Senior Mechanical Systems Engineer

About Skyven 

At Skyven Technologies, we have developed a revolutionary high-temperature heat pump that produces industrial steam at a lower cost than traditional fuel-fired boilers. We give our customers two options to deploy the heat pump: (A) a traditional CAPEX purchase, and (B) an innovative Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) model with zero CAPEX and savings from day one. Either way, customers save money and reduce emissions while minimizing risk. 

Skyven is an industry-leading high-growth company with a high-performance team. This is a role for someone who wants to do serious engineering in a startup environment: move quickly, think deeply, work with strong people, and help turn ambitious concepts into equipment that works in the field.  

About the Role 

We are looking for a Senior Mechanical Systems Engineer who exemplifies strong engineering judgment combined with strong practical mechanical engineering capability. We especially value engineers who have spent time close to real hardware in the field and know the difference between what looks good on paper and what really works. 

You will work closely with the CTO and the rest of the technical team to complement strong system-level and conceptual thinking with deep practical mechanical judgment. That means helping translate ambitious product concepts into designs that can actually be built, commissioned, operated, and maintained. This role is an individual contributor role, but we are looking for someone with the maturity and breadth to become a technical lead in the future. 

This role is for someone who is energized by understanding how an entire system works, not just producing drawings or sourcing parts. You should be the kind of engineer who wants to understand the “why” behind requirements, spot weaknesses in a design, ask hard questions early, and improve a system’s performance, operability, reliability, and cost. So, you should be comfortable moving between first-principles thinking and practical design decisions. One day that may mean digging into system architecture, operability, or failure modes. Another day it may mean reviewing a P&ID, building CAD, tightening a spec, challenging a vendor design, or catching issues in a drawing package before they become field problems. 

What You’ll Do 

• Help develop and refine industrial thermal-fluid systems with a strong eye toward buildability, operability, maintainability, and cost 

• Contribute to and improve P&IDs, system layouts, piping concepts, mechanical arrangements, and equipment designs 

• Create CAD models, assemblies, and drawings where needed, not just review them 

• Critically review prints, layouts, and design packages and catch issues before they reach fabrication or the field 

• Work across process, mechanical, electrical, controls, and field considerations rather than staying narrowly inside one discipline 

• Develop technical specifications for major mechanical equipment and supporting components 

• Drive portions of the design from concept through vendor engagement, detailed design, fabrication, and field feedback 

• Work directly with suppliers and fabricators to clarify requirements, review designs, answer RFIs, and make sound judgements on open-ended engineering questions 

• Identify opportunities to standardize or automate parts of the design process, including engineering tools, design workflows, drawing generation, or CAD workflows 

• Help raise the technical level of the team through strong review, clear reasoning, and high standards while keeping an eye on speed and pragmatism 

The Kind of Engineer Who Will Thrive Here 

This role is a strong fit for someone who: 

• Thinks from first principles and wants to understand how the system really works 

• Has strong intuition for mechanical design, field realities, and failure modes 

• Can move between concept-level system thinking and detailed execution 

• Likes startup speed, but still cares deeply about engineering rigor 

• Takes ownership, notices what others miss, and is comfortable speaking up 

Requirements 

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent practical experience 

• 8+ years of relevant experience in industrial equipment, process equipment, thermal-fluid systems, energy systems, rotating equipment, or related product development 

• Strong mechanical engineering fundamentals across piping, pressure vessels, materials, heat exchangers, rotating equipment, skidded systems, bearings, and fabrication 

• Skill creating and modifying P&IDs and translating system intent into practical hardware 

• Strong CAD capability, ideally in SolidWorks, including ability to create models and drawings directly 

• Strong print review instincts and the ability to find issues, inconsistencies, and bad assumptions in mechanical design packages 

• Ability to make sound engineering judgments in ambiguous, first-of-a-kind, or cross-disciplinary situations 

• Ability to communicate clearly with engineers, vendors, fabricators, and leadership 

• Willingness to engage with real hardware, real field constraints, and real operating problems 

Especially Valuable 

• Experience in an industrial startup or fast-moving product development environment 

• Hands-on field, commissioning, startup, troubleshooting, or plant support experience 

• Experience with pumps, compressors, turbomachinery, steam systems, thermal systems, or fluid systems 

• Working knowledge of relevant codes and standards such as ASME and API 

• Experience reviewing or developing piping layouts, supports, stress/life considerations, materials selections, and fabrication details 

• Experience improving engineering workflows through scripting, automation, design tools, or model-based approaches 

• Ability to use Python or similar tools for engineering analysis or automation  

What We Value 

We value engineers who are curious, rigorous, hard to fool, and hard to impress. We look for people who want to understand what is actually going on in a system, who care whether a design will really work, and who are willing to challenge assumptions when something does not look right. We are especially interested in people who combine first principles thinking with practical mechanical depth, independent thinking, and high ownership. 

• Flexible PTO 

• Stock options 

• Medical, dental, and 401k benefits 

• Salary range: $130,000 to $160,000  

Location 

• We are a remote-first organization; this role is fully remote. 

• The candidate must be currently based in and have the right to work in the United States.