Principal Engineer, Cryogenic Refrigeration Systems

# Principal Engineer, Cryogenic Refrigeration Systems Snowcap’s superconducting compute platform depends on refrigeration that can move from lab-scale demonstration to reliable, serviceable deployment. That does not happen by buying a cryocooler and bolting it to a test stand. It requires someone who understands cryogenic refrigeration from the compressor up.

Team Cryogenic Systems Engineering Employment Full -time

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About the Role Snowcap is building a superconducting digital computer that operates at cryogenic temperature. The refrigeration system is not a facility accessory; it is core product infrastructure. It determines system uptime, test throughput, deployment cost, serviceability, vibration environment, cooldown time, and ultimately whether superconducting compute can operate outside a physics lab.

This role owns the refrigeration architecture behind that system. You will lead the design, specification, integration, and validation of Snowcap’s cryogenic cooling stack, with particular emphasis on the compressor, helium circuit, cold head, heat rejection, and mechanical interfaces to the compute payload.

We are looking for a mechanical engineering leader with deep cryogenic refrigeration experience. The right person has worked close to real hardware: compressors, pulse tube or Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers, helium plumbing, vacuum interfaces, heat exchangers, vibration isolation, sensors, valves, leak checking, cooldown testing, and field reliability. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for someone who can set architecture, challenge vendor assumptions, debug hardware, and establish the standards that future Snowcap cryogenic systems will  twelve months, the right person in this role will have defined and validated a refrigeration architecture that supports Snowcap’s superconducting compute roadmap, with clear paths to reliability, manufacturability, supplier qualification, serviceability, and customer deployment.
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What You'll DoOwn Snowcap’s cryogenic refrigeration architecture end-to-end, from compressor package and helium circuit through cold head, thermal interfaces, heat rejection, controls, instrumentation, and service envelope.

Define system-level requirements for cooling power, base temperature, cooldown time, pressure, flow, vibration, acoustic noise, power consumption, heat rejection, uptime, redundancy, maintenance, and safety.

Lead compressor-level trade studies across helium compressor technologies, oil management, pressure ratios, water cooling, duty cycle, efficiency, service intervals, vibration, acoustics, reliability, and integration constraints.

Specify, evaluate, and qualify cryocoolers, compressors, cold heads, vacuum components, gas handling hardware, chillers, sensors, valves, lines, fittings, manifolds, and related refrigeration components.

Build the analytical and empirical models that govern Snowcap’s refrigeration decisions: thermal budgets, cooldown curves, parasitic heat loads, pressure drop, flow distribution, compressor operating envelopes, and failure modes.

Design and review mechanical subsystems including gas lines, manifolds, heat exchangers, cold plates, thermal straps, mounting hardware, vibration isolation, vacuum interfaces, water-cooling interfaces, and serviceable assemblies.

Develop Snowcap’s cryogenic refrigeration test strategy, including cooldown testing, heat-load mapping, vibration characterization, compressor performance testing, leak testing, reliability growth, and failure analysis.

Work directly with superconducting hardware, packaging, test, manufacturing, facilities, and controls teams to define clean thermal and mechanical interfaces between the compute system and the refrigeration plant.

Drive…