Water System Mechanical Engineer
About The Position
Keep a world-class scientific facility running — one drop at a time. Somewhere behind the walls of a cutting-edge accelerator facility, an invisible network of pumps, exchangers, and ultra-pure water loops is quietly doing the hard work: pulling heat away from equipment that pushes the boundaries of physics. That network needs an owner. That's you. We're looking for a Water Systems Engineer to take technical ownership of the cooling and process water infrastructure powering a major scientific research campus including a large-scale capital upgrade project currently underway. If you love solving real engineering problems with real consequences, and you want your fingerprints on systems that keep world-class science running 24/7, this is the seat. Why this role is different: You'll own something real. Not a slice of a system, the whole thing. Design, operation, reliability, and continuous improvement of cooling water infrastructure are yours to drive. High-stakes, high-trust work. These systems support sensitive scientific equipment where downtime isn't an option. Your decisions matter, and you'll be trusted to make them. Design and build and run it. This isn't a design-only or maintenance-only role. You'll architect systems, specify equipment, manage installation, and then operate what you built. Constant variety. One day you're deep in hydraulic calculations and P&IDs; the next you're troubleshooting a resin bed, coordinating a shutdown, or reviewing a contractor's installation work.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering (or closely related field)
- 8+ years of relevant engineering experience, with substantial time spent designing, operating, or maintaining industrial process or facility water systems
- Real, hands-on knowledge of low-conductivity and deionized water systems, you know how to protect purity, prevent corrosion, and troubleshoot fast
- Experience with closed-loop cooling systems, process utilities, and industrial piping
- Comfort reading and producing engineering drawings and P&IDs
- Working knowledge of pumps, heat exchangers, cooling towers, water treatment, and controls
- A troubleshooter's mindset and strong root-cause analysis instincts
- The ability to juggle multiple projects in a complex, live operational environment
- Communication skills sharp enough to brief both a technician and a director
Nice To Haves
- A Professional Engineer (PE) license
- Experience with large scientific facilities, accelerators, semiconductor fabs, or other high-availability technical infrastructure
- Exposure to EPICS or industrial controls integration
- Experience with vibration-sensitive or thermally stable cooling systems
- Reliability-centered maintenance know-how
- Background in a national-laboratory or similarly regulated research environment
Responsibilities
- Architect cooling water systems from the ground up — P&IDs, flow diagrams, hydraulic calculations, equipment specs
- Analyze heat transfer, fluid flow, pump sizing, pressure drops, thermal stability, and water quality
- Specify and oversee procurement of pumps, heat exchangers, filtration, expansion tanks, piping, valves, instrumentation, and treatment systems
- Ensure everything meets ASME, ANSI, California code, and lab engineering standards
- Own daily operation of closed-loop low-conductivity water (LCW) and deionized (DI) water systems resistivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, the works
- Manage chemical dosing, UV sterilizers, mixed-bed deionizers, and RO systems to fend off biological growth, scaling, and corrosion
- Build and run preventive maintenance programs; troubleshoot pump failures, resin degradation, leaks, and everything in between
- Plan and commission system expansions and retrofits, choosing the right materials (think PVDF, electropolished stainless) to protect ultra-pure water quality
- Take water-system projects from concept through installation and commissioning
- Coordinate contractors, vendors, and installation crews
- Build schedules, cost estimates, and technical scopes
- Review installation quality against your own specs
- Participate in hazard analyses and readiness reviews
- Maintain clean, accurate engineering documentation and support change control
- Support lockout/tagout planning and safety procedures
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
