Stress Analyst – Mechanical & Thermal Integrity

Coolbrook; Helsinki; Hybrid; EUR 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Coolbrook is seeking a Stress Analyst – Mechanical & Thermal Integrity to lead FEA, lifing and integrity assessments for RDH/RDR components. You will work with design, materials and aero teams to validate margins, durability and safety for long operating life.

The role involves non-linear FEA, fatigue life estimation and reporting across multiple stakeholders in a global setting; ideally based in the UK or Finland, with a permanent, location-flexible setup and collaboration across offices.

Qualifications

• MSc/PhD in mechanical, aerospace or materials engineering, or a BSc with strong experience.
• Expert use of FE packages (ANSYS, Abaqus or NX Simcenter) with non-linear contact, sub-modeling and hand calculations.
• Strong knowledge of fatigue, creep and fracture mechanics, especially for high-temperature alloys.
• Clear technical writing; judgement on when margins are not adequate.

Responsibilities

• Perform static and thermo-mechanical FEA on rotating components under centrifugal, pressure and thermal loads.
• Define duty cycles and life targets for 100,000+ operating hours including lifing analyses.
• Conduct fracture mechanics and damage tolerance assessments with NDT criteria.
• Evaluate overspeed, burst margins and blade containment requirements.
• Analyze blade/disc dynamics and pressure-part design-by-analysis per standards.
• Write integrity substantiation reports and support design reviews and CE/PED files.
• Coordinate with design, materials, aero and commissioning teams across locations.

Skills

FEA experience

Fatigue & fracture mechanics knowledge

Engineering judgement on margins

Technical writing

Hands-on strain-gauge / spin-pit

Education

MSc or PhD in mechanical, aerospace or materials engineering

BSc with strong relevant experience

Tools

ANSYS

Abaqus

NX Simcenter

Non-linear contact & sub-modeling

Job description

We are looking for a Stress Analyst – Mechanical & Thermal Integrity to join Coolbrook’s Technology and Engineering team.

As a Stress Analyst – Mechanical & Thermal Integrity, you will prove that blades, discs, and casings survive high speed, high temperature, and decades of continuous industrial duty.

You own the structural integrity case for RDH and RDR critical parts. You show, by analysis and test, that each part meets its strength, life, and vibration requirements for long continuous operation, with clearly stated margins. Assess non-conformances, supplier deviations, and concessions quickly and soundly, so that hardware keeps running.

You receive geometry from design, metal temperatures and thermal transients from the thermal analysts, aerodynamic pressures and forcing from aero, speeds and modes from rotor dynamics, and material data from materials engineering or data from commissioning and field service. You deliver stresses, lives, margins, design recommendations, and integrity reports.

Coolbrook offers you an exciting role in an international, dynamic, growing company with a real opportunity to make an impact and make history. In this permanent role, you will preferably be based in the UK or Finland offices and report to our Engineering Manager while collaborating with multiple internal and external stakeholders.

As Stress Analyst – Mechanical & Thermal Integrity, your responsibilities would include:

• Static and thermo-mechanical FEA: blades, vanes, discs, shafts, casings and flanges under centrifugal, pressure and thermal loads. Includes non-linear contact at blade roots (fir-tree, dovetail) and interference fits, and plasticity where needed.

• Lifing: low-cycle fatigue (strain-life, Neuber), high-cycle fatigue (Goodman / Haigh), creep and creep-fatigue interaction, and thermo-mechanical fatigue. You define the duty cycle (starts, trips, hold times) and life targets for 100,000+ operating hours.

• Fracture mechanics and damage tolerance: LEFM and crack-growth assessment, critical defect sizes, and the resulting NDT acceptance criteria.

• Overspeed and burst: disc burst and overspeed margins, spin-test requirements, and blade containment checks for the casing.

• Blade and disc dynamics: modal analysis, Campbell and interference (SAFE) diagrams, forced response and mistuning sensitivity, and frequency margins.

• Pressure parts and joints: design-by-analysis of pressure-containing casings (EN 13445 / ASME VIII Div. 2), bolted-joint assessment (VDI 2230), and buckling checks.

• Validation: specify strain gauging, blade tip timing and spin-pit tests, and correlate the models with the results.

• Reports and reviews: write integrity substantiation reports and provide input to design reviews and the CE / PED conformity files.

For success in this role, you will need:

• MSc or PhD in mechanical, aerospace or materials engineering, or a BSc with strong relevant experience.

• Expert use of an FE package (ANSYS, Abaqus or NX Simcenter), including non-linear contact and sub-modeling, backed by classical hand calculations.

• Sound knowledge of fatigue, creep and fracture mechanics, and of how high-temperature alloys behave (nickel-base superalloys, heat-resistant steels).

• Clear technical writing, and the judgement to say when a margin is not good enough.

Desirable would be:

• Fatigue post-processing tools (such as nCode) and scripting (APDL, Python) for automated lifing.

• Probabilistic lifing, or experience applying aerospace critical-part methods to industrial duty.

• Hands-on experience with strain-gauge, tip-timing, or spin-pit campaigns.

Experience levels:

• For the engineer level: 3–5 years of FEA and lifing on rotating hardware, or a PhD in fatigue or fracture. You assess components under guidance.

• For the advanced level: 6+ years of stress and lifing on gas or steam turbines, aero engines or other critical rotating parts. You own complete component integrity cases.

• For the senior level: 12+ years. You are the technical authority who sets lifing methods and design rules and signs off critical-part substantiation.

At Coolbrook we are passionate about building teams where unique perspectives and backgrounds are valued and where everyone feels equally included.

If this resonates with you, we are looking forward to receiving your application.

With inquiries about the role, please reach out to Dr. Mark Wilson ([e-mail]) or Dr. Frank Eulitz ([e-mail]).

About Coolbrook:

Coolbrook is a transformational technology and engineering company on a mission to decarbonize major industrial sectors: petrochemicals and chemicals, iron and steel, and cement. Our RotoDynamic™ technology combines space science, turbomachinery, and chemical engineering to replace the burning of fossil fuels in high-temperature industrial processes with electricity.

The technology has two main applications: the RotoDynamic Heater™ (RDH™), which provides carbon-free process heat for iron and steel, cement, and chemicals production, and the RotoDynamic Reactor™ (RDR™), which enables 100% CO2-free olefin production. Implemented at scale, RotoDynamic technology can reach temperatures of up to 1,700 °C and cut 2.4 billion tons (30%) of annual CO2 emissions in heavy industry.

Coolbrook was named winner of the Technologies of Change – Pioneering Decarbonization award at the Reuters Events: Global Energy Awards 2026, listed on the Global Cleantech 100 in both 2025 and 2026, and recognized as a 2025 BNEF Pioneer by BloombergNEF. Our international team works in Finland, the UK, the Netherlands, and India. Learn more at www.coolbrook.com.