feasibility and adequate margin under all operating conditions (normal operation, off-normal events, transients).
• Partner with manufacturing and fabrication engineering to ensure all components can be built, inspected, and assembled within realistic tolerances.
• Address stellarator-specific fabrication challenges driven by non-axisymmetric geometry and tight tolerance requirements.
• Own the assembly sequence and integration plan for systems within the overall machine build.
• Serve as the system-level integrator for system interfaces.
• Work with Systems Engineering & Configuration Management to define and maintain interface control documents, requirements flow down, and configuration baselines.
• Coordinate across engineering tools to establish CAD/CAE/PLM workflows and simulation infrastructure.
• Make scope and schedule trade-offs, escalating risks and decision points with clear technical rationale.
• Build, lead, and develop the integrated engineering team, spanning multiple disciplines.
• Define work packages, priorities, and deliverables across the team.
• Maintain technical risk registers and drive mitigation plans to closure.
• Build and maintain a technically rigorous team culture, setting expectations for analysis quality, design rigor, and documentation standards.

Ideal Experience & Skillsets:

• 15+ years of experience in mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, or a closely related field, with significant time spent on large-scale, high-performance hardware systems.
• Deep technical knowledge of at least two of the following: structural analysis, thermal-hydraulic analysis, vacuum system design, cryogenic engineering, nuclear engineering, high-heat-flux component design, manufacturing engineering.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-disciplinary hardware development programs from concept through fabrication and test.
• Strong understanding of materials behavior and manufacturing processes for demanding mechanical systems.
• Proficiency with engineering tools: CAD (NX preferred), FEA (ANSYS preferred), and PLM systems.
• Bias toward ownership: you take accountability for outcomes, not just activities.
• Ability to make system-level decisions under uncertainty and defend them with engineering rationale.
• Effective at leading integrated, multi-disciplinary teams through clarity of scope and technical credibility.
• Comfort with ambiguity and pace of a startup building first-of-a-kind hardware.
• Strong written and verbal communication: you can present system status, risks, and trades to executives and to the engineering team with equal effectiveness.
• Track record of building and leading high-performing technical teams.
• Exceptional work ethic and a bias toward action.
• Innate desire to learn, innovate, and challenge assumptions, including your own.
• At least a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, physics, or related fields.
#LI-RD1

Company Benefits:

• Salary range $175,000-$235,000
• Comprehensive health benefits (e.g. medical/dental/vision)
• Employee equity stock options
• 20 days PTO