Cycle Performance Engineer

Arbor Energy•El Segundo, CA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

At Arbor Energy & Resources Corporation ("Arbor Energy"), we’re creating technology to power our lives while protecting the planet that sustains them. Our advanced power systems deliver clean, reliable baseload electricity with zero operating emissions—modular, fuel-flexible, and engineered for the realities of today’s energy demand. At the core is a supercritical CO₂ turbine with integrated carbon capture, designed to bring carbon-neutral power online quickly at meaningful scale. Our team includes aerospace engineers, combustion experts, and systems thinkers with a shared goal: to build technology worthy of the world we want to live in. While many of us began our journeys looking to the stars, we’re applying that expertise here at home to deliver dependable, emission-free baseload power and a future of lasting abundance. If you share our values and are drawn to rigorous work with lasting impact, we’d love to learn more about you. Come build what the future will run on. Steward our planet: We build for tomorrow, ensuring every bolt we tighten and every hand we lend leaves our environment stronger than we found it. Lead with Love: We champion the success of our people, partners, and planet, nurturing excellence through camaraderie and rigor. Explore the Uncharted: We embrace the unknown with curiosity, using courage and discipline to transform uncertainty into opportunity. We are seeking a Cycle Performance Engineer to own the thermodynamic model of our direct-fired supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycle power loop — connecting design intent to real-world test results. In this role, you will plan and execute performance analysis campaigns, predict system response ahead of testing, and reconcile model output against test data to sharpen our understanding of first-of-a-kind technology. You will work closely with test engineers, combustion engineers, turbomachinery engineers, and our recuperator and fluid systems teams, translating integrated system behavior into clear, actionable technical insight. This is hands-on, high-stakes engineering work on climate-impactful technology at the frontier of what's possible in clean power.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Aerospace, or related Engineering field
6+ years of experience in process engineering, cycle performance analysis, thermodynamic systems design, or closely related discipline
Strong fundamentals in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer, with demonstrated ability to apply them to integrated multi-component system analysis
Experience critically evaluating commercial process simulation tools (Aspen HYSYS, Pro/II, Symmetry, or equivalent) and building custom models in Python, MATLAB, or similar when commercial tools fall short; comfort with both steady-state and dynamic simulation
Working knowledge of the process equipment that makes up an integrated power loop — heat exchanger sizing and rating (Q = UA·LMTD), compressor and pump curves, control valve Cv, pressure relief, and piping hydraulics
Ability to manage competing priorities, communicate complex technical findings clearly across disciplines, and proactively seek direction when operating with loose guidance
Strong ownership mentality and comfort driving rigorous analysis in a fast-paced, startup environment

Nice To Haves

Experience with supercritical CO₂, closed Brayton cycles, high-pressure systems (100+ bar), or other high-density working fluids
Hands-on plant startup, commissioning, or field troubleshooting experience — particularly on developmental or first-of-a-kind systems
Background in rocketry, gas turbine, or high-performance turbomachinery environments
Programming or scripting proficiency for simulation, data reduction, and automation (Python, MATLAB/Simulink)
Experience in a startup or agile R&D environment

Responsibilities

Own the integrated heat and mass balance model for Arbor's power loop, maintaining and improving it as system design and operating experience evolve
Run steady-state and transient/dynamic simulation cases to predict system-level performance ahead of test campaigns — including sensitivity studies that answer "what happens to the loop if we change X?"
Analyze test data and systematically reconcile differences between measured and predicted performance, driving model refinement and surfacing component-level insights for disciplinary engineers
Support test planning by providing pre-test performance predictions, identifying operating envelope constraints, and flagging potential interactions across the integrated system
Critically evaluate commercial process simulation tools (e.g., Aspen HYSYS, Pro/II, Symmetry) for fitness to the sCO₂ recuperated Brayton cycle use case, and lead implementation of scripted alternatives (Python, MATLAB/Simulink) when commercial tools fall short
Collaborate with combustion, turbomachinery, and heat exchanger engineers to integrate component-level performance data and curves into system-level models
Participate in process hazard analyses (PHA/HAZOP), control narrative reviews, and operating procedure development as projects progress through the hardware lifecycle