Software Engineer – Nonlinear Solid Mechanics & High-Performance Computing

Vinci4D; Palo Alto, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Flexible work environment

Job summary

Vinci4d in California is seeking a software engineer at the intersection of computational solid mechanics, numerical methods, and high-performance computing. You will design, implement, and tune solvers for geometric and material nonlinearity that run at scale on modern hardware.

You will write production-quality code, contribute to CI/CD, and collaborate with physicists, engineers, and software developers to bring new solvers from concept to robust, scalable software.

Qualifications

• 3–6 years in computational mechanics or HPC.
• Portfolio of open source or shipped code.
• Strong FEM knowledge.
• Experience with GPU solvers.

Responsibilities

• Develop and tune nonlinear solvers for solid mechanics.
• Build and optimize linear algebra for Newton iterations.
• Port solvers to GPU using CUDA, HIP, or SYCL.
• Implement FEM discretizations for structural and thermomechanical solves.
• Contribute to CI/CD and automated testing.
• Collaborate with domain experts to translate models into code.
• Profile and benchmark solver performance.

Skills

GPU programming

C++/Python

FEM

Iterative solvers

Preconditioning

CI/CD

Git workflows

Automated testing

Tools

CUDA

HIP

SYCL

Job description

About Us

At Vinci4d, we are building the next generation of simulation software for thermal, fluid flow, and structural mechanics applications — the kind of tools that change how engineers design products, from the first mesh to the final answer. We are a small, technically deep team that moves fast, ships real software, and takes on hard problems that matter. If you want your work to be foundational to a platform used by engineers worldwide, this is the place.

The Role

We are looking for a software engineer who lives at the intersection of computational solid mechanics, numerical methods, and high-performance computing. You will design, implement, and tune solvers for geometric and material nonlinearity in solid mechanics — think large-deformation, contact, and history-dependent material response — that run at scale on modern hardware. You will write production-quality code, contribute to our CI/CD infrastructure, and collaborate closely with a multi-disciplinary team of physicists, engineers, and software developers.

This is not a "maintain the existing stack" role. You will be building things that don't exist yet, solving problems that require both rigorous mathematical thinking and solid engineering instincts.

What You Will Work On

• Develop and tune nonlinear solvers for solid mechanics, handling both geometric nonlinearity (large deformation, finite strain) and material nonlinearity (plasticity, viscoelasticity, temperature-dependent and history-dependent constitutive models)

• Build and optimize the underlying linear algebra: iterative linear solvers and preconditioners for the large sparse systems arising at each Newton iteration

• Port and optimize these solvers for GPU execution using CUDA, HIP, or equivalent frameworks, with a focus on memory bandwidth, occupancy, and scalability

• Implement FEM discretizations for structural and thermomechanical field solves, with attention to robustness and convergence under stiff, ill-conditioned, and near-singular conditions

• Contribute to a robust software engineering foundation: version control discipline, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and code review practices

• Collaborate with domain experts to translate physical models and mathematical formulations into correct, efficient implementations

• Profile and benchmark solver performance; identify and eliminate bottlenecks

What We Are Looking For

Technical Skills

• Hands-on experience developing solvers for geometric and material nonlinearity in solid mechanics — large-deformation kinematics, nonlinear constitutive models, and the Newton-type schemes that drive them to convergence

• Strong foundation in the finite element method (FEM) for solid and structural mechanics

• Deep familiarity with iterative linear solvers (e.g., Krylov methods) and preconditioning techniques for large, sparse systems, with hands-on experience implementing these inside a nonlinear solver

• Proven GPU programming experience (CUDA, HIP, SYCL, or similar) with a track record of getting real performance out of hardware

• Proficiency in C++ and/or Python; comfort working in performance-critical codebases

• Strong software engineering practices: Git workflows, code review, automated testing (unit, integration, regression), and CI/CD pipelines

Experience

• 3–6 years of industry or research experience in a relevant field (computational mechanics, scientific computing, computational physics, numerical simulation, or HPC)

• A portfolio of work — open source contributions, published code, or shipped products — that demonstrates the above

Soft Skills

• A genuine collaborator: you learn from teammates as readily as you help them

• Able to communicate technical depth clearly to people from different disciplines — physicists, mechanical engineers, product managers

• Comfortable with ambiguity and excited by the challenges that come with building something new

• Self-directed and ownership-oriented: you drive your work to completion without needing to be managed closely

Nice to Have

• Experience with warpage and residual-stress problems in semiconductor manufacturing (e.g., packaging, die/substrate stacks, thermomechanical deformation)

• Familiarity with matrix-free methods for nonlinear and linear operator application

• Experience with geometric multigrid approaches as solvers or preconditioners

• Background in adaptive mesh refinement (AMR)

• Familiarity with embedded geometry or immersed boundary methods for solid mechanics

• Experience applying machine learning to solid mechanics problems (surrogates, constitutive modeling, solver acceleration)

• Experience with performance profiling tools (Nsight, VTune, Roofline analysis)

Why Vinci4d

• Work on genuinely hard technical problems with real engineering impact

• Join a small team where your contributions are visible and your voice is heard

• Competitive compensation with equity participation

• Flexible work environment

• The satisfaction of building something from the ground up — and the opportunity to help define what it becomes