# Kyle Gaiser > Designing thermal energy storage for a sustainable world | Tech innovation and stewardship through engineering, design, and systems thinking Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/kylegaiser I am a mission-driven engineering leader, experienced in leading teams to create environmentally and socially impactful innovations for sustainable development. I bring a strong and diverse background in engineering, design, and systems thinking, to invent hardware from concept to implementation, and assess its impact on the world. I am motivated by the adage, "we shape our tools and then our tools shape us." Beyond working on the nuts and bolts, I am curious about the interactions between technology, environment, and society, and believe that balancing people, planet, and profit is essential to tech stewardship. When not working on these issues, I enjoy exploring the outdoors by pedal, paddle or foot, traveling, and finding new ways to introduce my wide-eyed children to the wonders of the world. ## Work Experience ### Principal Product Design Manager @ Rondo Energy Jan 2026 – Present | Alameda, CA ### Staff Product Design Manager @ Rondo Energy Jan 2025 – Jan 2026 | Alameda, CA ### Technical Innovation Advisor (Pro Bono) @ Ecolife Foods Jan 2020 – Jan 2026 | Kampala • I provide engineering and business design consulting to Ecolife, an ag-tech social enterprise in Uganda. Together, we co-designed a locally-sourced solar-powered refrigeration system that uses ice thermal storage to reduce post-harvest loss for off-grid smallholder farmers in Africa. Our design improves energy efficiency by 20%, reduced battery usage by 70%, and lowered costs by 60%. • Secured a Siemens grant to prototype the refrigeration system in Uganda, where I developed a three-week innovation and capacity-building curriculum that integrated HCD tools, classroom theory, hands-on skills building, and customer/stakeholder interviews. • Advised on sustainable business models and pitch decks for Cooling-as-a-Service to Ugandan farms. ### Director of Product Engineering @ Amber Kinetics Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 | Union City, California, United States Team leadership • I led the end-to-end development of a new flywheel energy storage product, overseeing strategy, execution, process improvements, timeline, and budget to deliver on customer requirements. • Directing eight multidisciplinary teams, I facilitated cross-functional collaboration through agile and waterfall methods, all-hands meetings, phased gate reviews, and weekly tracking of progress and dependencies. • True to my leadership style, I fostered collaboration between engineering and the product team to refine requirements and shape the product roadmap through technology to ensure a strong market focus. Player-Coach • As a player coach, I led RCAs, DFM, cost-down exercises, and re-design efforts that resulted in a radically simple suspension that cut capex by $1M per assembly line, and significantly improved performance, reliability, and manufacturability of the flywheel amidst competing constraints. ### Principal Engineering Program Manager @ Amber Kinetics Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | Union City, CA, United States • As the technical lead for the mechanical engineering team, I helped grow the mechanical engineering team from two to seven staff, across core disciplines (design, analysis, manufacturing). • I defined, staffed, and managed mechanical projects, and mentored engineers on FEA, CAD, GD&T, rotor dynamics, fluids, and heat transfer. • I founded Amber’s Sustainability Committee and grew the team to six, aligning the company with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and serving as company spokesperson on sustainability topics. The team conducted a Life Cycle Analysis of our product that demonstrated a lower embodied carbon footprint compared to batteries. ### Staff Mechanical Engineer @ Amber Kinetics Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | Union City, CA I led flywheel rotor design, employing nonlinear FEA and dynamic modeling (modal, harmonic, response spectrum), material fatigue, and DFM, resulting in two patents and 2X cost reduction. I tested my designs through benchtop and field tests, where instrumented units, analyzed data, and performed root cause analysis to improve the design. I also designed, fabricated, and tested laminated steel and carbon composite layups to be fail-safe and weight optimized. ### Sr. Mechanical Engineer @ Amber Kinetics Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 | Union City, CA I started at Amber Kinetics by investigating and mitigating material outgassing in vacuum, through theory and experiments. After identifying the root cause and proposing several solutions, I was asked to lead the design, build, and testing of novel flywheel rotor designs. I worked closely with the CTO to develop several patents for a rotor design that significantly reduced the cost per kWh and enabled scalability to larger products. ### Sr. Systems Mechanical Engineer @ Sandia National Laboratories Jan 2013 – Jan 2018 | Livermore, CA As an aerospace