Sr. Principal Mechanical Engineer

Job description

Role Summary/Purpose: The Sr. Principal Mechanical Engineer is a senior individual contributor and recognized technical authority in mechanical design engineering. This person is responsible for developing complex mechanical designs, products, assemblies, components, and interfaces from concept through detailed design, analysis, design validation, production release, and lifecycle support. The engineer translates customer, business, regulatory, and operational needs into robust design requirements, mechanical architectures, specifications, and executable development plans, while ensuring design integrity, technical rigor, and compliance with applicable engineering standards. Working closely with engineering, product management, manufacturing engineering, materials, supply chain, quality, testing, and field organizations, this role provides technical leadership across cross-functional design programs. The Sr. Principal Mechanical Engineer ensures that designs satisfy performance, reliability, quality, safety, manufacturability, serviceability, schedule, and cost requirements without compromising product integrity or customer expectations. This position influences global teams without relying on direct supervisory authority. It serves as a technical mentor, design reviewer, and escalation point for high-risk design decisions, complex failure investigations, and critical product applications. The role is accountable for advancing reusable design solutions, improving engineering methods, strengthening design practices, and accelerating innovation and product competitiveness. Essential Functions / Responsibilities: Develop complex mechanical designs, assemblies, components, and interfaces by applying advanced engineering principles, analytical methods, design standards, and sound technical judgment from concept through production release. Serve as a technical authority for mechanical products, systems, components, assemblies, and interfaces across product development, cost optimization, reliability improvement, and lifecycle initiatives. Define and communicate mechanical architecture, design requirements, interface definitions, verification strategies, and engineering trade-offs for complex or high-risk programs. Lead the technical execution of mechanical design projects, including requirements development, concept generation, concept selection, detailed design, analysis, prototyping, verification, qualification, production release, and post-launch support. Create and review 3D models, engineering drawings, specifications, bills of material, tolerance schemes, and design documentation in accordance with applicable standards and configuration-control requirements. Perform and guide engineering calculations and analyses involving structural mechanics, fatigue, vibration, thermal effects, materials, fasteners, joints, fits, clearances, and mechanical interfaces as applicable. Lead design reviews, tolerance-stack evaluations, design risk assessments, failure mode evaluations, and design verification activities. Apply sound engineering judgment to material selection, manufacturing processes, surface treatments, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, and component qualification. Lead root cause analysis and corrective action for complex design, manufacturing, test, quality, and field-performance issues; ensure corrective actions are technically sound, verified, documented, and sustained. Drive design simplification, modularity, standardization, reuse, and value engineering to improve quality, development speed, manufacturability, serviceability, and product cost. Partner with manufacturing engineering, suppliers, quality, and operations to support design for manufacturability and assembly, production readiness, process capability, and successful product transfer. Develop and maintain mechanical design methods, calculation tools, design standards, product specifications, checklists, and lessons-learned repositories. Evaluate emerging design technologies, analysis methods, materials, and manufacturing capabilities; recommend applications that improve product performance or engineering efficiency. Mentor engineers through technical coaching, peer reviews, problem solving, and development of repeatable engineering practices. Provide technical input to project scope, schedule, cost, resource, and risk plans; identify dependencies and recommend recovery actions when technical objectives are at risk. Communicate complex technical information clearly to engineering, business, supplier, and customer stakeholders, including risks, alternatives, and recommendations. Protect intellectual property and contribute to invention disclosures, patents, technical publications, and internal knowledge development when appropriate. Qualifications / Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial or any Science discipline) from an accredited college or university Minimum 10 years of experience in engineering/technical roles with strong competency in mechanical design Demonstrated experience leading the technical delivery of complex mechanical products or technologies from concept through validation and production implementation. Desired Characteristics Minimum of 5 years of engineering project management experience in new product development (NPD) and product introduction Experience managing projects across remote and global/multi-location teams Demonstrated ability to analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve technical and operational problems Proven leadership in advancing technical solutions and driving innovation in pump or rotating equipment applications Proficiency with standard project management tools and processes Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams Strong verbal and written communication skills Self-motivated with a continuous improvement mindset and commitment to increasing organizational value Working with us Our people are at the heart of what we do at Baker Hughes. We know we are better when all of our people are developed, engaged and able to bring their whole authentic selves to work. We invest in the health and well-being of our workforce, train and reward talent and develop leaders at all levels to bring out the best in each other. Working for you Our inventions have revolutionized energy for over a century. But to keep going forward tomorrow, we know we have to push the boundaries today. We prioritize rewarding those who embrace change with a package that reflects how much we value their input. Join us, and you can expect: Contemporary work-life balance policies and wellbeing activities Comprehensive private medical care options Safety net of life insurance and disability programs Tailored financial programs Additional elected or voluntary benefits This position requires valid work authorization in the country of employment. The employer is unable to sponsor work authorization for this role at any time. You will be eligible to participate in Company-sponsored benefit programs, including health & welfare programs and the Thrift Plan (401k). You will have a choice of coverage options that best suit your needs. Coverage options and contribution amounts are related to your benefit elections, base salary level, and specific requirements of each of these plans. This position is eligible for our comprehensive and competitive benefits package, which can be found here , and is further eligible for additional forms of compensation such as bonuses subject to the terms of the applicable benefit plans or policies. The Baker Hughes internal title for this role is: Senior Principal, Interdisciplinary, Product Performance Engineering