People Matter

Senior Applications Engineer - Control and Automation

Mainspring Energy

Mainspring Energy

IT
Menlo Park, CA, USA
USD 109k-128k / year + Equity
Posted on Jan 6, 2026
Company Overview
Mainspring Energy is revolutionizing power generation with the world’s most flexible and adaptable local power generation technology, the Mainspring Linear Generator. Commercial, industrial, and utility leaders are choosing Mainspring over traditional options like engines, turbines, and fuel cells to quickly and reliably deliver local power for EV charging, commercial facilities, data centers, and grid-scale operations. The Mainspring Linear Generator is fuel flexible, ramps up and down to meet demand, and utilizes a flameless reaction with near-zero NOx emissions.
Backed by top-tier investors including Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, American Electric Power, Lightrock, and General Catalyst Mainspring designs, manufactures and delivers its products to customers across the U.S. today, and we’re quickly scaling for international expansion.
Inspired by our vision of the affordable, reliable, net-zero carbon grid, Mainspring is rapidly expanding within the $816B global electricity equipment market, and we’re hiring the best talent to meet growing customer demand around the globe. We welcome a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and talents to bring fresh perspectives and ongoing innovation to our customers.
We are looking to build relationships with people who share our values:
Pragmatic Optimism. Building a new category of world-class power generation requires the optimism of ambition and creativity, balanced with practicality to solve problems efficiently. The challenges that arise are opportunities for growth.
Excellence without Ego. We bring expertise and commitment to creating the best customer experience, from sales to deployment and service, just as we apply deep technical rigor to building and delivering world-class products. We strive for excellence and behave as leaders with the humility to acknowledge our challenges, both collectively and as individual contributors.
Proactive Collaboration. The integration and cross-disciplinary nature of Mainspring’s business requires intentionally seeking out others who bring different skills, perspectives, and priorities. Our culture of inclusion and respect extends beyond our team to interactions with our partners and customers.
More information can be found at www.mainspringenergy.com
Job Overview
A key enabler of Mainspring’s mission is the ability of its team to deliver solutions based on our linear generator technology that solve customer problems in the cross-section of resiliency and clean power generation. Mainspring is looking to hire a Senior Applications Engineer to join our Project Delivery team and focus on Linear Generator automation and controls implementation for our multi-generator deployments.

Responsibilities

  • Design, configure, and maintain automation project files for complex energy projects. You will manage control implementation for customer specific applications such as grid-parallel operation, islanding transitions, blackstart coordination, and peak shaving
  • Create and modify Sequence of Operations (SOO) procedures to meet project specifications and requirements
  • Author Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) procedures to demonstrate the proper implementation and function of the system after deployment
  • Partner with the field commissioning team to support startup and testing activities. You will be the escalation point for complex control, networking, and integration issues through Commercial Operation
  • Serve as a technical advisor for internal teams building out code base improvements and expanded generator controls functionality
  • Ensure comprehensive documentation of control designs, IP addressing schemes, and logic modifications to facilitate a smooth handover to our Fleet Operations team for long-term maintenance
  • Anticipate and communicate project risks related to generator control deployment and contributes meaningful mitigation strategies

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience in industrial automation and controls, preferably within power generation, distributed energy resources, or utility-scale facilities
  • Demonstrated experience in developing custom industrial automation logic, program deployment, and maintenance
  • Next-Gen Automation Skills: Strong experience with Software-Defined Automation or "Universal Automation" platforms. Direct experience with the IEC 61499 standard is highly preferred
  • Expert-level knowledge of logic programming (Structured Text, Function Block, Ladder) on a major platform (Rockwell Studio 5000, Siemens TIA Portal, Beckhoff TwinCAT, Schneider EAE)
  • Experience designing and troubleshooting industrial control networks (Modbus TCP, DNP3), including basic knowledge of VPNs, remote access, and cybersecurity best practices
  • Familiarity with electrical power systems, inverters, protection relays, and the physics of grid integration
  • Strong understanding of wiring diagrams, network diagrams, electrical schematics, one-lines and other standard electrical drawings
  • Excellent organizational and communication skills, able to coordinate complex workflows, communicate effectively with contractors and team members, and document key project activities in addition to engineering deliverables
  • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to think critically to address customer challenges
  • Ownership Mentality: You don’t just close tickets; you own the outcome. You are proactive in identifying risks and comfortable advocating for the resources needed to solve them
  • Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, a related field or comparable work experience
Does your experience not meet all of our posted requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to positions unless they meet every listed requirement. At Mainspring, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, flexible, and collaborative environment, so if you want to help us transition the world to clean and affordable electricity, and don’t meet all posted requirements for a particular role, we’d still love to hear from you. Mainspring can sometimes be flexible enough to shift responsibilities for the right person, or otherwise identify open or upcoming roles that may better fit your professional background.
In more traditional words, Mainspring Energy, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
This compensation and benefits information is based on Mainspring Energy's estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future. We generally do not negotiate on salary once we have made an offer. The level of pay within the range will depend on a variety of job-related factors that may include location, relevant prior experience and/or education, or particular skills and expertise. New hires joining the company tend to be paid within the starting base pay range noted above, with opportunities to increase pay over time based on development of additional skills, competencies, and company-specific knowledge.

109000 - 128000 USD a year

This position is remote. The salary will be adjusted to reflect local market conditions based on employee location as well as the experience of the employee. Along with the base salary, Mainspring offers pre-IPO stock options + benefits.