systems engineer, I experienced how a large engineering program was run, and how to take a systems approach to design (i.e. customer-focus, well-crafted requirements, cause-effect relationships like DFMEAs or systems mapping), while also given high-stakes and challenging mechanical design projects. As part of a forward-thinking "Advanced & Exploratory" department, I was exposed to a large breadth of cutting edge science and engineering technologies. My job, as the project lead, was to communicate cross-functionally, integrate new technologies, and design components for an aerospace vehicle for on-the-ground testing. My design projects included a multi-agency additive manufacturing project to design, fabricate, and test a 3D-printed titanium aerospace bracket. I was directly responsible for the topology optimization design, project management, and a $500k budget. The tests resulted in 2X strength and substantial cost savings compared to a traditionally designed bracket, and the project was showcased to the president of Sandia. I also provided consulting services to a small business, for whom I created a mechanical-hydraulic dynamic model to predict the performance of a wave energy converter that generated electricity and clean water to rural coastal communities. ### Graduate Student Researcher @ UC Davis Jan 2011 – Jan 2013 | Davis, CA During my masters degree, I focused on energy systems design, mechanical design and experimentation, and global development engineering. For my thesis, I designed and manufactured a pico-hydro (1.5 kW) turbine using repurposed materials. I used a statistical design of experiment to empirically optimize six parameters for turbine performance, achieving 63% mechanical efficiency at one-tenth of a commercial turbine’s $/kW cost. In partnership with the UC Davis D-Lab, I was awarded a $6,000 grant to lead participatory design workshops and a hydroelectric feasibility study in rural Rwanda. ### Logistics and Operations Manager - NASA Aeronautics Academy @ NASA Glenn Research Center Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 I returned to the NASA Glenn Research Center, to manage the summer NASA Academy research program, which I had participated in six years prior. I supervised nine undergraduate and graduate students, where I led team-building activities, scheduled speakers and tours to aerospace companies, and managed the logistics between researchers and their principal investigators. ### Volunteer Teacher @ WorldTeach Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 | Rusumo, Rwanda Combining my education and passion for sustainable development, I taught high school physics, mathematics, and renewable energy to 150 Rwandan students, and mentored several teachers. I was promoted to chair of the science department, established a science club, and organized community activities, such as a hydroelectric field trip and fundraising for locally sourced mosquito nets for the students as well as household materials and food for community members through a local church, impacting over a hundred individuals. ### Researcher @ Contained Energy Jan 2009 – Jan 2009 | Cleveland/Akron, Ohio Area I designed, fabricated, and tested direct carbon fuel cells (i.e. biomass-based "Mr. Fusion"-type machines) to determine fuel porosity effects on power density. I reported directly to the Vice President and influenced the direction of research in a fast-paced startup culture. ### Research Associate @ NASA Glenn Research Center Jan 2007 – Jan 2007 As a summer Research Associate, I programmed a genetic algorithm to optimize the air-bleed schedule of a proposed hypersonic jet engine inlet. I collaborated with top NASA scientists and engineers in the fields of Computational Fluid Dynamics, aeronautical propulsion, and hypersonics. I also participated in the Academy group project to evaluate the feasibility of an interstellar probe to the "earth-like" planet, Gleise 581c. My role was to evaluate existing and upcoming power and propulsion technologies for the deep space missions. ### Engineering Intern @ Engineering Ministries International (EMI) Jan 2006 – Jan 2006 Collaborated with professional engineers and local Nigerians to conduct grounds survey and water quality testing for an HIV/AIDS hospital expansion in Benin City, Nigeria. I helped design the water and wastewater infrastructure and drafted plans within AutoCAD. ### Research Assistant @ Case Advanced Power Institute Jan 2006 – Jan 2006 Utilized nucelar magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to analyze movement of protons through a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. ## Education ### Master of Science (MS) in Mechanical Engineering University of California, Davis ### Bachelor of Science - BS in Engineering Physics Case Western Reserve University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kylegaiser - Portfolio: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17AHTyRUSBWsVzrlYgSZN_W5b-9_WDHKm2U6tOzckFD8/edit?usp=sharing --- Source: https://flows.cv/kylegaiser JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/kylegaiser/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13