Staff Engineer - Thermal Design at Apptronik Inc. in Austin, Texas

Job Description:

Apptronik is building robots for the real world to improve human quality of life and to help solve the ever-increasing labor shortage problem. Our team has been building some of the most advanced robots on the planet for years, dating back to the DARPA Robotics Challenge. We apply our expertise across the full robotics stack to some of the most important and impactful problems our society faces, and expect our products and technology to change the world for the better. We value passion, creativity, and collaboration to help us overcome existing technological barriers in the industry to create truly innovative products.

You will join a team developing state-of-the-art general-purpose robots designed to operate in human spaces and with human tools. It is designed to work alongside humans, mobilize to human spaces, and manipulate the world around it.

The Staff Engineer - Thermal Design will be responsible for architecting, designing, modeling, validating and optimizing the thermal system across all Apptronik products. As part of the Robot Chassis team, you will make engineering decisions to improve robot's thermal performance and reliability to help create a fully autonomous general-purpose robot. In this role you will lead simulation along with hands-on testing to deliver the optimal thermal management solution. The ideal candidate should be able to lead the cross-functional thermal design of products from concept to mass production.

Key Responsibilities

• Passive and active air-cooled thermal design of custom electronics, actuators, and integrated robot chassis - from initial high-level analysis down to validation of performance with data analysis
• Develop and guide system architecture through accurate system thermal models and lead thermal system design
• Drive component selection of the thermal system and assist in engineering prototype builds and component fabrication
• Partner with cross-functional teams to iterate and optimize thermal performance to meet system requirements and pursue operational simplicity
• Pursue performance/robustness improvements to achieve maximum thermal performance within constraints
• Lead and execute thermal system DVP&R. Perform Design of Experiments at each phase of the project to inform the system design.
• Validate and optimize system design through data collection and analysis
• Automate workflow above to reduce engineering investment in per robot analysis
• Produce quality documentation of your work to reduce miss-rate and improve efficiency

Requirements

• Strong understanding of thermal fluid systems and heat transfer
• Experience with 0-D and 1-D thermal/fluid networks
• Highly proficient in CFD analysis with 5 years or more of IcePak experience
• Experience with Thermal Desktop and/or ANSYS Workbench
• Working knowledge of scripting languages (specifically Python)
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to deliver against an aggressive schedule

Preferred Experience

• MS or PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering with emphasis in Thermal Design, Heat Transfer, or Fluid Dynamics
• 10 or more years of experience in thermal system design
• CAD proficiency (OnShape preferred)

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times
• Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen
• Hearing and speech to communicate

*This is a direct hire. Please, no outside Agency solicitations.

Apptronik provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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