Senior Turbomachinery Engineer

1w1 week ago

Antares

Los Angeles, US · Full-time · $140,000 – $200,000

About this role

At Antares, our mission is to make clean energy abundant from Earth to the Asteroid Belt using advanced nuclear microreactors for terrestrial, underwater, and space applications. Formed in 2023, our team comes from SpaceX, MIT, The White House, and National Laboratories. We’ve raised over $130M in venture capital and secured $13M in government funding.

As the R&D team’s turbomachinery expert, you will own the entire closed Brayton power conversion system. Responsibilities include detailed mechanical design, rotordynamic/structural analysis, and testing to ensure multi-year reliability and manufacturability. Leverage experience with full system thermodynamic balances, CAD, ANSYS suite, and fatigue/fracture analysis.

Work closely with test, controls, and quality engineers on turbopump designs for Antares reactors. Demonstrate ownership of critical components from design through qualification testing. Participate in root cause investigations and implement corrective actions to prevent failures.

Support ongoing improvements to turbopump assemblies, including manufacturing enhancements to reduce cost and lead time. Build test schedules aligned with development needs and review results to validate performance. Contribute to first principles-based tools for turbopump operability in advanced nuclear systems.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or physics
5+ years of experience in the design of turbomachinery
Experience designing assemblies and test fixtures using CAD systems
Experience with full system thermodynamic balances, CAD, the ANSYS suite, and fatigue/fracture analysis
Experience designing, instrumented, and conducted tests that validate systems
Strong understanding of pump hydrodynamic/aerodynamic design and fundamentals
Demonstrable experience designing, building, testing and troubleshooting mechanical systems
Broad knowledge of instrumentation and sensors for reliable integration into designs/test setups

Responsibilities

Design, analyze, build, and test turbopumps for the Antares reactors
Own critical turbomachinery components and collaborate with test, controls, and quality engineers
Ensure detailed mechanical analysis on all turbopump components/systems and review drawings for life and reliability targets
Create test schematics and CAD models of proposed test setups/facilities
Devise accurate models and first principles-based tools to determine turbopump performance and operability
Build test schedules aligned with development and business needs
Support component and assembly testing, define configurations, execute processes, and review results
Lead resolution of issues during development/qualification testing and support design improvements