Asymmetric Upside Engineering

We are looking to hire a part-time mechanical engineer to pursue asymmetric-upside designs. We have numerous engineering projects that have the potential to dramatically add value to Voltic, and thus shipping as a whole. However, the current team doesn’t have the bandwidth to pursue all of them at a high fidelity level. You would own one of these projects.

These are ambitious projects that are extremely high-upside. We have done the initial work proving they are physically and economically possible. However, this is novel engineering. You would be starting with something at (roughly) TRL 3. The goal would be to progress it to (roughly) TRL 6. This will mostly consist of refining designs and building initial prototypes.

Example Projects

• Port infrastructure to enable large vessels to call shallow-water ports
• Semi-autonomous routing of Voltic vessels
• Novel hull designs to substantially reduce weight & drag
• 3D printing vessel hulls

Core responsibilities

• Lead the design, analysis and prototyping of asymmetric upside engineering projects
• Conduct analyses of such systems to ensure survivability in the maritime environment
• Create and maintain technical drawings to be shared with colleagues and manufacturers
• Develop and manage Bills of Material (BOMs) for costing and system build-out
• Physically assemble prototypes in Boston to prove viability of designs.

Qualifications

• Ability to take design from concept to prototype to mass-production
• Willingness to move quickly and build things in the real world
• Experience with Design for Manufacturing/Assembly principles and manufacturing processes (sheet metal, welding, machining, 3D printing, etc.).
• Proficiency in a CAD software such as SolidWorks or Fusion 360
• Proficiency in a FEA software package such as Abaqus or Ansys
• Comfortable working in an early-stage startup environment with evolving requirements and limited precedent

Who we are

• João Seixas de Medeiros - CTO
  • João is a Naval Architect and Ocean Engineer with a PhD from MIT and over a decade of experience in hydrodynamics research and vessel design. He has developed advanced software to simulate nonlinear ocean wave behavior, applying it to optimize innovative vessel and wave energy converter designs. His work has earned recognition, including the MIT De Florez award for best graduate design.
• Karl McLetchie - Founding Mechanical Engineer
  • Karl is a Mechanical and Ocean Engineer with two master's degrees from MIT and more than two decades of design and at-sea experience. He has been on over 30 research expeditions; operating underwater vehicles and towed systems for deep-sea exploration. His design work has covered a broad spectrum of applications, from traditional naval architecture to the mechanical design of hydraulic sampling mechanisms and vehicle launch and recovery equipment. 
• Prosser Cathey - Founder
  • Prosser graduated from MIT in three years, completing three majors. Upon graduation, he won a Fulbright Research Fellowship to study the German auto industry's transition to EVs in Munich. He also rowed for MIT's D1 Heavyweight Crew team, with whom he won a Gold Medal at Head of the Charles.

Since our physical engineering and assembly takes place at our workshop in Boston, some travel is likely necessary. Compensation and equity-package is highly dependent on proposed project. We expect the work to begin as part-time.

Interview Process

In your message on YC, please include a brief description of the project on which you would like to work.