Mesodyne is a startup company revolutionizing power generation with its innovative LightCell technology--using thermophotovoltaics to provide efficient, silent, reliable, long-endurance power from any fuel. By bridging the gap between batteries and internal combustion engines, Mesodyne's LightCell technology provides more than a 10x improvement in endurance for unmanned vehicles, wearables, and various other equipment. At Mesodyne, we are committed to bringing groundbreaking products to the industrial and defense sectors, with multiple existing contracts and numerous upcoming business opportunities.

We are seeking a highly motivated and hands-on Mechanical Engineer to join our expanding team. In this role, you will focus heavily on the "hot side" of the LightCell—working directly with combustion systems, fuel injectors, and high-temperature heat exchangers. This is a role for a true "do-er" who thrives in a fast-paced, experimental startup environment. If you want to actually build and test your own designs, we want to talk to you.

Responsibilities

• Experimental Design & Iteration: Take a highly experimental approach to hardware development. You will build custom test setups, run experiments, take precise measurements, analyze the data, and rapidly iterate on your designs.
• Hot Side Development: Take ownership over specific subsystems on the "hot side" of the generator, including combustors, fuel injectors, and heat exchangers.
• Prototyping & Assembly: Work extensively with intricate physical assemblies. You will be hands-on in the lab and machine shop bringing your ideas to life.
• Mentorship & Collaboration: Work closely with a Senior Engineer who will help guide your development. We expect you to learn rapidly and collaborate effectively, while ultimately taking true engineering ownership of your subsystems and generating your own innovative ideas.

Qualifications and skills

• Education & Experience: BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering. We are open to fresh graduates, recent Master's grads, or engineers with a few years of industry experience.
• Startup Mindset: You must be a "do-er." We are looking for someone who favors of rapid, hands-on iteration.
• Hands-on Fabrication & Prototyping: A proven ability to build physical prototypes is required (strong extracurricular projects and student project teams count!). Practical skills working with intricate mechanical assemblies are essential. Machine shop experience (specifically manual mill and lathe) is a huge plus.
• CAD Proficiency: Good CAD skills are required (we use Onshape, but general CAD competence is more important than platform-specific experience). We are specifically looking for the ability to design complex, elegant single parts, although experience managing large multi-part assemblies is a plus. Experience designing components optimized for direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is desired.
• Heat Transfer & Fluids: A strong background in heat transfer and fluid dynamics is required. You must possess an intuitive, practical understanding of these concepts, as well as strong analytical heat transfer skills. CFD experience is a plus.
• Eagerness to Learn: A desire to continuously learn new skills on the job is required. You must be eager to learn a completely new set of materials and fabrication processes for high-temperature applications, as well as combustion engineering, vacuum technology, and other fields relevant to the LightCell.

Location

This position is based at our facility in Somerville, MA.