Principal Mechanical Engineer - Thermal Projects

Key Responsibilities

• Project Execution
• Develop, review, and support engineering for gas and steam 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 expected deliverables.
• Perform technical studies, equipment selection, design optimization, constructability, and value-engineering evaluations.
• Support procurement through technical bid evaluations, vendor-document review, inspections, factory testing (FAT), and issue resolution.
• Provide field engineering support and review installation 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 (SAT), 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 guarantees, reliability guarantees, 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 internal and external stakeholders.
• Support permitting and environmental activities by providing technical input related to plant design, equipment selection, operating profiles, and emissions characteristics.
• Support Operations/Asset Management teams to resolve mechanical and thermal technical issues at operating sites.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to engineers on thermal generation and mechanical engineering topics.
• Growth and Leadership
• Contribute to process improvement initiatives for the execution of safe, quality, and high-performance projects.
• Provide timely feedback on EPC and external engineer performance, and document lessons learned to influence internal process enhancements.
• Mentor and educate team on changing trends in technology, best practices, code enforcement, and safety.
• Direct mentorship of other Engineers on job requirements and technical acumen.
• Support the team as a technical subject matter expert.
• Support evaluation of emerging technologies and companies for the Approved Vendor List.
• Lead technical evaluations of new thermal generation technologies and provide recommendations to support project development, technology selection, and long-term business strategy.
• Safety
• Attend site safety walks and identify jobsite hazards.
• Obtain and maintain safety training certifications (NFPA 70E, OSHA 10-hour, and CPR/first aid).
• Lead by example.
• Undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering or 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 facilities, simple-cycle facilities, cogeneration systems, HRSGs, steam turbines, and associated balance-of-plant systems.
• Ability to evaluate technical decisions with consideration for 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 ability to successfully work cross-functionally across a large organization.
• Self-starter with ability to work effectively in a remote and/or distributed team environment.
• Ability to effectively manage third party consultants, vendors, and internal stakeholders.
• Proficient with MS Office Suite.
• Direct project experience with Procore.
• 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/High Voltage design experience
• Structural/SCADA/commissioning engineering design experience
• Experience with AutoCAD Civil3D
• Fluency in Spanish
• AES is an Equal Opportunity Employer who is committed to building strength and delivering long-term sustainability through diversity and inclusion. Respecting all backgrounds, differences and perspectives enables us to improve the lives of our people, customers, suppliers, contractors, and the communities in which we live and work. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and/or expression, race, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion, marital status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law. E-Verify Notice: AES will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee's I-9 to confirm work authorization.

Skills and Qualifications

Qualifications

• Experience with air permitting, emissions compliance, and environmental regulations applicable to thermal generation facilities
• 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
• Experience with AutoCAD Civil3D