Senior Thermo-Mechanical Design Engineer

Location: Onsite in Torrance, California, United States. The role supports work in a 322,000-square-foot R&D and production facility. Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or eligible to obtain the required U.S. government authorizations under export regulations.

Salary: $140,000–$185,000 annually, plus a significant stock option package.

Company

hirify.global is a Series C startup developing mass-producible, inherently safe microreactors for terrestrial, underwater, and space applications.

What you will do

• Design, model, and analyze heat exchanger systems for thermal performance, structural integrity, and system compatibility.
• Design inlet and outlet piping, manifolds, flanges, weld joints, supports, and related mechanical interfaces.
• Evaluate thermal stresses, differential thermal expansion, pressure loads, piping flexibility, and mechanical loads.
• Support material selection, fabrication, joining, assembly, and manufacturing development for heat exchanger and piping components.
• Develop test articles, test stands, procedures, operating limits, and performance envelopes for hardware validation.
• Investigate hardware failures, identify root causes, and implement design improvements with cross-functional engineering and manufacturing teams.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Nuclear Engineering, or a related physics-based field.
• 5+ years of mechanical or thermal engineering experience, preferably with heat exchangers, pressure-containing equipment, or high-temperature systems.
• Experience with mechanical CAD and engineering analysis tools such as SolidWorks, NX, ANSYS, or COMSOL.
• Knowledge of heat transfer, fluid mechanics, thermal stresses, structural mechanics, piping, pressure-containing components, and materials selection.
• Eligibility to work under U.S. government export regulations is required.
• Ability to work long hours and weekends when necessary to support critical milestones.

Nice to have

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or Thermal Sciences.
• Experience with 500°C+ systems, creep, fatigue, material compatibility, FEA, CFD, and high-temperature piping.
• Experience with welding, brazing, pressure testing, thermal cycling, performance testing, ASME codes, and nuclear safety standards.
• Experience designing and validating heat exchangers, manifolds, pressure-containing components, and piping systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Significant stock option package in addition to salary.
• Work is centered around in-person collaboration, R&D, and production activities.
• Culture emphasizes systems thinking, end-user focus, unconventional problem solving, stakeholder engagement, and operating through ambiguity.
• Occasional travel may be expected to meet customers, users, or stakeholders face to face.