Startdate
From 01.10.2026 onwards.
What you will be doing here
MAGNOTHERM builds refrigerant-free magnetocaloric cooling systems.
Our STELLAR program builds them big — and while the magnetocaloric core gets the headlines, the machine around the core is what makes it a product: hydraulics, heat rejection, power and control electronics, software, and the container-format frame that carries it all. That platform is one machine that hosts every generation of our magnetocaloric core: the core is swapped out, the platform stays. You lead the team that builds it — electrical, thermo-fluid, structural, and design engineers — delivering the thermal-hydraulic architecture, the system’s efficiency, and the platform every other team docks onto. If the core is the heart, you build everything else — and you own how well the whole machine performs.
What you'll own:
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Thermal-hydraulic architecture. The system’s fluid backbone: circuit topology, flow rates and pressure heads at the design point, reservoir/pump/recooler placement, and the design trade-offs that decide the machine’s efficiency. System efficiency — coefficient of performance, COP — is won or lost in your loop — pump power and temperature approaches are your budget to defend.
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Heat rejection. Sizing and specification of the large air-cooled recooler — one of the program’s major long-lead procurements — plus its integration: mounting, air paths, ducting, acoustics.
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Platform integration & interfaces. The platform hosts a swappable core unit and must serve every machine generation without redesign.
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Efficiency & component performance. Own the component-benchmarking program, including the pump-efficiency campaign that settles one of the program’s biggest open questions — how much power the pumps really cost us — and the component down-selects that follow from it.
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Electronics & software oversight. Your team delivers power electronics, cabinets, safety interlocks, and the platform control software (state machine, monitoring, HMI, customer building-automation protocols).
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Team leadership & project management. Lead your team: plan and schedule its work, track budget and material spend, drive the long-lead procurement together with our procurement manager, and report progress and risks into the program’s rhythm of sprints, weekly cross-team reviews, and design reviews.
What you would ideally bring to the table
Must-have skills & experience
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Degree in mechanical, process, or energy engineering with strong thermo-fluids fundamentals; 5+ years designing thermal-hydraulic systems in hardware that shipped — chillers, heat pumps, process cooling, plant engineering, or similar.
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Hydraulic system design at machine scale: piping, pumps, valves, reservoirs, instrumentation — and the pressure-drop and heat-balance calculations behind them.
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Heat-exchanger and heat-rejection competence: sizing, selection, and integration of air- and water-side heat exchange at industrial capacity.
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System integration experience: you’ve owned a machine-level design with electrical, software, and structural contributors, and held interfaces between parallel workstreams.
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Team leadership: you’ve led a small engineering team through design, build, and commissioning — planning, delegation, reviews, and the accountability that goes with it.
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Efficiency mindset: you think in COP, part-load behavior, and parasitic losses, and you can defend a design-point choice with numbers.
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Working style: hands-on lead who still opens the CAD and walks the build floor, clear documentation, calm under integration pressure.
English language skills (C1+), German language skills (C1+).
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Nice to have
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Refrigeration or heat-pump system design background (including natural-refrigerant or water-based systems).
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Controls literacy: you can read a state machine and a piping & instrumentation diagram (P&ID) with equal comfort, and speak the software team’s language.
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Commissioning experience: fill/flush, hydraulic balancing, electrical bring-up, performance testing of large thermal systems.
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Experience with container-format or skid-built plant: transportability, lifting, site installation.
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Familiarity with the relevant standards landscape for chillers and pressure/electrical safety.
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Prior work in a startup or first-of-kind development environment.
What makes this role unusual
- One platform, every generation: the machine you build hosts the entire development program — each step swaps in a new core, and your platform is what makes that a week’s work instead of a redesign.
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Efficiency is the product: the company’s pitch is performance; the loop, pumps, and heat rejection you own are where the claimed numbers become measured ones.
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Real team, real authority: a dedicated team of specialists is yours to lead, inside a lean program that keeps its central overhead thin and pushes decisions down to the people doing the work.
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From rig to product: your frame and loop run open as the program’s test rig first and become the shipped product’s backbone later — you design for both from day one.
What you will get from the job
- Flexible hours and 30 days of vacation.
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Compensation aligned with startup standards, with room to grow as the company scales.
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A team that's sharp, interdisciplinary, and doesn't take itself too seriously.
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The chance to pioneer technology that actually helps the planet.
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Ownership, responsibility, and a culture where learning from mistakes is expected.
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A front-row seat as a deep-tech company scales.
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Memes. Good ones. And lots of them.
PS: We are a big fan of cover letters. They don't need to be long, but getting the general idea of who you are and what motivates you helps in the application selection. A portfolio of work you can share externally is also welcome.
About us
We believe in science; we believe in facts. Climate change is speeding up more than ever and we need to do something about it. We are convinced that we need better technologies to overcome this tremendous challenge – or more precisely: this tremendous threat to humanity. We are on a mission to decarbonize the refrigeration industry and reduce its contribution of 7% to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Support us in making our vision a reality – join us!
We are material scientists, chemists, physicists, a lot of engineers as well as product and graphic designers. We are an agile team of bright minds with diverse and international backgrounds. We love hanging out together, we argue about new technologies, politics, the best sport, and food trends. Basically, we are human.
MAGNOTHERM is an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We are open to all groups of people without regard to age, color, national origin, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, or any other legally protected characteristics.
Do I need to meet all the requirements to apply?
Studies by several different sources have shown that, on average, men will apply for a job if they meet 60% of the application requirements. In contrast, women/non-binary people will seek to match a much higher percentage of the requirements before applying.
We encourage everyone to apply and give us a chance to evaluate your skills and experience. We are all learning on the job, and although the listing above has been carefully compiled, we are also open-minded and interested to hear about the value you can bring to the role and MAGNOTHERM.
How can I demonstrate that I have particular needs in the application process?
For people living with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or neurodiversity, adjustments and support can make a decisive difference in the application process. If you need any specific accommodations (tools, time, etc.) and feel comfortable disclosing this, please let us know.
