Founding Mechanical Engineer

FOUNDING MECHANICAL ENGINEER ABOUT MADRONE Madrone is building the thermal infrastructure required for artificial intelligence to tackle humanity’s most complex challenges - from curing cancer to achieving room-temperature superconductivity. Power is the primary constraint on data center growth, and currently up to 40% of power is lost to cooling at current GW-scale sites. Madrone’s first product is a modular, hyper-efficient facility water cooling system for hyperscale data centers. It allows cooling to the dew point, lower than anyone else can without using mechanical chillers. We’re assembling an exceptional team to push the frontier of heat rejection on Earth. ABOUT THE ROLE We are hiring a Founding Mechanical Engineer to take our cooling technology from prototypes to full-scale, field-deployed systems. You will own mechanical design across thermodynamics, fluid systems, heat exchangers, packaging, manufacturing, testing, and commissioning. This is a highly hands-on role: you will move between first-principles analysis, DFM, CAD, supplier conversations, prototype assembly, instrumentation, and field testing. You will work directly with the founders and have substantial influence over the product, engineering culture, supplier base, and technical roadmap. WHAT YOU’LL OWN - Lead the mechanical architecture and detailed design of systems scaling from 1 kW prototypes to 1 MW cooling platforms. - Help recruit and mentor the mechanical engineering organization as Madrone grows. - Lead design reviews, failure-mode analysis, root-cause investigations, and reliability improvements. - Develop thermodynamic, psychrometric, heat-transfer, and hydraulic models to predict system performance across a wide range of ambient conditions. - Design and integrate heat exchangers, pumps, fans or blowers, valves, piping, filtration, water-treatment components, sensors, and structural assemblies. - Produce CAD models, engineering drawings, bills of materials, tolerance specifications, and manufacturing documentation. - Build and instrument prototypes, define test plans, analyze results, and rapidly iterate based on measured performance. - Select materials and components appropriate for corrosion, water quality, temperature, pressure, vibration, and long operating lifetimes. - Source components and work directly with fabricators, contract manufacturers, and other suppliers to move from one-off builds into repeatable production. - Support system installation, commissioning, troubleshooting, and validation at customer sites. - Collaborate closely with electrical, controls, software, manufacturing, and customer engineering teams. WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR - Significant experience designing and shipping complex thermal-fluid hardware. - Strong fundamentals in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and mechanical design. - Experience owning hardware through the full development cycle - A bachelor’s degree or higher in mechanical engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. - Proficiency with CAD and engineering drawings - Experience building and debugging physical systems. - Ability to operate effectively with incomplete information and rapidly changing requirements. - Clear written and verbal communication skills. PARTICULARLY RELEVANT EXPERIENCE Any of the following would be valuable, but none is individually required: - Startup or other fast-paced hardware development environments. - Data center facility water systems or high-density compute infrastructure. - Thermal system design. - CFD, FEA, system simulation, or design optimization. - Sheet-metal designs. - Supplier qualification, contract manufacturing, pilot production, and cost reduction. YOU MAY BE A STRONG FIT IF YOU - Enjoy CAD and understand thermal systems. - Are happiest when analysis leads quickly to a physical build. - Drive towards creative solutions. - Want to see your work deployed at gigawatt scale. - Care deeply about increasing the efficiency of AI infrastructure. Equal Opportunity Employer: Madrone is committed to fostering an inclusive and meritocratic workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should notify our Human Resources Department.