Senior Project Engineer

About Barber-Nichols

Barber-Nichols (BN) is a leading provider of custom turbo machinery for the Defense, Aerospace, Cryogenics and Energy industries. This is a unique place. Our company is made up of people that are at the top of their game. And we are working with customers who are at the top of their game. Together, we help our customers revolutionize their markets and build amazing relationships with them in the process.

If you're seeking to work with an amazing team in a “get-it-done” atmosphere that supports your development, and recognizes your achievements, BN is the place for you.

The Senior Project Engineer will lead a team of engineers to develop clean sheet turbo machines from specification to flight qualified hardware for our most challenging applications. Recent projects our team has led include successfully testing a molten salt pump for next generation nuclear reactors on FLiBe, delivering a blower that will ride on NASA’s Dragonfly to Saturn’s moon Titan, development of a new oxygen fan and water pump for NASA, and successfully developing propellant turbopumps for multiple flight vehicles.

The Senior Project Engineer is the technical lead for developing turbo machines for our customers with a focus on advanced energy, space, thermal management systems, defense and underwater propulsion systems that are the heart of our customer’s system.

1) Resolve technical challenges through broad technical knowledge of turbo machinery and related electromechanical systems.

• Understand customer needs to support the conceptualization of new turbo machine designs to optimize customer’s system performance.
• Lead the technical engineering effort and apply engineering principles to define and analyze the design.
• Perform increasingly challenging calculations involving heat transfer, structural and rotating component stress analysis, aerodynamics, cycle analysis, component sizing, etc.

2) Lead Barber-Nichols most challenging projects to meet all customer requirements, including technical capability, schedule milestones, and budgetary constraints, with only high-level oversight by Principal and Chief Engineers.

• Develop project plans and hold accountability to ensure the product design is completed on-time and on-budget through execution of design reviews, development testing, and hardware qualification.
• Direct and review the work of other engineers and mechanical designers in the layout and detailed design tasks to ensure a cost effective and manufacturable design.
• Perform programmatic activities such as creating and maintaining project budgets, schedules and customer CDRls and SDRLs.

3) Effectively functions in a team environment to drive organizational success. Delegate work and provide oversight to more junior Project Engineers.

• Coordinate with our on-site manufacturing and technician groups to ensure successful projects and address manufacturing issues as they arise.
• Actively supports manufacturing and procurement during project execution.
• Address manufacturing issues as they arise and help develop process improvements.

To qualify for this position, an individual must possess the knowledge, training, experience and abilities required.

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent combination of education and experience working in high aptitude manufacturing environment.
• Must have a focus on turbo machinery component design/selection for new product introduction.
• Aptitude for project management (schedule, budget, risk, test, etc.)

• Minimum fifteen years combined experience with a focus on technical ownership of turbo machinery design and components.
• Proven rotating machinery expertise and experience with associated systems.
• Comprehensive understanding of rotating machinery design, analysis, test, and troubleshooting.
• Knowledge in the following applicable areas of turbo machinery electromechanical design:
  • Mechanical (Rotor dynamics, stress, thermal, bearings, seals)
  • Permanent Magnet Motor Design
  • Rotor dynamics/ Vibrations

• Must be willing to work overtime as required
• Travel up…