Turbomachinery Mechanical Designer

About the role

This role defines and owns the mechanical design of turbomachinery components for Valar Atomics power conversion, guiding architecture choices from early development through production. You will partner with cross-functional teams to advance power generation capability and ensure designs are manufacturable, robust, and efficient for high-temperature nuclear applications.

Designers shape how products look and feel. Designers create user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and polished visuals. They test ideas with users and iterate on feedback. Design work spans research, interaction design, and visual design. Collaboration with product and engineering happens daily. Design decisions are judged by outcomes such as usability, conversion, and customer satisfaction. Most design teams keep a living design system to keep products consistent.

Key facts

What you'll do

Static and rotating component design for power conversion advances under the power conversion discipline, defining a manufacturable, high-efficiency, robust design.

Required analyses are facilitated to support the design and procurement of components, ensuring performance and manufacturability targets are met.

Bringing assigned components to test and full scale production is owned end to end, with coordination across internal and external machine shops.

Component materials are selected to balance capability, lead time, and cost while supporting high-temperature performance.

Designs are translated into practical, manufacturable solutions through close interfacing with internal and external machine shops.

Requirements

A Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering is held as a baseline qualification for the role.

Excellent judgement in material selection for new components is demonstrated, especially under high-temperature conditions.

A strong understanding of manufacturing processes is shown, with good judgement of when to apply them appropriately.

A minimum of 3 years of experience as a mechanical designer is brought to relevant technical environments.

Experience with high temperature components and materials addresses thermal and structural demands.

Nice to have

Master's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering is pursued to deepen technical depth.

Experience with material selection of high temperature metals and basic structural or thermal analysis for component sizing is shown.

Experience with turbomachinery mechanical design and systems such as gas turbines, gas compressors, turbopumps, or turboexpanders is contributed.

Experience with supercritical CO2 systems relevant to advanced nuclear power cycles is brought.

Practical notes

This position requires U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency (green card holder).

Onsite work expectations and team collaboration details will be confirmed during hiring.

Typical interview steps

Design interviews usually include a portfolio review, a design exercise, and a team conversation. Candidates present past work and explain their process and decisions. Some loops include a live design challenge. Communication matters as much as the visual output. Portfolios are strongest when they show the problem, the constraints, and the iteration, not just the final screens. Interviewers also watch how you take feedback.

Good to know

The role works within a high-temperature nuclear power conversion team using tools such as SolidWorks, Creo, or NX for advanced mechanical design.

The position operates in a fast-paced startup focused on scalable, factory-made nuclear energy systems.

Collaboration spans engineering, operations, and machine shops to advance prototypes toward production.

Career growth

Design careers grow from junior to senior, staff, and principal levels. Some designers move into design management or design operations. Specializations include UX research, interaction design, and brand design. Cross-functional influence grows with seniority. Senior designers are expected to influence product strategy, not just execute visuals. Building a habit of user research strengthens any design career.