Lead Heat-Exchanger Design Engineer

Approach Venture LLC; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity ownership

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Fully stocked kitchen

Job summary

Approach Venture LLC in El Segundo, CA seeks a Senior Thermofluids Engineer to own the thermal and hydraulic design of heat exchangers inside a megawatt-scale power unit. You will size exchangers, build CAD models, and run CFD for iterative design, coordinating with cross-functional teams.

The role requires hands-on development from sizing to fabrication, with direct engagement in testing and validation of hardware in a fast-moving startup environment. Equity opportunity included.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering or closely related field.
• 5+ years of hands-on engineering on thermal-fluid hardware.
• Experience at an early-stage hardware startup or engineering consultancy
• Deep 3D CFD experience on internal flows with conjugate heat transfer.

Responsibilities

• Own the thermal and hydraulic design of recuperator, heater, and air-cooled heat rejection hardware.
• Size heat exchangers using effectiveness-NTU methods and pressure-drop budgets.
• Create and revise detailed CAD of cores and flow passages.
• Run 3D CFD on internal flows and conjugate heat transfer.
• Use CFD results to drive geometry changes.
• Build and maintain 1D network models for performance prediction.
• Balance thermal performance with pressure drop, packaging, cost, and manufacturability.

Skills

CAD modeling

3D CFD

Heat exchanger sizing

Thermal design

1D modeling

Problem ownership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering

Tools

STAR-CCM+

Ansys Fluent

CFD software

ASME BPVC

Job description

Approach Venture LLC in El Segundo, CA seeks a Senior Thermofluids Engineer to own the thermal and hydraulic design of heat exchangers inside a megawatt-scale power unit. You will size exchangers, build CAD models, and run CFD for iterative design, coordinating with cross-functional teams.

The role requires hands-on development from sizing to fabrication, with direct engagement in testing and validation of hardware in a fast-moving startup environment. Equity opportunity included.