Principal Mechanical Engineer - Thermal Projects

AES•US, Flexible, TX, TX

About The Position

The Principal Mechanical Engineer will provide subject matter expertise and technical leadership for mechanical design and engineering of thermal power generation projects in development, construction, and operation. The role supports thermal projects across the portfolio through technical oversight of third-party engineering, design reviews, contract document development and negotiation, procurement specifications, and other technical activities. The engineer joins a project engineering team reporting to the Director of Engineering and serves as its mechanical subject matter expert. The role also directly supports projects, resolves complex mechanical engineering issues, mentors and trains engineers, drives innovation within the team, and helps advance institutional change across the organization. The position requires deep experience developing, analyzing, and designing thermal generation facilities and related balance-of-plant systems. Relevant technologies include gas turbines, reciprocating internal combustion engine power plants, combined-cycle and simple-cycle generation, cogeneration, hybrid thermal generation, HRSGs, and steam turbines. Experience with associated infrastructure and technologies—including natural gas and LNG systems, electrical interconnections, BESS, microgrids, renewable integration, and data center power solutions—is desirable. The role may also support other generation technologies and emerging energy technologies. The engineer coordinates with internal disciplines and external engineering firms, EPCs, OEMs, vendors, and project stakeholders throughout project development and execution. Work includes technical studies and equipment selection, design optimization, procurement, field support, commissioning, performance verification, operating-site issue resolution, and improvements to standards and reference designs. Travel to engineering offices, vendor facilities, and project sites is required as needed. The position includes site safety responsibilities and requires maintaining specified safety training certifications.

Requirements

Undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering or an equivalent technical field.
10 or more years of mechanical engineering experience in power generation, oil and gas, industrial, or major capital projects.
Ability to interpret P&IDs, equipment drawings, piping specifications, layouts, and vendor documents.
Ability to coordinate cross-functional teams and resolve complex technical, commercial, or execution issues.
Engineering design experience with thermal power generation facilities, including gas turbines, RICE power plants, combined-cycle and simple-cycle facilities, cogeneration systems, HRSGs, steam turbines, and associated balance-of-plant systems.
Ability to evaluate technical decisions considering cost, schedule, constructability, operability, maintainability, and project risk.
Experience reviewing operations and maintenance requirements, maintenance philosophies, outage planning considerations, and long-term asset performance expectations.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work cross-functionally across a large organization.
Self-starter able to work effectively in a remote and/or distributed team environment.
Ability to manage third-party consultants, vendors, and internal stakeholders effectively.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.
Direct project experience with Procore.

Nice To Haves

Graduate degree in mechanical engineering.
EIT or PE qualifications.
Knowledge of thermal power plant codes, standards, and industry practices.
Experience with air permitting, emissions compliance, and environmental regulations applicable to thermal generation facilities.
Understanding of generator interconnection processes and grid compliance requirements.
Experience with fuel systems, including natural gas and LNG infrastructure.
Experience with ETAP, SKM, AspenTech, GT PRO, Thermoflow, or other advanced power system and thermal performance modeling tools.
Substation or high-voltage design experience.
Structural, SCADA, or commissioning engineering design experience.
Experience with AutoCAD Civil3D.
Fluency in Spanish.
Experience with related technologies and infrastructure such as electrical interconnections, battery energy storage systems, microgrids, renewable energy integration, and data center power solutions.
Experience with renewable energy, nuclear, hydroelectric, or emerging energy technologies.

Responsibilities

Develop, review, and support engineering for turbines, HRSGs, fuel-gas systems, cooling systems, water treatment, compressed air, fire protection, HVAC, piping, pumps, heat exchangers, and mechanical balance-of-plant.
Prepare and review design criteria, calculations, drawings, specifications, data sheets, technical reports, cost estimates, and scopes of work.
Coordinate interfaces with civil, structural, electrical, mechanical, controls, environmental, operations, construction, and commissioning disciplines.
Review EPC, consultant, OEM, and vendor work products for compliance with project requirements, codes, standards, contracts, and deliverables.
Perform technical studies, equipment selection, design optimization, constructability reviews, and value-engineering evaluations.
Support procurement through technical bid evaluations, vendor-document review, inspections, factory acceptance testing, and issue resolution.
Provide field engineering support and review installations for conformance with approved documents, quality requirements, and safe work practices.
Investigate design, fabrication, construction, software, and commissioning issues and develop practical technical resolutions.
Support project schedule, budget, risk, interface, and management-of-change activities.
Support mechanical completion, site acceptance testing, testing, energization, commissioning, startup, performance verification, and turnover.
Maintain technical baselines, redlines, approved changes, test records, and as-built documentation.
Prepare training and operating information and transfer knowledge to project and plant personnel.
Capture lessons learned and improve standards, templates, and reference designs.
Travel to engineering offices, vendor facilities, and project sites as required.
Review and evaluate major equipment performance, reliability, and availability guarantees, operating constraints, heat-rate performance, emissions requirements, and project design assumptions.
Support fuel supply and infrastructure evaluations, including natural gas and LNG systems, in coordination with stakeholders.
Provide technical input to permitting and environmental activities related to plant design, equipment selection, operating profiles, and emissions characteristics.
Support Operations and Asset Management teams in resolving mechanical and thermal technical issues at operating sites.
Mentor and provide technical guidance to engineers on thermal generation and mechanical engineering topics.
Contribute to process improvements that support safe, quality, high-performance project execution.
Provide timely feedback on EPC and external engineer performance and document lessons learned to improve internal processes.
Mentor and educate the team on technology trends, best practices, code enforcement, and safety.
Support the team as a technical subject matter expert and directly mentor engineers on job requirements and technical skills.
Support evaluations of emerging technologies and companies for the Approved Vendor List.
Lead technical evaluations of new thermal generation technologies and recommend options for project development, technology selection, and long-term business strategy.
Attend site safety walks and identify jobsite hazards.
Obtain and maintain NFPA 70E, OSHA 10-hour, and CPR/first-aid safety training certifications.
Lead by example.