Senior Sustaining Controls Engineer

Overview The Senior Sustaining Controls Engineer will play a crucial role in the success of our product automatically and reliably fulfilling customers’ electricity demand. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to diagnose and resolve issues, differentiate between mechanical, electrical, and software-related problems, and document solutions to increase product reliability and reduce maintenance needs. This position is ideal for a multidisciplinary engineer who enjoys working on complex systems and has a keen eye for detail.

In this role, you will act as an electromechanical generalist, bridging the gap between hardware and software across our linear generator fleet, lab operations, and manufacturing processes. Following our rapid transition from R&D to full production, you will take a structured, methodical approach to untangling complex legacy issues and clearing the issue backlog. Applying a strong foundation in physics and systems engineering, you will trace root causes across C++ software, electrical circuits, and mechanical components, using these insights to develop targeted sustaining features that improve long-term product stability and fleet performance.

Responsibilities

• Manage, document, and resolve fleet issues ensuring clear communication and follow-up on resolutions and improving the process
• Diagnose root causes of system issues, distinguishing between mechanical, electrical, and software-related problems
• Categorize, systematize, and address gaps in automated system behavior
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to provide technical support and enhance system behavior
• Debug and troubleshoot existing control algorithms to improve system performance and reliability
• Analyze and understand C++ code to interpret behavior
• Implement fixes to field issues in C++ code, and test them in simulation and laboratory environments
• Adjust feature designs to address field issues
• Use Python for data analysis, scripting, and system diagnostics
• Tune control gains and calibrate systems, documenting the process for future reference
• Identify and address gaps in system performance, ensuring continuous improvement
• Support reliability and manufacturing testing, contributing to the system's life cycle maintenance

Qualifications

• Experience in successful root cause analysis of complex software-mechatronic systems
• Driven and self-directed systems-thinker responsible for creating or improving effective sustaining engineering processes
• Excellent communicator with demonstrated collaboration across multidisciplinary teams
• Degree in mechanical or electrical engineering with controls focus
• Senior level: BS and six years or MS and five years

138872 - 163379 USD a year

This position is onsite at our Menlo Park HQ. The salary will be adjusted to reflect local market conditions based on employee location as well as the experience of the employee. Along with base salary, Mainspring offers pre-IPO company equity through Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) + benefits.