Senior Engineering Manager
Mainspring Energy · Menlo Park, CA
- Level
- Manager
- Team
- Manufacturing
- Degree
- Required
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A management manufacturing role at Mainspring Energy (industrial) in Menlo Park, CA.
- They ask for
- degree required
- Tools it names
- Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ), PLC
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Manufacturing Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $115k–$169k.
Median of the low and high ends of 126 live postings that list pay, out of 346 manufacturing engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 345 other live manufacturing postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- Not stated
Typical $111k–$159k, from 113 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- Tooling 51%
- New product launch 49%
- Root cause 39%
- Automation 36%
- CATIA / NX 27%
- Machining 27%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for PLC, Python, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Manufacturing team at Mainspring Energy
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: Mainspring Energy in Menlo Park
14 other open roles at this site.
- Vice President, Electrical Engineering · Reliability · Director+
- Sustaining Controls Engineer · Controls
- Senior Reaction Controls Engineer · Controls · Senior
- Senior/Staff Materials Process Engineer · Process · Senior
- Senior Materials and Process Engineer · Process · Senior
- Staff Materials and Process Engineer · Process · Senior
Full description from Mainspring EnergyAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Key Responsibilities
- ◆Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead the design and delivery of integrated software solutions, partnering closely with Controls, Cloud and hardware teams to ensure seamless system performance.
- ◆Strong Execution Skills: Navigate a high-velocity environment by adjudicating technical trade-offs, driving delivery accountability, and maintaining focus to meet critical company milestones and product roadmaps while maintaining high technical rigor.
- ◆Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Participate in deep-dive technical sessions with embedded and hardware engineering partners, fostering a culture of mutual learning and integrated design excellence.
- ◆Product Partnership : Work hand in hand with Product Management to turn
requirements
into a clear, realistic delivery roadmap.
- ✓Team Development: Recruit, mentor, and scale an engineering team capable of solving complex problems in the Industrial IoT, Energy or Utility sectors.
- ✓Strategic Planning & Alignment: Lead the planning and alignment of software roadmaps, ensuring they are synchronized with broader business objectives.
- ✓Executive Communication: Provide regular, concise updates to executive leadership regarding project status, roadmap milestones, and technical risks.
Qualifications
- ✓Team Leadership: Proven track record of building and leading high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams of full-stack engineers. You have successfully mentored and scaled teams that manage the entire device-to-cloud lifecycle, ensuring robust, scalable, and secure connectivity between edge devices and backend systems.
- ✓Management at Scale: Experience managing multiple scrum teams, including distributed or hybrid workforces across multiple timezones, with a focus on fostering communication and alignment in a complex, multi-site environment.
- ✓Technical Breadth: Strong background in Embedded systems development, SCADA, HMI, industrial controllers (PLCs/PACs, IEC 61131 or IEC 61499), and industrial protocols like OPC-UA, Modbus, MQTT, and DNP3, with rigorous validation methodologies like Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (CHIL/HIL) and effectively lead cross-functional planning discussions involving edge hardware to cloud software development. Experience in Python will be a plus.
- ✓Industry Experience: Prior Experience working in Industrial IoT and Power Systems in Energy/Power/Utility industries, with a deep understanding of the unique challenges in these sectors.
- ✓Startup Mentality: Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in fast-paced environments with shifting priorities and a focus on high-velocity delivery.
- ✓Educational Background: Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- ✓Collaborative Mindset: A proactive desire to learn from and work with hardware disciplines (Mechanical/Electrical) to achieve holistic product goals.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
About Mainspring
Mainspring Energy manufactures and delivers fuel-flexible, low-emissions local power solutions that rapidly add new capacity and deliver reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric power. The company began commercial shipments of its Mainspring Linear Generators in 2020 and today has hundreds of megawatts in advanced development and field operations for leading Fortune 500 companies, data centers, and utilities. Mainspring also partners with global energy leaders including AEP, NextEra Energy Resources, Schneider Electric, and more.
The core values that ground our work, guide our decisions, and connect us together:
Pragmatic Optimism
Excellence without Ego
Proactive Collaboration
Job Overview
As a Senior Engineering Manager at Mainspring, you will lead a high-performing team in a fast-paced startup environment to build critical software that integrates our Linear Generators into global energy infrastructure. You will focus on building and enabling commercial-grade site control systems, ensuring seamless integration with Microgrids, Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), and utility-scale power plants. You will act as a bridge between complex software ecosystems including Cloud, Embedded, & Controls and the physical world of mechanical and electrical components. This role is ideal for a leader who thrives on shifting priorities and is eager to immerse themselves in deep technical sessions with multi-disciplinary partners to build the future of the net-zero carbon grid.
