Lead Mechanical Engineer

About UsWe are Sila, a next-generation battery materials company. Our mission is to power the world’s transition to clean energy. To create this future, our team is building a better lithium-ion battery from the inside out today. We engineer and manufacture ground-breaking battery materials that significantly increase the energy density of batteries, while reducing their size and weight. The result?

Smaller more powerful batteries that can unlock innovation in consumer devices and accelerate the mass adoption of electric cars to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. We're tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time every day, and together we're redefining what's possible. Are you ready to be a part of a team committed to changing the world?

Who You Are Sila’s Equipment Engineering team in Alameda is seeking a Lead Mechanical Engineer to define and build the next-generation reactor platforms that scale our breakthrough energy chemistry into mass production. In this role, you will bridge fundamental chemical R&D and industrial-scale manufacturing by inventing, modeling, and scaling complex fluid, thermal, and mechanical systems. As Sila expands its core hardware capabilities, we are looking for a Lead Engineer who thrives at the intersection of high-level architecture and deep, hands-on mechanical execution.

You bring a strong bias for action and prefer owning detailed CAD design, analytical calculations, and lab-scale validation directly. Whether your background is in high-stakes aerospace propulsion, consumer hardware innovation, or advanced process equipment, you bring a first-principles mindset to radical system simplification, driving internal technical mastery from initial concept, to design-for-manufacturing, through factory commissioning.

Responsibilities and Duties  Drive In-House Hardware Architecture:
Personally own the mechanical design, modeling, and iteration of next-generation manufacturing reactors—translating novel chemical R&D into robust, production-ready hardware.

Perform First-Principles Analysis & Simulation:
Execute calculations, thermal modeling, and structural FEA/CFD to validate extreme-environment reactor performance and ground architectural decisions before building.

Radically Simplify Complex Systems:
Challenge legacy specifications and unnecessary system complexity to invent leaner, safer, and higher-throughput reactor architectures.
Develop Detailed Engineering Packages:
Author complete engineering packages - including 3D CAD layouts, core IP drawings, equipment datasheets, P&IDs, and fabrication packages - applying practical Design for Manufacturability (DFM) principles to optimize supplier capability, yield, and cost. Lead Hands-On Prototyping & Field Integration:
Build lab/pilot-scale test rigs, validate design concepts through physical testing, and direct external fabricators through final tool build, factory acceptance testing (FAT), and site commissioning.

Embed Safety & High-Temperature Integrity:
Integrate safety-by-design principles from day one, leading HAZOP and Process Safety Management (PSM) evaluations for pressurized and high-temperature hardware.

Technical Mentorship:
Mentor and coach junior engineering staff, fostering technical growth and maintaining high standards for design documentation, engineering rigor, and safety best practices

Knowledge and Skill Requirements

Education & Experience:

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent practical experience, paired with 8+ years (or an equivalent accelerated track record) in mechanical design engineering, thermal/fluid hardware, or complex system development.

Direct Technical Ownership & Culture:
Demonstrated history of personally driving hardware through the…