Applications Engineer

Applications Engineer Department: Sales/Marketing Employment Type: Full Time Location: Houston Description The Application Engineer is a technical-commercial resource responsible for supporting FS-Compression's sales, service, and project teams with engineered solutions for compressed air, centrifugal compressor, vacuum, blower, filtration, drying, controls, and related industrial systems. This role bridges the gap between customer requirements, field sales activity, manufacturer capabilities, and practical system design to help FS-Compression win profitable business while reducing technical, commercial, and execution risk. From a business perspective, the Application Engineer is expected to increase quote accuracy, improve win rates on complex opportunities, protect gross margin, shorten proposal turnaround time, support sales productivity, and enable FS-Compression to pursue larger and more technical projects with confidence. Key Responsibilities

• Sales and Technical Support: Partner with sales engineers, branch managers, service teams, and manufacturer representatives to evaluate customer requirements, review specifications, and develop technically sound solutions that align with FS-Compression's commercial goals.
• Application Review and Equipment Selection: Perform equipment sizing, system calculations, pressure drop reviews, air quality assessments, controls review, redundancy planning, energy performance evaluation, and application validation for compressed air and related industrial systems.
• Proposal and Quote Development: Support complex quotations by defining scope of work, identifying exclusions and assumptions, preparing technical content, reviewing bill of material accuracy, and helping ensure proposals are complete, competitive, and margin-protected.
• Specification Compliance: Review customer specifications, drawings, data sheets, bid documents, and project requirements to determine compliance, identify exceptions, and communicate technical or commercial risks before proposal submission.
• Risk and Margin Protection: Identify scope gaps, installation challenges, utility limitations, control integration issues, service access concerns, and potential project execution risks that could result in cost overruns, change orders, warranty exposure, or reduced profitability.
• Customer-Facing Technical Support: Participate in customer meetings, site reviews, pre-bid discussions, technical presentations, and solution reviews to build customer confidence and position FS-Compression as a knowledgeable engineered-solutions provider.
• Project Handoff and Execution Support: Provide clear technical handoff documentation to operations, service, project management, and vendors to support accurate ordering, installation planning, startup preparation, and successful project execution.
• Vendor and Manufacturer Coordination: Work with FS-Curtis, FS-Elliott, and other approved suppliers to confirm equipment capabilities, pricing, lead times, drawings, submittals, technical exceptions, and application-specific requirements.
• Process Improvement: Help standardize technical review checklists, quoting templates, engineered submittals, product selection tools, and best practices across the branch network.
• Aftermarket Opportunity Development: Identify additional opportunities for service agreements, audits, controls, monitoring, filtration, dryers, piping improvements, energy optimization, and lifecycle support during the application review process.

Business Expectations: The Application Engineer is expected to create measurable business value by helping FS-Compression capture higher-quality revenue, protect profitability, and support the sales organization with faster, more accurate, and more technically credible proposals. Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Strong understanding of compressed air systems, centrifugal compressors, rotary screw compressors, vacuum systems, blowers, dryers, filtration, controls, piping, air quality, and related industrial equipment.
• Ability to interpret specifications, drawings, system layouts, utility requirements, equipment data sheets, and technical bid documents.
• Ability to perform practical engineering calculations related to airflow, pressure, power, pressure drop, storage, redundancy, air quality, and energy efficiency.
• Strong commercial awareness, including understanding of gross margin, project risk, quote accuracy, scope control, and customer value.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical information clearly to customers, sales teams, service teams, vendors, and non-technical stakeholders.
• High attention to detail with the ability to manage multiple quote requests, deadlines, technical reviews, and project priorities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools, proposal documentation, technical submittals, and applicable manufacturer selection tools.
• Ability to travel to customer sites, branches, and project locations as needed to support sales and technical reviews.
• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical discipline preferred; equivalent industry experience may be considered.
• Experience in compressed air, rotating equipment, industrial utilities, mechanical systems, engineered equipment sales, or technical project support.
• Experience supporting specification-driven projects, engineered proposals, bid packages, or complex industrial equipment applications.
• Familiarity with FS-Curtis, FS-Elliott, and related compressed air system products is preferred.
• Experience with system audits, energy analysis, controls integration, project handoffs, or service-based solution development is a plus. FS-Curtis