Mechanical Engineer

Mechanical Engineer

Number of Positions: 1

Location:

Wilmington, North Carolina

Contract Duration: 1 year

Hourly Rate: $55.00 - $61.00/hr (W2) +benefits

Work Model:
Remote, prefers EST candidates

Work Hours:

9am - 5pm, Monday - Friday, flexible

Travel: 20%, possible travel within US and Canada

Interview Process:
Virtual with cameras on, 1 round, panel interview

This role requires a senior mechanical/nuclear qualification engineer with direct experience in valve qualification, active mechanical equipment testing, ASME QME-1, nuclear quality expectations, and vendor/test laboratory interface. The engineer will support qualification planning, test article configuration review, qualification specification and plan review, vendor/test laboratory procedure review, test readiness, qualification test execution support, anomaly/deviation resolution, objective evidence review, and qualification documentation support.

The successful candidate is expected to exercise independent engineering judgment to determine whether qualification methods, test procedures, test configurations, acceptance criteria, objective evidence, and vendor/test laboratory deliverables are technically adequate to support qualification closure. This is not a procedure-only review role. The candidate must be capable of identifying technical gaps, qualification risks, incomplete evidence, configuration concerns, and issues requiring escalation to Design Engineering, Materials, Quality Assurance, Procurement, Project, supplier, or test laboratory organizations.

A Professional Engineer license is strongly preferred.

• Support ASME QME-1 qualification activities for nuclear safety-related active mechanical equipment, with emphasis on valve assemblies, actuators, pilot valves, hydraulic/pneumatic interfaces, and stored-energy actuation systems.
• Review and provide technical input to QME-1 qualification specifications, qualification plans, test procedures, procurement package inputs, test reports, and objective evidence packages.
• Support review of qualification test article configuration, qualification boundary, credited function, acceptance criteria, production representativeness, and differences between tested and intended production configurations.
• Support evaluation of valve assembly interfaces, including actuator configuration, pilot valve / SSPV interfaces, accumulator interfaces, hydraulic/pneumatic connections, mounting, tubing, test fixtures, instrumentation, and data acquisition.
• Support vendor/test laboratory procedure reviews for functional testing, leakage testing, response time testing, cycle/endurance testing, seismic testing, environmental/DBA testing, thermal aging, radiation aging, instrumentation, M&TE, calibration, and objective evidence requirements.
• Support test readiness reviews, including review of test article configuration, test procedure status, acceptance criteria, instrumentation, calibration status, hold/witness points, safety considerations, and unresolved readiness items.
• Provide technical support during qualification testing, including witness support, daily test execution support, anomaly/deviation identification, retest planning, interim data review, and issue escalation.
• Review vendor/test laboratory reports, raw and reduced data, calibration records, as-tested configuration records, test logs, photographs/video, seismic/environmental records, leakage/flow/response evidence, and other objective evidence.
• Support disposition of test anomalies, nonconformances, deviations, configuration differences, and incomplete or inconsistent evidence.
• Support qualification summary documentation and inputs to Qualification Report / Application Report activities, as assigned.
• Identify and communicate qualification risks, open inputs, assumptions, constraints, and schedule impacts.
• Interface with Design Engineering, Test Engineering, Quality Assurance, Materials, Procurement, Project, suppliers/fabricators, and external test laboratories.
• Support development of responsibility matrices, action tracking, and cross-functional alignment for QME-1 deliverables.
• Support compliance with engineering processes, quality requirements, configuration controls, and applicable nuclear industry codes and standards.

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or related engineering discipline.
• Minimum 10 years of relevant engineering experience in nuclear, power generation, mechanical equipment…