Structural Engineer, Modular R&D

Fluidstack; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 164,000 - 206,000; Full time

Job summary

Fluidstack in San Francisco designs and builds modular data center modules for high‑performance AI compute.

The role focuses on engineering the structural systems from concept through fabrication, ensuring load paths survive shipping and onsite assembly while keeping drawings clean for fabricators.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience engineering modular or heavy fabrication structures.
• Took steel or sheet metal products from concept to fabrication.
• Supported production launches and first articles.
• Treats transport loads and lifting points as design constraints.
• Bonus: PE license and CAD mastery (SolidWorks, Inventor, Revit).

Responsibilities

• Engineer the structural systems of modular data center products.
• Own structural calcs and load paths for fabrication, shipping, and stacking.
• Address integration where structure meets MEP and tolerances.
• Provide RFIs responses and engineering fixes for revisions.
• Drive prototyping and validation through mockups and first-article reviews.

Skills

Hands-on structural engineering

Modular construction

Heavy fabrication

Production launches

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Fabrication drawings quality

DFM instincts

Tools

SolidWorks

Inventor

Revit

Job description

About Fluidstack

We exist to make humanity more free. For most of human history, you farmed or you starved. Technology gave people more time for the things they wanted to do, instead of things they had to do. Powerful AI will be the biggest lever for human choice we've ever built - but only if models are aligned with what humanity actually wants. There are groups building AI who don't share these goals. Whoever deploys frontier compute infrastructure fastest will decide whether AI expands human freedom or shrinks it.

We exist to make humanity more free. For most of human history, you farmed or you starved. Technology gave people more time for the things they wanted to do, instead of things they had to do. Powerful AI will be the biggest lever for human choice we've ever built - but only if models are aligned with what humanity actually wants. There are groups building AI who don't share these goals. Whoever deploys frontier compute infrastructure fastest will decide whether AI expands human freedom or shrinks it.

We're singularly focused on delivering 10 to 100s of GWs of compute faster than anyone else, rethinking every layer of the stack. We acquire power, design and build data centers, and operate them - with teams spanning hardware and software. Speed and scale are our key differentiators. Come be a part of building civilization-scale infrastructure for AI.

We hire people who care deeply about this problem space.

How We Operate

• Extreme ownership. Full autonomy. Own things end to end often taking on scope outside your core role without being asked to get things done.
• Velocity. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.
• First principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.
• Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.

The Modular Team

The Modular team designs and ships factory-built data center modules that carry the largest AI compute buildout in history.

Examples Of Key Problems The Team Is Working On

• Engineer a modular data center product that survives fabrication, trucking, craning, and stacking without field rework.
• Resolve the collisions between structure and MEP: penetrations, attachment points, and tolerances where disciplines meet in a tight envelope.
• Compress the loop from factory and field issues to engineered fixes in the next design revision.
• Prove designs with physical mockups, fit checks, and first-article reviews before they scale to production.

Role Scope

• Engineer the structural systems of the modular product, frames, enclosures, and lifting and transport structures, from concept through released fabrication drawings.
• Own the structural calcs and load paths so modules survive fabrication, shipping, rigging, and stacking without redesign.
• Solve the integration problems where structure meets MEP: penetrations, attachment points, and tolerances where the disciplines collide.
• Run structural support for the factory and field, answering RFIs same-day and engineering fixes into the next revision.
• Drive prototyping and validation through mockups, fit checks, and first-article reviews you attend in person.

What We're Looking For

The below is a starting point. We always make space for exceptional people, so if you don't fit this role exactly, tell us where you would.

• You've engineered structures hands-on for complex physical products, modular construction, or heavy fabrication (modules, trailers, skids, container conversions).
• You've taken a steel or sheet metal product from concept through fabrication, not just analyzed someone else's design.
• You've supported production launches of your own designs and stayed accountable through first articles.
• You treat transport loads, lifting points, and stacking as first-class design constraints, not afterthoughts checked at the end.
• Your drawings build clean: fabricators rarely call, and when they do, you fix the drawing.
• You work across disciplines instead of throwing problems over walls, and you iterate fast without losing configuration control.
• Bonus: PE license, steel and sheet metal design depth, structural detailing standards (AISC, AWS), 3D CAD mastery (SolidWorks, Inventor, Revit), and strong DFM instincts.

We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

Fluidstack is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Fluidstack will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.

Compensation Range: $164K - $206K