Senior Mechanical Engineer, Sealing Systems (Piston Ring)

Mainspringenergy; Edison (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Mainspring Energy, based in California, seeks a Staff Mechanical Engineer to own and advance ring and piston development for its low-emissions linear generators. You will lead design from concept through production, run benchtop and in-generator tests, and collaborate with a fast‑paced R&D team.

Advanced degree and substantial design/analysis experience are required. Proficiency in SolidWorks and Python for data analysis, plus thermodynamics expertise, are highly valued as you help strengthen

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent with 8+ years of experience.
• Ph.D. with 5+ years of experience acceptable.
• Experience designing high-performance, precision parts from R&D through to production release.
• Fluency in SolidWorks or a comparable CAD package; familiarity with FEA tools such as Ansys.
• Ability to generate 2D drawings for manufacturing and GD&T.
• Strong understanding of thermodynamics; experience with power systems, energy storage, aerospace is relevant.
• Experience with high-cycle fatigue and high-temperature environments; super alloys a plus.
• Fluency in Python for data analysis and modeling to inform failure analysis.
• Systems thinking to optimize whole-system interactions.

Responsibilities

• Lead ring and piston development projects, including setting requirements and scope, developing novel designs, reviewing colleagues' designs and analyses in detail, and building production introduction plans
• Design complex moving parts in the piston and ring system, from originating ideas through detailed design, build, test, and evaluation of performance
• Assess and root cause failures that involve coupled thermal, structural, materials, and fluid interactions, balancing analysis with hands‑on physical intuition
• Design and run effective test campaigns, using both benchtop rigs and in‑generator experiments, to validate designs and accelerate learning
• Discover and define requirements on surrounding subsystems to improve ring and piston performance
• Collaborate closely with a talented engineering team in a fast‑paced, iterative environment to find the best solutions

Skills

SolidWorks CAD

Python for data analysis

Thermodynamics

Structural mechanics

Tribology

Heat transfer

Finite Element Analysis

GD&T

High-cycle fatigue design

System-level thinking

Education

Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent

Ph.D. with 5+ years experience

Tools

SolidWorks

Ansys

Job description

Mainspring Energy, based in California, seeks a Staff Mechanical Engineer to own and advance ring and piston development for its low-emissions linear generators. You will lead design from concept through production, run benchtop and in-generator tests, and collaborate with a fast‑paced R&D team.

Advanced degree and substantial design/analysis experience are required. Proficiency in SolidWorks and Python for data analysis, plus thermodynamics expertise, are highly valued as you help strengthen