Automation Mechanical Engineer III

Blue Origin • Huntsville, TX

1d

About The Position

The Factory Automation team at Blue Origin, part of the Advanced Manufacturing organization within Operations, serves as the in-house automation integrator. This team is responsible for designing, building, and deploying custom equipment and systems that enable scalable, repeatable production across Blue Origin's manufacturing business units. They build manufacturing capability from the ground up, developing automated solutions that directly drive the delivery of Blue Origin's products across current and future programs. This role is for an Automation Controls Engineer with hands-on experience in industrial controls design and automation systems integration, spanning R&D, design, build, installation, and commissioning. The role offers the opportunity to grow technical depth and ownership across the full project lifecycle. Engineers on this team are expected to understand the 'why' behind the systems they build, reason from physics and engineering fundamentals, diagnose problems at their root, and architect sound solutions to novel challenges.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Controls, or related engineering field
• Minimum 4 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, contributing 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 prior to hardware availability
• 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; 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, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Short and long-term disability
• 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%
• Education Support Program
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Up to four (4) weeks per year of Paid Time Off based on weekly scheduled hours
• Up to 14 company-paid holidays

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior