Lead Solar Thermal Design Engineer

Exowatt; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Competitive salary and equity

Job summary

Exowatt is seeking a Lead Thermal Design Engineer in Austin, TX to own end-to-end solar thermal receiver design for our P3 system. You will work at the intersection of heat transfer, materials science, and optical engineering to optimize efficiency, durability, and cost.

You will lead architecture decisions, run rapid prototyping, validate models, and collaborate across teams to scale production while advancing high-temperature absorber coatings and novel media.

Qualifications

• 7+ years designing high-temperature thermal hardware.
• Experience with molten salt, liquid sodium, or particle-based heat transfer media.
• Publications or patents in solar thermal or high-temperature receiver technology.

Responsibilities

• Own the solar thermal receiver end-to-end architecture, design, analysis, prototyping, and qualification.
• Set technical direction for receiver development and architecture trade-offs.
• Build and validate thermal and optical models and iterate designs rapidly.
• Select and qualify high-temperature materials for extreme thermal cycling.
• Drive design-for-manufacturing to scale from prototype to mass production.

Skills

Heat transfer

Thermal design

ANSYS/COMSOL

Materials science

Optical modeling

Education

MS/PhD in a relevant discipline

Bachelor's in Mechanical/Aerospace

Tools

SolarPILOT

Finite element tools

Job description

Exowatt is seeking a Lead Thermal Design Engineer in Austin, TX to own end-to-end solar thermal receiver design for our P3 system. You will work at the intersection of heat transfer, materials science, and optical engineering to optimize efficiency, durability, and cost.

You will lead architecture decisions, run rapid prototyping, validate models, and collaborate across teams to scale production while advancing high-temperature absorber coatings and novel media.