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About the Role

We need a Senior Mechanical Engineer with deep thermal expertise to own the thermal architecture of Archimedes, with direct focus on the turret and gimbal that carry the laser source. High-power directed energy systems live or die on thermal management. You'll design, simulate, and prove out the cooling solutions that keep our laser performing at multi-kilowatt power over sustained operation, inside a moving turret, in real-world environments. This is a thermal lead role where you set the thermal design philosophy, build the simulation framework, and implement cooling solutions.

Responsibilities

Own the thermal architecture of Archimedes end to end, with primary focus on the turret and gimbal subsystems that house the laser source.
Design and implement cooling loops, including pumps, heat exchangers, cold plates, working fluid selection, and routing through rotating and translating joints.
Perform thermal simulation using ANSYS, COMSOL, or equivalent, including CFD where it accelerates design decisions.
Model thermal behavior across the optical chain, motor drives, power electronics, and ambient environment.
Optimize heat sink design, thermal interface material selection, and conduction paths for high-power-density components.
Develop and execute test fixtures for thermal qualification, including operational thermal cycling, soak testing, and steady-state characterization.
Partner with the optics team on thermal lensing, beam quality degradation, and stable beam path under thermal load.
Select materials for thermal performance across metals, ceramics, and composites.

Requirements

5 to 10+ years in mechanical engineering with primary focus on thermal design and implementation.
Practical implementation experience, including specifying pumps, sizing heat exchangers, selecting working fluids, and building systems that meet thermal targets on hardware.
Direct hands-on experience implementing cooling solutions for high-power systems.
Strong simulation background in ANSYS Thermal, COMSOL, or equivalent.
Deep understanding of conduction, convection, radiation, and two-phase cooling, and their applications.
Hands-on test and validation experience including thermal cycling, IR imaging, thermocouple instrumentation, and steady-state characterization.
Expertise in CAD (SolidWorks, Creo, or similar).
Familiarity with turret, gimbal, or rotating-joint hardware is a strong plus.
Active security clearance or ability to obtain one.
Familiarity with MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461, and related qualification standards.
Extreme bias for action; prefer building prototypes over lengthy modeling.
Ability to characterize own systems before field deployment.
Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment.
Ability to debug from first principles.
Clear communicator across mechanical, electrical, optical, controls, and software teams.
Self-directed; identify and execute necessary tasks without explicit direction.
This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require U.S. Person status.

Skills

Thermal Design
Thermal Management
Cooling Loop Design
Heat Exchanger Sizing
Working Fluid Selection
Thermal Simulation
ANSYS Thermal
COMSOL
CFD
Conduction
Convection
Radiation
Two-Phase Cooling
Thermal Modeling
Heat Sink Design
Thermal Interface Material Selection
Conduction Path Optimization
Test Fixture Development
Thermal Qualification
Thermal Cycling
Soak Testing
Steady-State Characterization
IR Imaging
Thermocouple Instrumentation
CAD
SolidWorks
Creo
MIL-STD-810
MIL-STD-461

Location

San Francisco

Work Type

Onsite
Full-time

Experience Level

Senior
5 to 10+ years

Education Level

BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field

Salary/Compensations

Competitive salary and equity

Benefits

Competitive salary and equity
United Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage
Flexible 18 days PTO plus 5 sick days
Travel to field test events and range days
Covered daily lunches and office snacks and drinks
E-bike and scooter stipend up to $500
Direct access to leadership and real ownership over your work

About the Company

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS.
We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.
We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance.
The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.
We operate with a small team, unreasonable output, and no hiding behind the unachievable.
We have a San Francisco lab, a Detroit manufacturing hub, and field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.