Director Prototype Design Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Are you ready to build America's energy future? Form Energy is an American manufacturing and energy technology company. We're revolutionizing energy storage with cost-effective, multi-day technology designed to keep the electric grid secure and reliable, even during extended periods of stress. By strengthening the electric system and reimagining what's possible, we're giving clean energy a whole new form!
In recent years, Form Energy has earned a number of accolades, including being named by TIME as a "Best Invention", MIT Technology Review as a "Top Climate Tech Company To Watch", and Fast Company as "One of the Next Big Things In Tech". We are making rapid progress on our mission of delivering energy storage for a better world, and our team is growing just as rapidly to meet demand. We have signed contracts with leading electric utilities across the United States and production of our iron-air batteries is underway at our first high-volume manufacturing facility in West Virginia.
Working for Form Energy is more than just a job, it's a chance to be part of something extraordinary. And now - right as we significantly scale up battery manufacturing - might be the most exciting moment in the company's history to join. We are assembling a team of highly talented and driven individuals across the country. Driven by our core values of humanity, excellence, and creativity, our team is determined to deliver on our mission and transform the energy landscape for the better.
Feeling energized to make a meaningful impact on the world? Then keep reading - you've come to the right place.
Role Description
We're hiring a highly experienced Senior Staff Mechanical Design Engineer to lead the architecture and design of our thermal management system. This is a critical part of Form's iron-air battery technology and it is vital to the system's successful operation. In this role, you will be a technical cornerstone for the product architecture, detailed design stages, first-of-a-kind build activities, strategic vendor engagement, and design for cost. You can expect to oversee the building and validation of complex system models, direct prototyping efforts across the company, drive us through a series of internal system prototypes, and act as a technical leader bridging cross-functional teams of chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineers. You will hold ultimate technical responsibility for design validation before the final manufacturing release.
If this sounds like the right position for you, apply now! This opportunity will help shape and scale our multi-day energy storage system, contributing to the growth of a fast-moving company with breakthrough technology and an incredible mission, contributing to a sustainable future!
Relocation assistance is available.
What you'll do:

• Lead the architecture, design, prototyping, and testing of the thermal management system, ensuring it meets and exceeds critical performance and strategic requirements
• Oversee the development of complex thermal flow system analytical models that drive fundamental design architecture decisions
• Direct the fabrication and testing strategies for first-of-a-kind prototypes to validate system design choices and mitigate technical risks at scale
• Drive the overarching strategy for high volume production, ensuring product designs are optimized for scale, cost, and reliability
• Lead complex system-level collaboration with the Electrical and Controls teams to optimize actuator and sensor integration
• Serve as a technical pillar within the organization, mentoring engineers across levels, elevating our mechanical engineering best practices, and championing safety, especially in the development of new laboratory processes

What you'll bring:

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field; Bachelor's with 12+ years (or Master's/PhD with 10+ years) of industry experience in mechanical design of equipment, liquid or gas handling systems
• Deep expertise in first-principles modeling and design, with a proven track record of optimizing complex designs for high-volume manufacturing and cost-down
• Extensive experience leading projects in a manufacturing environment and managing strategic relationships with manufacturing engineering teams
• Industry-leading experience optimizing mechanical design, thermodynamic systems, and complex interdisciplinary interfaces of fluid systems
• Sense of urgency and self-driven to hit difficult schedule targets
• Direct experience in product development within an early-stage environment ramping into production, with a history of driving technical strategy

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Humanity is a cornerstone of Form Energy's culture, and we make sure our compensation and benefits reflect that. Form Energy offers competitive salaries, stock options, and a holistic benefits package to ensure all employees have what they need to thrive while working here.
When it comes to you and your family's health, we cover 100% of medical, dental, and vision premiums for full-time employees - and 80% of healthcare premiums for dependents. This starts from day one. We also offer at least 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents (up to 20 weeks for birthing parents), and generous vacation policies to give employees time to recharge when needed.
To build America's energy future, we need everyone at the table. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply to our open jobs.
If you may require reasonable accommodations to participate in our interview process, please contact accommodations@formenergy.com. Requests for accommodations will be treated with discretion.
Form Energy is committed to maintaining the privacy of our applicants. Please be aware that we will never solicit sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers or bank account details during the recruiting or hiring process.