Reliability Test Engineer, Special Projects

About Mainspring

Mainspring Energy manufactures and delivers fuel-flexible, low-emissions local power solutions that rapidly add new capacity and deliver reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric power. The company began commercial shipments of its Mainspring Linear Generators in 2020 and today has hundreds of megawatts in advanced development and field operations for leading Fortune 500 companies, data centers, and utilities. Mainspring also partners with global energy leaders including AEP, NextEra Energy Resources, Schneider Electric, and more.

The core values that ground our work, guide our decisions, and connect us together:

• Pragmatic Optimism
• Excellence without Ego
• Proactive Collaboration

Job Overview

The Linear Generator is a sophisticated, automated, and integrated system spanning a wide range of engineering disciplines including thermodynamics, mechanical, electrical, software, and controls. This position will lead the operation and execution of experiments on our Linear Generators as part of Mainspring's test engineering team. This includes hands-on work and remote operation of our Linear Generator qualification units, debugging, and data analysis aimed at qualifying new changes and reliability of our product. This position will require travel up to 30% time to our testing site in Houston, Texas.

We are looking for an open-minded, curious, and highly motivated Test Engineer to join our dynamic test engineering team. You will lead critical sub-system and system-level validation and reliability tests on new releases of our product. This role will require strong collaboration across the entire engineering and business organization.

Responsibilities

• Operate our Linear Generator units
• Perform hands-on troubleshooting working in close collaboration with other engineering disciplines such as Mechanical, Electrical and Software & Controls.
• Work directly with technicians to coordinate repairs and retrofits
• Review test plans and provide expert guidance on test setup and execution plan
• Setup and maintain instrumentation to collect critical data
• Manage test priorities on a daily basis to meet higher level deadlines with a focus on throughput and maintaining high uptime
• Analyze data, generate reports and communicate results with engineering teams to facilitate learnings and design releases
• Develop & improve processes and infrastructure to support testing on our next generation products
• Interface with external stakeholders at our testing site in Houston, Texas to coordinate service and resolve other issues impacting testing at the site

Qualifications

• Master's degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, or equivalent with 3+ years of applicable experience
• Proven experience of conducting experimental hardware projects in industrial environment in the context of product qualification or reliability testing
• Strong organizational and communication skills
• Demonstrated proficiency in complex project management in context of product development
• Proficiency in programming with Python/ MatLab/ C++ (at least one)
• Advanced data analysis
• Proficiency with root cause analysis methods
• Proficiency with safety protocols / LOTO procedures for high voltage equipment (and other safety critical systems)
• Proficiency with programming DAQ devices / working with a wide variety of instrumentation/sensors
• Experience communicating with customers/external stakeholders is a plus

$108,000 - $123,600 a year

This position is onsite at our Menlo Park HQ but requires travel to Houston, Tx up to 30% of the time. The salary will be adjusted to reflect local market conditions based on employee location as well as the experience of the employee. Along with the base salary, Mainspring offers pre-IPO stock options + benefits.

Does your experience not meet all of our posted requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to positions unless they meet every listed requirement. At Mainspring, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, flexible, and collaborative environment, so if you want to help us transition the world to clean and affordable electricity, and don't meet all posted requirements for a particular role, we'd still love to hear from you. Mainspring can sometimes be flexible enough to shift responsibilities for the right person, or otherwise identify open or upcoming roles that may better fit your professional background.

In more traditional words, Mainspring Energy, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

This compensation and benefits information is based on Mainspring Energy's estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future. We generally do not negotiate on salary once we have made an offer. The level of pay within the range will depend on a variety of job-related factors that may include location, relevant prior experience and/or education, or particular skills and expertise. New hires joining the company tend to be paid within the starting base pay range noted above, with opportunities to increase pay over time based on development of additional skills, competencies, and company-specific knowledge.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.