About Us

At Antares, our long-term mission is to make clean energy abundant from Earth to the Asteroid Belt. We’re fueled by the belief that advanced nuclear energy can strengthen our military, solve the climate crisis, elevate global living standards, and expand humanity's presence in outer space. To achieve our mission, we’re building mass-producible, inherently safe, deployable microreactors that can be used terrestrially, underwater, and in space.

The Antares team hails from SpaceX, the White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, MIT, Rigetti Computing, General Atomics, Relativity Space, Ursa Major, and National Laboratories like Idaho, Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Savannah River. Antares has raised over $600M in venture capital from top-tier investors and has hundreds of million-dollars on contract with the military services, NASA, and the Department of Energy.

About the Role

As a Thermo-Mechanical Design Engineer, you will play a key role in developing, designing, qualifying, and deploying advanced heat exchanger systems for cutting-edge energy applications. You will work closely with Responsible Engineers and cross-functional teams to mature designs from concept through production. The ideal candidate will bring strong mechanical design fundamentals, thermal engineering knowledge, and hands-on hardware development experience to deliver reliable, high-performance heat exchangers and associated piping systems for next-generation energy applications.

Roles & Responsibilities

Perform mechanical design, modeling, and analysis of heat exchanger systems, ensuring thermal performance, structural integrity, and compatibility with system interfaces.

Design and analyze heat exchanger inlet/outlet piping, manifolds, and associated mechanical interfaces, ensuring compatibility with system performance and installation requirements.

Evaluate thermal stresses, differential thermal expansion, pressure loads, piping flexibility, and mechanical loads transmitted between heat exchangers, piping, and supporting structures.

Support development of manufacturing methods, including material selection, fabrication processes, joining techniques, and assembly of heat exchanger and piping components.

Design and support development of test articles, test stands, and procedures to validate thermal performance, structural integrity, and operational life.

Coordinate with internal teams and external stakeholders to translate system requirements into manufacturable and reliable hardware products.

Support the design and integration of piping connections, flanges, weld joints, supports, and other fluid-system components, considering manufacturability, assembly, inspection, and maintenance.

Define operating limits and performance envelopes for heat exchanger systems.

Investigate hardware failures, identify root causes, and rapidly implement design improvements to enhance performance and reliability.

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or a related physics-based field.

5+ years of experience in mechanical or thermal engineering, preferably involving heat exchangers, pressure-containing equipment, or high-temperature systems.

Demonstrated experience with mechanical CAD design and engineering analysis tools (e.g., SolidWorks, NX, ANSYS, COMSOL).

Understanding of heat transfer fundamentals, fluid mechanics, thermal stresses, and structural mechanics.

Understanding of piping and pressure-containing component design, including pressure loads, thermal expansion, and mechanical interfaces.

Knowledge of materials science as it applies to material selection, thermal properties, and structural performance.

Preferred Skills and Experience

Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or Thermal Sciences.

Demonstrated experience in heat exchanger design, analysis, manufacturing, and testing.

Experience with high-temperature (500°C+) systems, including thermal expansion, creep, fatigue, and material compatibility considerations.