Senior Mechanical Engineer

Progressive Companies • Durham, NC

5d • Hybrid

About The Position

As a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Progressive Companies, you will lead design strategies for controlled environments such as cleanrooms, laboratories, and mission-critical spaces. You will mentor teams and develop advanced mechanical systems with an emphasis on performance, precision, sustainability, and regulatory compliance. You will collaborate across disciplines and markets to shape environments that support human health, technology, and innovation.
Deliver Results
Lead mechanical engineering design for complex projects with advanced environmental control needs, including cGMP-regulated facilities and ISO-certified spaces.
Develop custom mechanical and utility systems leveraging expertise in psychrometrics, temperature/pressure/humidity control, dehumidification, high-efficiency filtration, and specialty gas/water/process piping.
Oversee conceptualization and development of cutting-edge HVAC, energy, and mechanical systems, incorporating emerging technologies and smart controls.
Conduct comprehensive energy modeling and performance simulations to guide design decisions and promote energy efficiency and regenerative principles.
Write detailed control sequences, control diagrams, system scopes, custom specifications, and performance-based design objectives.
Guide Revit modeling best practices, including sloped sanitary/process piping design, elevation coordination, branch tie-ins, and inheritance functions for accurate modeling.
Coordinate with clients, contractors, cross-functional teams, and stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle to ensure design goals are met, risks are minimized, and innovative strategies are translated effectively.
Mentor junior staff, lead technical reviews of critical deliverables for accuracy and compliance, and provide expert feedback that adds value.
Serve as Subject Matter Expert (SME) in controlled environments, for highly complex and innovative designs.
Facilitate field inspections of major projects and lead "Lessons Learned" sessions to align construction with design intent and enhance team skills and project outcomes.
Contribute to firm-wide innovation by evaluating new technologies, sharing knowledge, and recommending improvements based on field and industry experience.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (or related field).
• Licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.).
• Approximately 10 or more years of post-graduation professional engineering experience.
• Ability to navigate in Revit and AutoCAD for advanced modeling and documentation standards.
• Demonstrated experience with psychrometric analysis, dehumidification control, redundancy planning, and mechanical systems in mission-critical or regulated facilities.

Nice To Haves

• Direct design experience in controlled environments such as biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medtech (medical devices), sterile manufacturing, semiconductor, battery, aerospace, or mission-critical/data centers (strongly preferred).
• Experience writing design fee estimates, technical specifications, and control diagrams.
• Familiarity with pressure drop/velocity criteria for duct/piping sizing and sanitary piping modeling challenges (e.g., sloping and branch integration).
• Client-facing experience translating requirements into project plans and fostering strong relationships.

Responsibilities

• Lead mechanical engineering design for complex projects with advanced environmental control needs, including cGMP-regulated facilities and ISO-certified spaces.
• Develop custom mechanical and utility systems leveraging expertise in psychrometrics, temperature/pressure/humidity control, dehumidification, high-efficiency filtration, and specialty gas/water/process piping.
• Oversee conceptualization and development of cutting-edge HVAC, energy, and mechanical systems, incorporating emerging technologies and smart controls.
• Conduct comprehensive energy modeling and performance simulations to guide design decisions and promote energy efficiency and regenerative principles.
• Write detailed control sequences, control diagrams, system scopes, custom specifications, and performance-based design objectives.
• Guide Revit modeling best practices, including sloped sanitary/process piping design, elevation coordination, branch tie-ins, and inheritance functions for accurate modeling.
• Coordinate with clients, contractors, cross-functional teams, and stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle to ensure design goals are met, risks are minimized, and innovative strategies are translated effectively.
• Mentor junior staff, lead technical reviews of critical deliverables for accuracy and compliance, and provide expert feedback that adds value.
• Serve as Subject Matter Expert (SME) in controlled environments, for highly complex and innovative designs.
• Facilitate field inspections of major projects and lead "Lessons Learned" sessions to align construction with design intent and enhance team skills and project outcomes.
• Contribute to firm-wide innovation by evaluating new technologies, sharing knowledge, and recommending improvements based on field and industry experience.

Benefits

• comprehensive benefits including an award-winning wellness program
• hybrid work schedule
• summer hours
• profit-sharing
• employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)
• paid service-learning hours
• corporate sponsorship for a wide range of community organizations and activities

What This Job Offers

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