Principal Mechanical Engineer - Technical Leader, Hardware

Mainspring Energy; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Onsite at Menlo Park HQ

Job summary

Mainspring Energy is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer to serve as a company-level technical authority for the Linear Generator platform. You will shape long-term technical direction, influence architecture, and guide high-stakes decisions across teams.

The role requires broad leadership across multiple domains, autonomy to advise senior leadership, and the ability to create durable technical leverage that improves product capability, reliability, and manufacturability.

Qualifications

• Proven track record solving high-consequence mechanical problems in critical domains.
• Ability to shape technical direction across major systems or organizations.
• Strong judgment balancing capability, reliability, cost, scalability and safety.
• Experience guiding senior leaders on strategic technical decisions.
• Proven ability to develop standards, methods, and risk approaches across teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead company-critical technical direction in a mechanical domain with high ambiguity and cross-functional impact.
• Define or influence architecture, design principles, standards, and long-term product direction.
• Solve unprecedented engineering problems where existing methods fall short.
• Advise senior leadership on technical decisions with long-term consequences.
• Define learning strategies for high-consequence decisions and knowledge capture.

Skills

Technical leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Engineering judgment

Executive communication

Education

BS/MS/PhD Mechanical Engineering

Job description

Mainspring Energy is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer to serve as a company-level technical authority for the Linear Generator platform. You will shape long-term technical direction, influence architecture, and guide high-stakes decisions across teams.

The role requires broad leadership across multiple domains, autonomy to advise senior leadership, and the ability to create durable technical leverage that improves product capability, reliability, and manufacturability.