Automation Mechanical Engineer II

Blue Origin•Hutto, AL

About The Position

Blue Origin’s Factory Automation team, part of the Advanced Manufacturing organization within Operations, integrates in-house automation by designing, building, and deploying custom equipment and systems for scalable, repeatable production across manufacturing business units. The role supports the development of automated manufacturing capability from research and development through design, build, installation, commissioning, and production start-up. It involves contributing to automation controls and electrical design, integrating equipment into unified control systems, and diagnosing novel engineering problems using fundamentals and first-principles reasoning. The position works with applications engineers, panel fabricators, field installation teams, and other collaborators to deliver automated manufacturing systems. The engineer develops control architectures and documentation, validates system behavior through offline simulations, supports online debugging and commissioning, and participates in factory and site acceptance testing. Applicants must meet the stated U.S. export-control eligibility requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or higher in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Controls, or a related engineering field.
Minimum 2 years of hands-on experience developing or integrating industrial controls and automation systems, including PLC and HMI programming as core competencies.
Exposure to one or more industrial automation platforms, such as robots, material handling systems (gantries, AGVs, conveyors), CNC machine integration, NDT, assembly, testing, or process tools (torque, welding, grinding, or similar). Breadth across all areas is not expected.
Demonstrated ability to interpret and review electrical and mechanical drawings.
Experience with industrial safety system design, including functional safety devices, safety PLCs, and safety-rated circuits.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with industrial automation and machine safety standards, including IEC 61131, ANSI B11, NFPA 79, RIA R15.06, and functional safety standards (IEC 62061 / ISO 13849).
Experience with industrial automation simulation software for offline programming or virtual commissioning, such as Plant Simulate, Process Simulate, Visual Components, KUKA.Sim, RobotStudio, or similar.
Experience with industrial machine vision systems, including configuration or application development using platforms such as Cognex.
Experience building, modifying, or troubleshooting electrical control panels.
Experience with electrical design for industrial control systems using AutoCAD Electrical, EPLAN, or similar electrical CAD platforms.
Demonstrated history of delivering custom automated manufacturing systems from concept through production ramp-up.
Demonstrated ability to apply engineering fundamentals—including mechanics, electronics, and control theory—to diagnose complex system failures and develop first-principles solutions in novel or undefined problem spaces.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with applications engineers on conceptual automated manufacturing equipment and contribute controls architecture input from concept through detailed design.
Design and support control system architectures, including network topology, I/O distribution, safety systems, and communication protocols.
Participate in the industrial controls and electrical design of bespoke automation systems.
Apply engineering first principles to analyze system behavior, identify root causes, and develop technically sound solutions to novel automation challenges.
Develop offline simulations of automated systems to validate control logic, robot paths, cycle times, and system behavior before hardware is available.
Support and execute online debugging and commissioning of PLC, HMI, robot, and similar industrial controls programs.
Integrate auxiliary equipment, machines, and tools into unified control systems.
Work with panel fabricators and field installation teams and provide technical support during system integration and commissioning.
Support and lead factory and site acceptance testing, and contribute to the build, installation, commissioning, and start-up of automated manufacturing systems.
Create controls documentation packages, including sequence of operations, I/O lists, network diagrams, and program documentation.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
Basic and supplemental life insurance.
Paid parental leave.
Short- and long-term disability.
401(k) with company match of up to 5%.
Education Support Program.
Stock options for all regular employees working at least 20 hours per week.
Paid time off of up to four weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours.
Up to 14 company-paid holidays.
Depending on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses, subject to company discretion and change or cancellation.