Principal Mechanical Engineer

Socket.dev; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Mainspring Energy is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer to serve as a company-level technical authority for our Linear Generator platform. In this role, you will shape long-term technical direction, define engineery architecture and design principles, and guide high-consequence decisions with exceptional autonomy.

A strong candidate will have broad technical leadership across multiple teams and programs, and the ability to create durable company-wide leverage.

Job description

About Mainspring Mainspring Energy

Mainspring Energy manufactures and delivers fuel-flexible, low-emissions local power solutions that rapidly add new capacity and deliver reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric power. The company began commercial shipments of its Mainspring Linear Generators in 2020 and today has hundreds of megawatts in advanced development and field operations for leading Fortune 500 companies, data centers, and utilities. Mainspring also partners with global energy leaders including AEP, NextEra Energy Resources, Schneider Electric, and more. The core values that ground our work, guide our decisions, and connect us together: Pragmatic Optimism Excellence without Ego Proactive Collaboration

About the Role

Mainspring is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer to serve as a company-level technical authority in a critical mechanical engineering domain for our Linear Generator platform. In this role, you will shape long-term technical direction, define or strongly influence architecture and design principles, guide high-consequence technical decisions, and help the organization solve problems that are novel, ambiguous, and central to long-term product and business success. This role is intended for engineers who have already demonstrated broad technical leadership across multiple teams, systems, or major program areas and are now ready to create durable company-level technical leverage. A strong candidate should be able to operate with exceptional autonomy, advise senior leadership, anticipate long-term technical and business risks, and create principles, standards, methods, or decision frameworks that improve how Mainspring approaches major classes of engineering problems. Candidates who primarily shape technical direction across multiple teams or system areas may be better aligned to a Senior Staff Mechanical Engineer role. Principal-level candidates should bring rare technical judgment in a company-critical domain and demonstrate impact that extends beyond individual projects, teams, or near-term program execution.