Staff Mechanical Engineer, Sealing Systems

Lever, Inc.; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 172,000 - 203,000; Full time

Job summary

Lever, Inc. in Menlo Park, CA seeks a Staff Mechanical Engineer to own a significant piece of the piston and ring system challenge for minimal emissions and maintenance benefits.

You will lead design, analysis, and testing across R&D to production, collaborating with a skilled team in a fast-paced environment. The role demands a Master’s or PhD in mechanical engineering with 8+ years (or 5+ years with PhD) of relevant experience, strong CAD/FEA skills, and a systems thinking mindset.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent (required).
• PhD in Mechanical Engineering or related field is a plus.
• Experience designing high-performance, precision parts from R&D to production release.
• Solid CAD and FEA experience; Ansys is a plus.
• Ability to generate 2D drawings for manufacturing with GD&T.
• Strong systems thinking and cross-disciplinary collaboration in an R&D setting.
• Bonus: Python programming for data analysis and modeling.

Responsibilities

• Lead ring and piston development with requirements, scope, design, review, and production rollout plans.
• Design complex moving parts from concept to detailed design, build, test, and evaluation.
• Root-cause failures involving thermal, structural, materials, and fluid interactions.
• Design and run test campaigns with benchtop rigs and generator experiments.
• Define requirements to improve ring and piston performance.
• Collaborate with a fast-paced engineering team to find optimal solutions.

Skills

SolidWorks

FEA (Ansys)

2D Drawings & GD&T

Thermal/Structural analysis

Tribology

Systems thinking

Python for data analysis

Education

Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent

PhD in Mechanical Engineering or related field

Job description

Job Overview

The Rings team owns one of the hardest technical problems in the Linear Generator: a piston and ring system that seals without liquid lubricant. Getting this right is foundational to the product’s low emissions and maintenance business model. The design space is demanding, with complex sealing geometry, demanding thermal and pressure conditions, and material performance and system behavior that all need to be considered simultaneously. Progressing the ring service interval is one of the most important development programs at Mainspring. As a Staff Mechanical Engineer on this team, you will take ownership of a significant piece of that challenge.

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

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent with at least eight years of experience, or a Ph.D. with at least five years of experience

• A proactive and collaborative work style suited for a dynamic R&D environment where priorities can evolve as you learn, including comfort with problems that cross team boundaries and engineering disciplines

• Experience designing high-performance, precision parts from R&D through to production release

• Fluency in SolidWorks or a comparable CAD package. Comfortable using structural and thermal FEA as a design tool (Ansys is a plus)

• Ability to generate 2D drawings for manufacturing, including comfort with GD&T

• Excellent physical understanding and intuition in structural mechanics and heat transfer; strength in tribology, fluid mechanics, or thermodynamics is a plus

• A systems approach to problem solving: Prefers to look at the whole system to identify negative interactions and opportunities for improvement

Bonus Qualifications

• Excellent understanding of thermodynamics, experience interacting with a complex thermodynamic system. Power generation, energy storage, and aerospace (especially turbomachinery or propulsion) are all extremely relevant

• Experience designing for high-cycle fatigue and high-pressure, high-temperature environments. Experience with super alloys is a plus

• Fluency in Python programming for data analysis, and experience developing and validating simplified models of systems and subsystems to inform failure analysis and design

$172,000 - $203,000 a year