# Principal Mechanical Engineer at Mainspring Energy

- Company: Mainspring Energy
- What the company does: Local power generation for data centers, utilities, industrial & enterprise applications. Fuel-flexible, fast to deploy, high-efficiency, low NOx power. Backed by General Catalyst and Khosla.
- Company website: https://www.mainspringenergy.com/
- Type: Startups
- Level: Principal and up
- Location: Menlo Park, CA
- Work setup: On-site
- Pay: $210K to $247K base salary per year (USD)
- Posted: 2026-08-06
- Apply by: 2026-10-08
- Apply: https://jobs.lever.co/mainspringenergy/1f8d5630-8a29-4d74-a2b7-d1994ccb32f2
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/mainspring-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer/

## About the role

Mainspring is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer to serve as a company-level technical authority in a critical mechanical engineering domain for our Linear Generator platform. In this role, you will shape long-term technical direction, define or strongly influence architecture and design principles, guide high-consequence technical decisions, and help the organization solve problems that are novel, ambiguous, and central to long-term product and business success.

## What they're looking for

- BS, MS, or PhD in Mechanical Engineering or a similar engineering field, with a distinguished track record of solving high-consequence mechanical engineering problems in a company-critical domain
- Demonstrated ability to shape technical direction across major systems, platforms, product areas, or organizations, not only within a single project or team
- Exceptional mechanical engineering judgment, including the ability to balance product capability, reliability, cost, scalability, manufacturability, serviceability, safety, customer needs, and business priorities
- Proven ability to solve novel, ambiguous, cross-functional problems where requirements, ownership, evidence, methods, or tradeoffs are not initially clear
- Deep experience using analysis, testing, modeling, field learning, production learning, and engineering judgment to guide long-term technical strategy and high-consequence decisions
- Strong executive-level communication and influence skills, including the ability to align senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders around technical strategy, risks, tradeoffs, and recommended direction

Tags: Mechanical and Structural Systems