Senior, Mechanical Integration Engineer (PCS)

About Us At Antares, our long-term mission is to make clean energy abundant from Earth to the Asteroid Belt. We’re fueled by the belief that advanced nuclear energy can strengthen our military, solve the climate crisis, elevate global living standards, and expand humanity's presence in outer space. To achieve our mission, we’re building mass-producible, inherently safe, deployable microreactors that can be used terrestrially, underwater, and in space. The Antares team hails from SpaceX, the White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, MIT, Rigetti Computing, General Atomics, Relativity Space, Ursa Major, and National Laboratories like Idaho, Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Savannah River. Antares has raised over $600M in venture capital from top-tier investors and has hundreds of million-dollars on contract with the military services, NASA, and the Department of Energy. About The Role As the Mechanical Integration Responsible Engineer (RE) for the Power Conversion System (PCS), you will own the mechanical architecture that turns a set of individually developed machines (turbomachinery, motor-generator, recuperator, and primary heat exchanger) into one installed, testable, and operable power plant. You'll own the working-fluid pressure boundary; the structural and layout architecture that carries and aligns the rotating machinery; the thermal management and insulation of the hot section; and the heat-rejection path that closes the cycle. This role resolves what happens between the components: routing, supports, thermal growth, leak-tightness, access, and assembly sequence. You will define the interfaces, hold the system-level drawings and P&ID, and be accountable for the machine going together, operating, and maintainability. The ideal candidate has designed and built gas-loop or rotating-machinery packages end to end, is fluent in compressible flow and pressure-boundary design, and is comfortable owning integration when every component owner is optimizing their own piece. Experience packaging high-temperature turbomachinery or bringing a first-of-a-kind machine from drawings through commissioning is a strong differentiator. Key Responsibilities: - Own the mechanical architecture and integration of the closed nitrogen Brayton loop, from cycle state points and system layout through installed hardware, commissioning, and test. - Reviews and coordinates work with the PCS Mechanical Design Engineer and PCS Thermal-Mechanical Engineer - Works with the Electrical, Analysis, Turbomachinery, and Technical Program Manager to deliver a mechanical arrangement that meets performance, is maintainable, and meets or exceeds life requirements. - Own the system P&ID, interface control, and integrated system model; drive them to agreement across turbomachinery, electrical and controls, thermal/fluids analysis, and the recuperator and PHX owners. - Work with system designers to develop and manage mechanical interfaces with turbomachinery, motor-generator, and heat exchanger hardware; review component designs to ensure compliance to interface requirements. - Define design criteria, requirements, and verification and validation test plans. - Manage the PCS thermo-mechanical performance and the trade-offs with cost, schedule, and risk; document technical decisions and present recommendations to senior leadership. Basic Qualifications - 5+ years of experience in full-cycle design engineering roles, including hands-on CAD, analysis, build, and test - Experience designing, sizing, and integrating fluid systems, preferably involving compressible flow - Experience designing pressure-retaining or leak-tight systems and taking them through pressure and leak verification - Experience integrating multiple subsystems into a working assembly, owning the interfaces between them Preferred Skills & Experience - Experience in the Nuclear, Aerospace, Automotive, Power Generation, Motorsports, or Oil and Gas industries - Experience packaging or integrating rotating machinery including alignment, supports, and machinery loads - Experience with high-temperature systems, thermal growth accommodation, expansion joints, and insulation design - Experience with skid-mounted or modular plant packaging and system layout - Experience with piping and structural analysis, and with flow network or pressure-drop modeling - Experience in a demanding fast-paced development environment - Experience with design engineering tools such as NX, ANSYS or Femap, and other product lifecycle software - Experience with engineering scripting languages such as Python and MATLAB - Experience commissioning first-of-a-kind hardware and supporting bring-up and troubleshooting Salary Range: - Senior, Mechanical Design Engineer - $145,000 - $185,000 Location: - We are located in Torrance, CA in a 322,000 square foot, brand new facility featuring large open spaces for team collaboration, R&D, and production, as well as easy access to the 405, 105, and 110 freeways. Our facility is in the heart of Los Angeles' vibrant emerging tech ecosystem alongside many other high growth startups and enterprises. Culture At Antares, we like to specifically tie each role to our founding document’s set of values–here are the top five cultural values we think you should believe at your core to be successful: - Think in Systems - Energy and Defense are complex ecosystems with numerous stakeholders with competing priorities, conflicting policies, perverse incentives, and emergent and path-dependent properties. First principles thinking alone is insufficient. Think probabilistically and then take action. “If you want to be certain, then you are apt to be obsolete.” Over-optimizing the components often degrades the system - Obsess over the End User - The customer and end user are often not the same. We will never build globally competitive commercial products if we lose sight of our end users and their entire interaction with the product life cycle - Be Unconstrained by Convention - Our only limits are the laws of physics. Many, even experts, will say what we are working on is impossible. They said the same about SpaceX reusing rockets. Generationally impactful companies, by definition, must accomplish the seemingly impossible. If it were easy, it would have already been done. Never shy away from a solution because it has never been tried before, and never choose to do something because that's “how it's always been done” - Go Where the Work Is - Never miss a chance to meet a customer, user, or stakeholder face to face, even if that means hopping on a plane. If you can’t make it, find a teammate who can channel your intentions and go in your place. Deep work can be done from anywhere, but we believe teams are built in person, and aim to maximize our time together - Operate in the Grey - Embrace nuance in pursuit of truth. Question every fundamental assumption Equal Opportunity Antares is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, competence, and qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status. ITAR REQUIREMENTS To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987.