LEAD ENGINEER - SR. RESEARCH ENGINEER - Mechanical Systems at Southwest Research Institute

Who We Are:

The Mechanical Systems Section in the Strategic Aerospace Department provides electromechanical engineering support for several US Air Force Global Strike Command and Department of Defense programs. We are a multidisciplinary team of engineers that enjoy supporting the warfighter. We provide engineering services to projects involving the design, development and maintenance of hardware and software systems for the strategic aerospace community, including aircraft and ground support equipment ranging from microcircuits to major subsystems.

Objectives of this Role:

• Lead large multidisciplinary teams to execute cradle-to-grave science and engineering projects that benefit national security.
• Lead mechanical design and multi-physics analysis to support DoD clients with sustainment and modernization of legacy hardware for flight, ground support, testing, and maintenance.
• Support internal research and development of new technologies for national defense applications. Support department marketing and business development efforts with customers.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior mechanical staff in the form of detailed work instructions, recommendations of design best practices, and constructive feedback.
• Provide subject matter expertise to Mechanical Team during design peer reviews, design reviews, and internal R&D; subjects include aerospace mechanical design, manufacturing reviews, thermal/structural analysis, pneumatic/hydraulic/electrical system integration.

Daily and Monthly Responsibilities:

• Generate mechanical requirements specifications, mechanical solid models, mechanical fabrication/assembly drawings, performance test procedures, operational procedures, and installation/integration instructions.
• Conduct structural, thermal, dynamic, and dimensional tolerance analyses to validate design capability against detailed design requirements.
• Interact with colleagues and project leadership to present results, share data, guide design development decisions, and write technical reports to document design milestone completions.
• Support hardware testing activities to validate prototype performance against extreme environmental conditions.
• Propose and perform internal research and development to develop new mechanical technologies that benefit the warfighter and national security.

Requirements:

• Requires a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Structural Engineering or Mechatronics Engineering.
• 8 years: Self-motivated with strong skills in organization, technical writing, oral/written communication, and professionalism
• 8 years: Experience with mechanical design development processes and analysis-based design verification/validation.
• 8 years: Experience developing mechanical solid models using at least one commercial 3D/2D CAD software (e.g., Solidworks preferred, but other programs qualify)
• 5 years: Experience validating mechanical designs using at least one commercial FEA or multiphysics simulation package (e.g., ANSYS, Solidworks Simulation) and analytical/scientific programming software (e.g., Excel, Matlab, Python)
• A valid/clear driver's license is required.