Principal Mechanical Engineer

Principal Mechanical Engineer

Pipeline is looking for an exceptionally experienced Principal Mechanical Engineer to serve as one of the senior technical leaders on our engineering team.

This is not a management position disguised as an engineering position. We are looking for someone who still loves doing engineering and is capable of personally solving difficult technical problems, developing concepts, reviewing designs, troubleshooting equipment, and helping projects succeed.

The right person will have broad engineering experience and the judgment that comes from having designed, built, tested, debugged, and improved many different mechanical and electromechanical systems.

You should be equally comfortable discussing system architecture at a whiteboard, reviewing a complicated SolidWorks assembly, selecting a servo or bearing, evaluating a tolerance stack, troubleshooting a machine on the shop floor, mentoring another engineer, or helping a customer turn an ambiguous problem into a practical engineering solution.

What You'll Do

• Serve as a senior technical resource for Pipeline's most challenging engineering projects.
• Develop concepts and system architectures for automated machines, custom fixtures, test systems, manufacturing equipment, and advanced manufacturing processes.
• Personally design complex mechanical systems using SolidWorks.
• Design mechanisms and integrate motors, linear actuators, pneumatics, sensors, vision systems, PLC-controlled devices, and related automation hardware.
• Select and implement bearings, linear guides, gears, couplings, clamps, locating components, fasteners, and other industrial hardware.
• Develop solutions involving precision motion, fixturing, part handling, assembly, inspection, testing, dispensing, and other manufacturing processes.
• Design components and assemblies for CNC machining, sheet metal, weldments, 3D printing, injection molding, and other manufacturing methods.
• Apply GD&T, tolerance analysis, material selection, fits, fastening methods, and sound design-for-manufacturing principles.
• Perform appropriate engineering calculations and analyses to support design decisions.
• Develop prototypes, benchtop experiments, feasibility studies, and manufacturing-process-development activities when the solution is not yet known.
• Identify technical risks early and develop practical approaches for resolving them.
• Lead design reviews and review engineering work for functionality, robustness, manufacturability, serviceability, safety, completeness, and quality.
• Troubleshoot difficult mechanical and electromechanical problems during development, assembly, testing, and commissioning.
• Work directly with customers to understand technical problems, requirements, constraints, and what success looks like.
• Help estimate engineering effort, hardware, fabrication, assembly, testing, and other project costs.
• Support concept development and technical proposal preparation for prospective projects.
• Provide technical leadership to multidisciplinary teams that may include mechanical, controls, software, electrical, manufacturing, and assembly personnel.
• Mentor engineers and help develop stronger engineering judgment throughout the team.
• Help improve Pipeline's engineering standards, design practices, documentation, tools, templates, and workflows.
• Support equipment assembly, testing, debug, installation, commissioning, and customer acceptance as needed.
• Contribute to general product-development and R&D projects when appropriate.
• Step into difficult projects, fill technical gaps, and help keep important details from slipping through the cracks.

Who We're Looking For

This is a Principal-level position, not simply a more experienced version of a mechanical design engineer.

Years of experience alone do not qualify someone for this role, although we expect the strongest candidates will typically have 10+ years of substantial professional engineering experience.

We are looking for someone who has repeatedly taken difficult engineering problems from ambiguity through successful implementation and who has developed strong technical judgment along the way.

Strong candidates will have significant experience in many of the following areas:

• Custom machine design, automation, manufacturing equipment, precision fixtures, and test systems.
• Taking substantial systems from concept through detailed design, fabrication, assembly, testing, debug, and deployment.
• Advanced mechanical design including mechanisms, machine elements, materials, tolerances, fits, GD&T, structural considerations, and design for manufacturing.
• Advanced proficiency with SolidWorks or comparable 3D CAD, with the ability to become highly effective in SolidWorks.
• CNC-machined components, sheet metal, weldments, additive manufacturing, injection molding, and other manufacturing processes.
• Motors, motion systems, actuators, pneumatics, sensors, machine vision, controls hardware, and industrial automation components.
• Manufacturing-process development, especially where the process itself must be invented, tested, or refined before equipment can be designed around it.
• Precision test and measurement equipment.
• Robotics and automated material handling.
• Troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and hands-on problem solving.
• Product development in addition to manufacturing-equipment design.
• Leading design reviews and identifying risks that less-experienced engineers may overlook.
• Customer-facing technical discussions, project scoping, estimating, and proposal development.

Most importantly, you must have strong engineering judgment: the ability to make good decisions when there is no obvious textbook answer, recognize problems before they become expensive, and distinguish between situations that require rigorous analysis and those best solved with a simple, practical approach.

You must also still enjoy doing engineering. If your ideal next step is primarily managing people, attending meetings, or delegating technical work to others, this is probably not the right position.

An engineering degree is valuable but is not an absolute requirement. We care more about demonstrated capability, the problems you have solved, and the engineering judgment you have developed.

Our Core Values

Individuals who identify with these values will find the greatest opportunity and fulfillment at Pipeline:

• Treat our customers well; treat our team members better.
• Governed by productivity, not bureaucracy.
• Suffocate chaos; promote order.
• Prevent surprises.

Why Work with Pipeline?

• Solve interesting, technically challenging engineering problems.
• Work on a large variety of projects rather than variations of the same product year after year.
• Have meaningful influence over how engineering is practiced at Pipeline.
• Mentor talented engineers and help raise the technical capabilities of the organization.
• Work across machine design, automation, manufacturing-process development, fixtures, testing, product development, and R&D.
• Work in a low-bureaucracy environment where good ideas can quickly become action.
• Flexibility to work from the office or from home depending on project needs.
• Company contribution toward health-insurance coverage.
• Dental and vision plans offered through the company.
• Eligibility to participate in Pipeline's profit-based bonus program.
• Paid time off.
• Eight paid holidays plus paid sick leave.
• Standard Monday-Friday work schedule.

Work Location

This is a hybrid position, but candidates must reside within the Phoenix metropolitan area and be able to work from Pipeline's Tempe office as project needs require.

Many engineering activities can be performed remotely, but senior engineers are frequently most valuable when physically present for collaboration, equipment assembly, troubleshooting, testing, customer meetings, and project reviews.

Occasional customer or supplier travel may be required.

Representative examples of Pipeline's work can be reviewed here:

Next Steps

If you believe you are a strong fit for this position, please complete the questionnaire and engineering exercises linked below and submit them according to the included instructions.

Only candidates who complete and return both the questionnaire and engineering exercises will be considered. Please use SolidWorks 2025 or an earlier version for the engineering exercises.

We also strongly encourage you to share photographs, videos, CAD images, project descriptions, or other examples of equipment and engineering projects you have personally supported. We want to understand not only where you have worked, but what you have actually engineered.

Approved candidates will then be contacted to schedule an interview.

Questionnaire and engineering exercises: