Senior Thermal Systems Engineer

Standard Thermal is developing and deploying the world's lowest-cost thermal energy storage technology, using dirt as a thermal battery. We deliver a year-round steady supply of thermal energy to industrial consumers by buffering solar PV energy through a large thermal battery. To do this, we are building and field-testing thermal systems that combine mechanical hardware, heat transfer, electrical power, instrumentation, controls, and standard heavy construction methods.
You will be a load-bearing member of a small, fast-moving team, with significant responsibility for the systems that we deploy. Systems you develop will ultimately be deployed at enormous scale, presenting a unique opportunity for individual contributions to have outsized impact.
What you will do

Own deep technical problems: Investigate difficult or poorly characterized physical phenomena that materially affect system performance. Develop the governing physical understanding, analytical and/or numerical models, and experiments needed to turn uncertainty into engineering decisions.
Model system-level behavior: Develop and extend analytical methods and numerical models to evaluate system architecture, operating strategies, and long-duration transient behavior.
Model and validate coupled physics: Develop, extend, and validate COMSOL or other numerical models for coupled thermal-fluid systems. Compare predictions against laboratory and field data and translate results into design decisions.
Accelerate the engineering team: Partner closely with design and test engineers to resolve difficult technical questions through analysis and modeling, translating complex physics into faster engineering progress.
Design and run experiments: Design, build, run, and interpret data from experiments to validate critical numerical or analytical results.
Support customer designs and field deployments: Develop numerical and analytical models for customer designs, using location-specific solar profiles along with customer-specific energy usage profiles to model multi-year transient thermal performance.
What we are looking for

M.S. or PhD in mechanical engineering, applied physics, chemical engineering, or another relevant physical sciences field, or equivalent background and experience.
Exceptional command of thermal and fluid dynamics, including heat transfer, fluid flow, and coupled heat/mass transport.
Strong numerical modeling capability: Experience with COMSOL or similar finite element method simulations, with preferred experience in transient thermodynamics calculations and CFD models.
Experience applying numerical and analytical methods to practical, fast-paced product development and deployment decisions. Experience with deployment in large industrial environments is a plus.
Strong mechanical intuition and background, and evidence that you enjoy connecting analysis to physical hardware.
Low ego, high ownership. Comfortable rapidly changing paths when evidence and test results indicate.
Comfortable working hands-on in both lab and outdoor field environments, and getting dirty when the job requires.
Details:

Competitive salary, equity, and benefits.

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