Exowatt

Exowatt

Lead Thermal Design Engineer (Austin, TX)

Austin, TX · Senior

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 276 days ago
ANSYSStructural AnalysisMechanical DesignAerospace EngineeringCOMSOLRenewable EnergyThermodynamics

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About the role

  • Exowatt is revolutionizing the energy landscape for the AI era with our groundbreaking P3 system that captures solar energy, stores it as heat, and generates electricity on demand.
  • The receiver is where sunlight becomes stored heat, and it sets how much of the sun's energy reaches the battery.
  • That includes the receiver, absorber and heat exchanger.

Responsibilities

  • Own the receiver end to end. That covers architecture, design, analysis, prototyping and qualification, with direct influence on system cost and performance targets.
  • Set the technical direction. Define requirements, run design reviews and make the architecture trade-offs that decide how much of the sun we capture and keep.
  • Build fast, validated models. Model optics, flux distribution, heat transfer and thermal stress, and use them to iterate designs in days, not quarters.
  • Design the system as one. Work closely with the optics, thermal storage, heat engine and controls teams on lens focal geometry, tracking, flux uniformity and integration.
  • Build for manufacturing from day one. Work with our Austin manufacturing team so the receiver scales from prototype to high-volume production at a cost that supports 1¢/kWh.
  • Shape the roadmap and the team. Bring in advances in selective absorbers, high-temperature coatings and receiver design, and grow the team around you as we scale.
  • Own the receiver end to end.
  • That covers architecture, design, analysis, prototyping and qualification, with direct influence on system cost and performance targets.

Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science or a related field, or equivalent engineering depth.
  • 7+ years designing high-temperature thermal hardware, such as solar receivers, heat exchangers, combustors, furnaces, propulsion components or other systems that run at extreme heat flux.
  • A track record of taking hardware from concept through prototype testing into production.
  • Experience with solid-media or packed-bed thermal storage, or gas-to-solid heat transfer.
  • Knowledge of selective absorber coatings and high-temperature surface treatments.
  • Experience designing high-volume, cost-driven hardware, such as automotive, aerospace production or appliances.
  • Deep command of heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation), thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, and the judgment to know when a hand calculation beats a week of simulation.
  • Strong skills with thermal and structural simulation tools (ANSYS, COMSOL or equivalent), backed by physical intuition.
  • Hands-on experience selecting, qualifying and analyzing failures in high-temperature materials.
  • Bonus points
  • MS or PhD in a relevant field.
  • Direct experience designing solar thermal receivers or concentrated-solar hardware.
  • Optical modeling and ray tracing for flux analysis (SolTrace, Tonatiuh, Zemax, LightTools or equivalent), especially with refractive or Fresnel optics.
  • Publications or patents in solar thermal or high-temperature heat transfer.

Compensation

  • What We Offer: Competitive salary and equity options.

Benefits

  • Competitive salary and equity options.
  • Comprehensive benefits package, including health, dental, and retirement plans.

Company info

  • Founded in 2023 and backed by leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, and Felicis, we're committed to providing clean, modular, and scalable power that meets the rapidly growing demands of AI infrastructure.
  • Our mission is to make sustainable renewable energy always available and almost free, enabling technological advancement while protecting our planet.
  • What We Offer: Competitive salary and equity options.
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This listing is sourced directly from Exowatt's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.