Mechanical Engineer, Power Generation (AI Data Centers)

Location: San Francisco, United States. Travel: 50%

Salary: $257K–$327K plus equity

Company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company building and deploying general-purpose AI systems. The Scaling / Compute organization develops infrastructure for frontier AI systems.

What you will do

• Design mechanical basis-of-design documents, process flow diagrams, P&IDs, specifications, calculations, and equipment requirements for power-generation facilities.
• Design and review prime-mover auxiliaries, fuel systems, exhaust, ventilation, cooling, lubrication, compressed air, water treatment, and heat-recovery systems.
• Evaluate thermal and hydraulic performance, pressure drop, vibration, acoustics, emissions interfaces, redundancy, maintainability, and operating envelopes.
• Review OEM and EPC proposals, equipment selections, test plans, failure modes, service strategies, and lifecycle tradeoffs.
• Support procurement, factory acceptance testing, construction, startup, commissioning, performance testing, and root-cause investigations.
• Coordinate interfaces across electrical, controls, CSA, fuel supply, environmental, fire protection, and data center mechanical teams, and create repeatable reference designs.

Requirements

• 8+ years of mechanical engineering experience in power generation, oil and gas, industrial utilities, central plants, or mission-critical projects.
• Strong knowledge of rotating equipment, piping, heat transfer, fluid systems, thermal performance, ventilation, and mechanical auxiliaries.
• Experience with combined heat and power, heat recovery, modular generation, or microgrids.
• Experience with gas turbines, reciprocating engines, generators, or comparable large industrial equipment.
• Ability to evaluate vendor data, equipment curves, operating scenarios, failure modes, and maintenance constraints.
• Experience carrying designs through construction, startup, commissioning, and performance validation.
• Knowledge of applicable ASME, API, NFPA, ASHRAE, and environmental requirements.
• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or a related field.

Nice to have

• Professional Engineer license.
• Experience with process simulation, hydraulic modeling, CFD, or equipment-performance modeling.
• Experience supporting high-density data center loads and rapid infrastructure deployment.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employment with equity.
• Work supports infrastructure for frontier AI systems and large-scale data center deployment.
• Equal opportunity employment with reasonable accommodations available for applicants with disabilities.
• Background checks are administered in accordance with applicable law for US-based candidates.