Arbor Energy logo

Sr. Combustion Engineer (Syngas Oxyfuel)

Posted 4 days ago

OfficeEl Segundo, CASE150k - 175k USD

About Us

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.

Role Overview

The Sr. Combustion Engineer (Syngas Oxyfuel) helps pioneer our rocket-derived, high-pressure combustion systems for carbon-negative power cycles, burning our biomass-produced syngas in a high efficiency combustor. In this role, you’ll take syngas oxy-combustion from lab-scale characterization to implementation running off of gasifier syngas within a year and carry what you learn into the development of fuel-flexible combustors at the heart of our commercial product. You will partner closely with test engineers, analysts, and designers to push boundaries—delivering breakthrough performance that powers a sustainable future.

From conceptual design and modeling to hands-on testing and rapid iteration, you'll own the full hardware lifecycle.

This is an onsite opportunity in our El Segundo, CA office.

Responsibilities

  • Develop the kinetics that the envelope demands: reduced H₂/CO/CO₂ mechanisms, flame-speed, autoignition and blowout limits across composition; anchor models to hot-fire data
  • Plan, execute, and analyze high-pressure and temperature test campaigns, delivering actionable insights to accelerate progress
  • Own rapid hardware development cycles—from manufacturing and assembly through testing and iterative improvements
  • Leverage additive manufacturing and state-of-the-art simulation tools to accelerate innovation and reduce development timelines

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Chemical engineering, or related field
  • 5+ years of experience in combustion system design, analysis, and testing
  • Strong understanding of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer
  • Comfort in high-pressure / real-fluid combustion (supercritical reactants, CO₂ dilution) and/or a demonstrated track record of ramping into an unfamiliar regime fast
  • Curious, inventive, and entrepreneurial mindset comfortable driving progress

Preferred Qualifications

  • Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Mechanical, Aerospace or Chemical engineering
  • Hands-on experience with hot-fire testing and high-pressure systems in rocket or gas turbine environments
  • Programming or scripting skills for data reduction and automation (Python, MATLAB, etc.)
  • Background in startup environments or agile hardware development cycles

Benefits & Compensation

  • Pre-IPO stock options
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance (Arbor covers 90% for employees)
  • Basic life insurance fully covered
  • Health savings account (HSA) with matching
  • Flexible savings account (FSA)
  • Unlimited PTO 
  • 12+ company holidays, including Earth Day! 
  • 401(k)
  • Commuter benefits
  • Annual learning and development stipend
  • And more!
Base Pay: $150,000 - $175,000 USD/year. The salary is subject to the applicant's skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location.

Our Commitment

Arbor Energy is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Solving global energy challenges requires a wide range of perspectives and experiences, and we are committed to building a team that reflects the world we serve.

Our hiring process is designed to be accessible, fair, and focused on the work that matters most for this role. Reasonable accommodations are available throughout the hiring process and employment—please let us know if you need one.

Job details
Workplace
Office
Location
El Segundo, CA
Experience
SE
Salary
150k - 175k USD
per year
Arbor Energy logo
Arbor Energy
View company page

Arbor designs high-performance energy systems to power a livable, abundant future. Our compact turbine system HALCYON delivers carbon-neutral baseload power with zero operating emissions. Each 25 megawatt (MW) unit combines oxy-combustion and supercritical CO₂ technology for high thermal efficiency, a small footprint, and rapid deployment. It’s fuel-flexible by design, able to run on natural gas today, and in time, on carbon-negative fuels like organic waste. HALCYON systems can run independently or be linked together into 100 MW+ plants, meeting the urgent need for clean, firm power in the places legacy suppliers have left behind. Founded by aerospace engineers and systems thinkers, Arbor brings deep experience from rocket propulsion and turbomachinery to the urgent work of sustaining life on Earth. We believe the tools we build today should serve generations to come—and that progress, done right, can be both powerful and restorative. If you’re ready to build systems that matter alongside kind, curious people committed to doing meaningful work well, we’d love to hear from you. We’re backed by leading climate investors including Gigascale Capital, Voyager Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, and Cantos Ventures.

Key team members

Nishad Pai

Nishad Pai

Jo Maxion

Jo Maxion

Christian Mack

Christian Mack

Andres Garcia-Clark

Andres Garcia-Clark

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