Associate Controls Engineer

Company Overview

Mainspring Energy is revolutionizing power generation with the world’s most flexible and adaptable onsite power generator, the Mainspring Linear Generator. Commercial, industrial, and utility leaders are choosing Mainspring over traditional options like engines, turbines, and fuel cells to quickly and reliably deliver local power for EV charging, commercial facilities, data centers, and grid-scale operations. The Mainspring Linear Generator is fuel flexible, ramps up and down to meet demand, and utilizes a flameless technology with near-zero NOx emissions.

Backed by top-tier investors such as Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, American Electric Power, and Lightrock, Mainspring designs, manufactures and delivers its products to customers across the U.S. today, and we’re quickly scaling for international expansion.

Inspired by our vision of the affordable, reliable, net-zero carbon grid, Mainspring is rapidly expanding within the $816B global electricity equipment market, and we’re hiring the best talent to meet growing customer demand around the globe. We welcome a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and talents to bring fresh perspectives and ongoing innovation to our customers.

We are looking to build relationships with people who share our values:

• Pragmatic Optimism. Building a new category of world-class power generation requires the optimism of ambition and creativity, balanced with practicality to solve problems efficiently. The challenges that arise are opportunities for growth.

• Excellence without Ego. We bring expertise and commitment to creating the best customer experience, from sales to deployment and service, just as we apply deep technical rigor to building and delivering world-class products. We strive for excellence and behave as leaders with the humility to acknowledge our challenges, both collectively and as individual contributors.

• Proactive Collaboration. The integration and cross-disciplinary nature of Mainspring’s business requires intentionally seeking out others who bring different skills, perspectives, and priorities. Our culture of inclusion and respect extends beyond our team to interactions with our partners and customers.

Mainspring is based in Menlo Park and has partnered with top-tier investors and utilities such as Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, NextEra, and American Electric Power. More information can be found at www.mainspringenergy.com.

Responsibilities

Do you enjoy controlling multi-domain physical systems like robots, cars, or generators using embedded systems? Are you passionate about modeling system dynamics (linear or nonlinear), designing control algorithms, implementing them in hardware, and verifying real-world performance?

We have a high-impact opportunity for a Controls Engineer to join a world-class engineering team, designing and implementing new automation and control algorithms for our Linear Generator—a sophisticated, automated system with mechanical, electrical, fluid, thermodynamic, and thermal dynamics. Controls are central to its performance and behavior.

As a Controls Engineer, you will:

• Design, implement, and tune control algorithms for the Linear Generator in simulation and on hardware.

• Implement algorithms and continuous-integration tests (MIL, SIL, PIL) in C 17.

• Develop automation, diagnostics, and fail-safes for a novel integrated platform.

• Analyze system data, create plant models, and refine control strategies.

• Develop and automate test plans, test cases, and traceability matrices to ensure comprehensive coverage.

• Conduct failure analysis, risk mitigation, and validation to maintain robust control performance.

• Debug sensors, actuators, and subsystems, addressing noise, disturbances, and calibration.

• Support fleet generator operation, manufacturing testing, and reliability efforts.

• Collaborate cross-functionally to define requirements, implement new software features, and drive validation.

Qualifications

• Driven, self-directed problem solver with a systems-thinking mindset.

• Experience designing, implementing, and testing controls and automation algorithms in software.

• Strong interest in software, sensors, real-time control, and automation for dynamic systems.

• BS in mechanical, electrical, or software engineering (MS in controls is a plus).

The Bay Area salary for this role is $100k-$110k base pre-IPO stock options benefits. This position is on-site in Menlo Park, CA. The salary will be adjusted based on the experience of the employee.

Does your experience not meet all of our posted requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to positions unless they meet every listed requirement. At Mainspring, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, flexible, and collaborative environment, so if you want to help us transition the world to clean and affordable electricity, and don’t meet all posted requirements for a particular role, we’d still love to hear from you. Mainspring can sometimes be flexible enough to shift responsibilities for the right person, or otherwise identify open or upcoming roles that may better fit your professional background.

In more traditional words, Mainspring Energy, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

This compensation and benefits information is based on Mainspring Energy's estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future. We generally do not negotiate on salary once we have made an offer. The level of pay within the range will depend on a variety of job-related factors that may include location, relevant prior experience and/or education, or particular skills and expertise. New hires joining the company tend to be paid within the starting base pay range noted above, with opportunities to increase pay over time based on development of additional skills, competencies, and company-specific knowledge.

Salary : $100,000 - $110,000