Test Engineer

American Turbines; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

American Turbines in San Francisco is seeking a Test Engineer to build and operate our engine test stand, taking our first gas turbine from cold spin to full power.

You will own sensor selection and installation, from thermocouples to accelerometers, configure DAQ, write test procedures, run pre-test checklists, and interpret data to guide rapid design decisions.

Qualifications

• Experience testing hardware: engines, rocket engines, turbochargers, compressors, high-pressure systems, or comparable.

Responsibilities

• Build and run the test stand for the engine from cold spin to full power.
• Own sensor selection and installation (thermocouples, pressure transducers, accelerometers) and DAQ configuration/calibration.
• Write procedures, run pre-test checklists, sit console during hot tests, and rotate the stand between builds.
• Turn raw data into plots that inform design decisions on the same day.

Skills

Hardware testing

Instrumentation & DAQ

Python scripting

Job description

The power grid was built for a world that no longer exists. Centralized generation, hundred-mile transmission lines, decade-long permitting cycles. Meanwhile, demand is exploding: data centers, industrial electrification, remote operations that need megawatts yesterday and can't wait for utilities to catch up.

American Turbines is designing small modular gas turbines, purpose-built for distributed power generation. Machines designed from a blank sheet to be manufactured at scale, clustered in arrays. Hundreds of units operating in parallel, dynamically matching load like a compute cluster matches demand. We are a seed‑stage company backed by the investors behind SpaceX, Boom Supersonic, and Hadrian.

About the role

The Test Engineer will build and run the stand that takes our first engine from cold spin to full power. You'll work with the Lead Test Engineer on everything the stand needs: structure, plumbing, fuel gas train, cooling, protection systems, and the instrumentation that tells us what the machine is actually doing.

You'll own real scope from day one: sensor selection and installation, thermocouples, pressure transducers, accelerometers, DAQ configuration and calibration, and the scripts that turn raw channels into plots the design team acts on the same day. You'll write procedures, run pre-test checklists, sit console during hot tests, and turn the stand around between builds.

What we're looking for

Experience testing hardware : engines, rocket engines, turbochargers, compressors, high-pressure systems, or comparable. You've instrumented and run test articles, built fixtures and plumbing with your own hands, and you know most test problems are measurement problems.

Solid instrumentation and DAQ fundamentals: signal conditioning, calibration, sampling rates that match the physics. Scripting for data reduction, Python or similar. Familiarity with gas fuel systems and high-pressure plumbing is a plus, so is time on a student rocketry, FSAE, or engine test team if that's where your hours are.