Thermo-Fluids Engineer

About the role

Octavia Carbon, the Global South's first Direct Air Capture (DAC) company, is looking for a Thermo-Fluids Engineer to own the thermal and fluid performance of its reactor and airflow systems. The engineer works at the centre of the design loop: modelling airflow, pressure drop, heat transfer and energy use, validating the models against test data and turning the results into design decisions that improve capture performance and reduce energy per tonne of CO2. The position is full-time and on-site in Ruai, Nairobi.

Key responsibilities

• Airflow and pressure-drop design: design and optimise diffusers, plenums, nozzles, louvres and ducting for uniform flow across sorbent beds with minimum pressure loss; model flow through porous sorbent structures, including resistance characterisation, flow uniformity and suppression of recirculation and draft effects; size fans and blowers against pressure-drop budgets and identify dominant losses.
• Heat transfer and thermal systems: specify and size insulation for vessels under thermal cycling and vacuum; design steam distribution and purging strategies and eliminate dead zones.
• CFD and simulation: set up, run and post-process steady and transient CFD simulations including conjugate heat transfer, establish reusable workflows and templates, document assumptions and limitations, and use hand calculations and spreadsheets to sanity-check results.
• Test, instrumentation and validation: plan and run experiments on pilot and test systems, specify pressure, temperature, flow and humidity sensors, diagnose discrepancies between prediction and measurement, analyse field data to track performance degradation and contribute to technical reports and design reviews.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.
• Strong grounding in fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer and thermodynamics, applied to real hardware.
• Clear technical writing and the ability to present findings concisely, with conclusions first.

Required skills

• Working knowledge of CAD (e.g. SolidWorks, Inventor).
• Proficiency in engineering calculation tools in Excel or Python.
• Hands-on experience with a commercial CFD package (e.g. Ansys Fluent) is preferred but not required.

What we offer

• Competitive salary and a route to company equity.
• Strong growth opportunities and professional freedom in a fast-paced environment with a steep learning curve.

Applications close on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, and are reviewed on a rolling basis.