Senior Thermo Mechanical Engineer (Responsible Heat Pipe Engineer)

About Us

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

Formed in 2023 the Antares team hails from SpaceX The White House MIT Rigetti Computing The Air Force General Atomics Relativity Space Ursa Major and National Laboratories like Los Alamos Idaho and Oak Ridge. Antares has raised over $130M in venture capital from top-tier investors and has over $13M in government funding.

About the Role

As the Responsible Engineer for Heat Pipes you will play a critical role in the development design and implementation of advanced heat pipe systems for cutting-edge nuclear microreactors. This position requires a deep understanding of thermal engineering and heat transfer in extreme environments with a focus on reliability safety and efficiency. The ideal candidate will drive innovation and ensure the highest standards in nuclear heat pipe technology contributing to next-generation sustainable energy solutions

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Lead the design modeling and analysis of heat pipe systems ensuring compatibility with R1s core design primary heat exchanger and internal interfaces

• Support development of manufacturing methods for prototyping and mass manufacturing of heat pipes

• Support development of test articles stands and procedures for validating the limits of heat pipe performance and life characteristics

• Interface with core reactor vessel and primary heat exchanger parts and owners to integrate heat pipes into the overall R1 system

• Define operating procedures and limits for heat pipes to inform reactor control system integration

• Investigate heat pipe failure and define reliability limits; integrate fixes rapidly

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in engineering or physics

• 5 years of experience in high energy hardware (combustion devices turbomachines rankine cycles hypersonics etc)

• Proficiency in thermal modeling software (e.g. COMSOL ANSYS)

• Knowledge of materials science as it applies to alloy selection for heat transfer and structural properties

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Masters or PhD in Nuclear Engineering Thermal Sciences or Mechanical / Aerospace Engineering

• Experience focusing on heat pipes or heat transfer systems preferably in nuclear or high-reliability sectors.

• Demonstrated knowledge in simulation of high temperature 2-phase flow fields

• Demonstrated expertise in heat pipe design analysis manufacturing and test

• Strong understanding of nuclear safety standards testing protocols and regulatory requirements

• Experience in nuclear thermal or other high temperature (500C) systems including prior work with heat pipe technology

• Experience with sodium purification and material handling

• Exceptional communication skills to work effectively across teams and convey technical information to non-specialists

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestones

Location

• We are located in Torrance CA in a 145000 square foot brand new facility featuring large open spaces for team collaboration R&D and production as well as easy access to the 405 105 and 110 freeways. Our facility is in the heart of Los Angeles vibrant emerging tech ecosystem alongside many other high growth startups and enterprises.

Culture

At Antares we like to specifically tie each role to our founding documents set of valueshere are the top five cultural values we think you should believe at your core to be successful:

• Think in Systems - Energy and Defense are complex ecosystems with numerous stakeholders with competing priorities conflicting policies perverse incentives and emergent and path-dependent properties. First principles thinking alone is insufficient. Think probabilistically and then take action. If you want to be certain then you are apt to be obsolete. Over-optimizing the components often degrades the system

• Obsess over the End User - The customer and end user are often not the same. We will never build globally competitive commercial products if we lose sight of our end users and their entire interaction with the product life cycle

• Be Unconstrained by Convention - Our only limits are the laws of physics. Many even experts will say what we are working on is impossible. They said the same about SpaceX reusing rockets. Generationally impactful companies by definition must accomplish the seemingly impossible. If it were easy it would have already been done. Never shy away from a solution because it has never been tried before and never choose to do something because thats how its always been done

• Go Where the Work Is - Never miss a chance to meet a customer user or stakeholder face to face even if that means hopping on a plane. If you cant make it find a teammate who can channel your intentions and go in your place. Deep work can be done from anywhere but we believe teams are built in person and aim to maximize our time together

• Operate in the Grey - Embrace nuance in pursuit of truth. Question every fundamental assumption

Equal Opportunity

Antares is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are based solely on merit competence and qualifications without regard to race color religion gender national origin/ethnicity veteran status disability status age sexual orientation gender identity marital status mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident (aka green card holder) (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157 or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. 1158 or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Required Experience:

Senior IC