Senior Mechanical Engineer

Solcoa is building an entirely new category of American metalmaking — rare earth reactors and production lines designed, fabricated, and operated entirely in-house. The company has $75M in seed funding, produces 10 tons annually today, and is racing to commission a 500-ton plant by mid-2027.

 The team comes from MIT, Tesla, and SpaceX and operates with lean, high-output intensity. Everything is built in-house — vacuum induction furnaces, high-temperature reactors, tilt casting systems, and automated production lines — which means engineers own real, end-to-end projects that directly enable the company’s rapid scale-up.

The Opportunity

Solcoa is looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to design, build, and scale novel rare earth reactors and production lines from concept through commissioning. You will own mechanical design projects end-to-end on active production lines — from CAD modeling through fabrication, prototyping, and commissioning — working alongside an in-house fabrication shop in a fast-moving industrial environment.

 This is not a support or analysis role. You will be building equipment that operates in extreme conditions — high temperature, corrosive, vacuum — and scaling it to production capacity on a tight timeline. If you want bold mechanical engineering challenges with immediate, tangible impact, this is that role.

What You’ll Do

• •      Design and build novel reactor subsystems, vacuum induction furnaces, and high-temperature production equipment entirely in-house


• •      Own mechanical design projects end-to-end from CAD modeling through fabrication, prototyping, and commissioning on active production lines


• •      Engineer complex systems such as tilt casting mechanisms for molten metal handling, high-vacuum systems, and automated material handling


• •      Specify components, tolerances, and materials of construction for extreme environments including high-temperature, corrosive, and vacuum conditions


• •      Collaborate with the in-house fabrication shop and operations team to rapidly iterate and scale new production capacity

You Should Have

• •      6-10 years of mechanical engineering experience designing hardware for high-temperature or vacuum systems


• •      Demonstrated ownership of mechanical design projects end-to-end through commissioning


• •      Experience designing vacuum systems, furnaces, or molten metal handling equipment


• •      BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering from a strong engineering school, with coursework in thermodynamics, materials science, or reaction engineering


• •      Proficiency in SolidWorks or Fusion 360 (Fusion preferred)


• •      Hands-on metal machining and fabrication shop experience


• •      Experience specifying materials and tolerances for extreme environments


• •      A signal of excellence — top company, top school, founding experience, or equivalent

Nice to Have

• •      Background in industrial scale-up or commissioning of novel production equipment


• •      Experience with automated material handling or production line integration