Senior Motor-Generator Engineer
Antares · Los Angeles · $145,000–$190,000 (stated in the posting)
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 Senior Motor-Generator Engineer, you will own the design and development of high-speed motor-generator units (MGUs) for Antares nuclear reactors.
You will serve as the primary technical interface with our electric-machine suppliers while developing the internal capability to design, analyze, manufacture, and test stators and permanent-magnet rotors. You will work closely with electrical, turbomachinery, mechanical design, manufacturing, and test engineers to integrate the MGU into our power conversion systems.
The ideal candidate has experience designing electric motors or generators, with strong knowledge of electromagnetic design, materials, manufacturing processes, and hardware testing. You can make sound engineering tradeoffs between electrical performance, mechanical integrity, thermal limits, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and schedule.
Roles & Responsibilities:
Own the technical development of high-speed motor-generator units from design through qualification and production.
Serve as the primary technical interface with electric-machine suppliers, reviewing designs, analyses, manufacturing processes, and test results.
Develop motor-generator requirements, specifications, interfaces, and verification plans.
Perform electromagnetic design and analysis of electric machines, including machine sizing, winding configurations, magnetic circuits, losses, efficiency, and operating limits.
Design stator and rotor components, including laminations, windings, insulation systems, permanent magnets, magnet retention, and cooling features.
Lead MGU development and qualification testing, including test planning, execution, data analysis, and resolution of issues identified during testing.
Work with turbomachinery engineers to integrate motor-generator components into high-speed rotating assemblies, including shaft interfaces, rotor structural integrity, and rotordynamics.
Work with electrical engineers to define motor-generator electrical characteristics, inverter interfaces, operating limits, and test requirements.
Develop internal electric-machine design methods, analysis tools, and manufacturing capabilities to support future in-house development.
Support design reviews and technical decisions throughout the product lifecycle.
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
5+ years of professional experience designing and developing electric motors, generators, or similar electric machines.
Experience performing electromagnetic design and analysis of electric machines, including magnetic circuits, winding configurations, torque production, voltage characteristics, and losses.
Experience with electromagnetic analysis tools such as ANSYS Maxwell, Motor-CAD, JMAG, or equivalent.
Working knowledge of electric-machine materials and manufacturing processes, including electrical steel laminations, windings, insulation systems, and permanent magnets.
Experience developing electric-machine hardware through manufacturing, assembly, and testing.
Experience making engineering tradeoffs involving performance, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and schedule.
Demonstrated ability to communicate technical information clearly.
Preferred Skills & Experience:
Master's degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline.
7+ years of professional experience designing high-power or high-speed electric motors or generators.
Experience designing permanent-magnet synchronous machines and high-speed motor-generator units.
Experience designing stator laminations, winding configurations, insulation systems, and cooling architectures.
Experience designing high-speed permanent-magnet rotors, including magnet selection, retention sleeves, rotor structural analysis, and shaft interfaces.
Knowledge of electric-machine loss mechanisms, including core losses, eddy-current losses, windage, harmonics, and rotor heating.
Experience with electric-machine thermal analysis and cooling system design.
Working knowledge of inverter-fed electric machines and the effects of inverter operation on machine performance, heating, and reliability.
Experience integrating electric machines with turbomachinery or other high-speed rotating equipment.
Experience with motor-generator performance testing, qualification testing, and correlation of analytical models with test data.
Experience working directly with suppliers to develop and qualify electric-machine components.
Additional Requirements:
Flexibility to support hardware development milestones—including occasional weekend or long-hour pushes.
Ability to travel periodically to supplier and test facilities.
Salary Range:
Senior Engineer - $145,000 - $190,000
Staff Engineer - $155,000 - $220,000
Leveling is determined during the interviews and can change over time.
Culture
At Antares, we like to specifically tie each role to our founding document’s set of values–here 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 that's “how it's 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 can’t 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.
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