Mechanical Designer

R&D Designer – Positive Displacement Pumps

The R&D Designer – Positive Displacement Pumps will support the design, development, improvement, and release of positive displacement pump products and related equipment. This role will be responsible for creating high-quality 3D models, detailed 2D manufacturing drawings, assemblies, bills of material, and release documentation for pump components and systems used in demanding industrial and oilfield applications.

The designer will work closely with engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, service, and operations teams to turn concepts into practical, manufacturable, and reliable pump designs. This position requires strong mechanical design capability, attention to detail, and an understanding of how tolerance, material selection, fit, finish, and assembly practices directly affect pump performance, durability, and field serviceability.

R&D is an iterative process, and this role will be expected to support rapid concept development, prototype revisions, production updates, and continuous improvement efforts. The ideal candidate is practical, detail-oriented, and able to balance performance, manufacturability, cost, and serviceability.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop complex 3D models and assemblies for positive displacement pumps and related components.
• Create detailed manufacturing drawings for pump components such as fluid ends, power ends, crankshafts, connecting rods, crossheads, plungers, packing assemblies, valves, seats, retainers, covers, housings, manifolds, and related structures.
• Apply GD&T principles to communicate critical tolerances, fits, datums, surface finishes, and inspection requirements.
• Support tolerance stack-up reviews for critical pump assemblies and highly loaded components.
• Create and maintain bills of material for pump assemblies, subassemblies, and serviceable components.
• Support new product development, prototype builds, design iterations, and production release packages.
• Update existing pump drawings and models to improve manufacturability, reduce cost, reduce weight, improve reliability, and simplify assembly or field service.
• Work with engineers to evaluate design tradeoffs related to pressure rating, flow rate, fatigue life, sealing performance, bearing loads, fastener selection, and service intervals.
• Collaborate with NOV manufacturing facilities and suppliers to ensure designs can be machined, fabricated, inspected, assembled, and serviced efficiently.
• Support design standardization across pump product lines, including common components, drawing practices, materials, fasteners, and modeling methods.
• Review as-built feedback, field issues, manufacturing concerns, and service observations to support continuous product improvement.
• Assist with engineering change requests, drawing revisions, and controlled product release documentation.
• Maintain organized 3D models, assembly trees, configurations, part numbers, revisions, and drawing files.

Pump Design Focus Areas

• High-pressure positive displacement pumps
• Reciprocating pumps
• Triplex and quintuplex pump assemblies
• Fluid end components and consumables
• Power end components and structures
• Pump skids, bases, guards, covers, and mounting structures
• Lube systems and auxiliary pump systems
• Packing, sealing, valve, and seat arrangements
• Manifolds, suction/discharge connections, and pressure-containing components
• Service tooling, lifting fixtures, and assembly aids
• Field retrofit kits and production improvement packages

Required Education, Skills and Experience

• High School Diploma or Equivalent and 2-4 years of related experience.
• Proficiency with SolidWorks PDM for 3D modeling, assemblies, configurations, and detailed drawings.
• Proficiency with AutoCAD or similar 2D drafting software.
• Experience creating drawings for machined components with tight tolerances and critical fits.
• Strong understanding of mechanical drafting, GD&T, tolerance stack-up, datums, surface finish, and inspection requirements.
• Ability to design and document parts for CNC machining, fabrication, welding, coatings and assembly.
• Understanding of materials used in highly loaded mechanical components, pressure-containing parts, and wear components.
• Ability to create accurate BOMs and clearly define part hierarchy.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to high-quality drawing releases.
• Ability to work in a fast-moving R&D environment with changing priorities and evolving design requirements.
• Practical understanding of manufacturability, assembly, inspection, cost reduction, and field serviceability.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work closely with engineering, production, suppliers, and service teams.
• Unrestricted ability to travel approximately 10% of the time.

Preferred Knowledge

• Experience with positive displacement pumps, reciprocating pumps, triplex pumps, quintuplex pumps, or high-pressure pumping equipment.
• Familiarity with oilfield pressure pumping, hydraulic fracturing, cementing, coiled tubing, drilling, or industrial pumping applications.
• Knowledge of pressure-containing component design and documentation.
• Familiarity with applicable ASME, API, ASTM, and ISO standards related to pump design, materials, tolerancing, and manufacturing.
• Experience with high-strength steels, stainless steels, forgings, castings, heat treatment, coatings, and wear-resistant materials.
• Understanding of pump failure modes such as fatigue, washout, erosion, cavitation, seal wear, bearing failure, fretting, galling, and fastener loosening.
• Familiarity with engineering change processes, revision control, product lifecycle management, and manufacturing release workflows.
• Experience designing for global manufacturing and multi-site production.

Value to the Team

This role will provide dedicated design expertise for positive displacement pump development and improvement. A strong pump designer will help improve drawing quality, accelerate design iterations, support engineers during field or test activities, and create consistent design documentation across pump products.

By working directly with engineering and manufacturing teams, the designer will help ensure pump components are designed not only for performance, but also for machinability, assembly, inspection, serviceability, and cost-effective production. This role will free engineers to focus on system-level design, analysis, testing, and new product development while maintaining strong execution discipline in models, drawings, and release packages.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a mechanically minded designer who understands that pump performance depends on details: tolerances, fits, materials, surface finishes, assembly sequence, sealing interfaces, and service access.

This person should be comfortable working from early concepts, sketches, legacy drawings, field feedback, and engineering direction. They should be able to convert ideas into professional design packages that manufacturing teams can build and service teams can support.

The strongest candidate will bring both design software skill and practical product judgment — someone who can make a part look right on the screen, but also understands how it will be machined, assembled, loaded, repaired, and used in the field.

Competitive Benefits:

• 401(k) Retirement Plan – NOV matches every dollar up to 5% of base pay and overtime for every dollar you invest.
• Competitive medical plans that are effective your date of hire. Visit usbenefits.nov.com for more information.
• FREE MDLIVE virtual visits (when enrolled in an NOV medical plan).
• FREE preventative medical and dental care for the entire family (when enrolled in an NOV medical/dental plan and seeing an in-network physician).
• FREE Basic Life and AD&D insurance at 2 times your annual salary (for full-time employees).
• All regular full-time employees start with 3 weeks of paid vacation per year (prorated based on start date). Pre-NOV relevant experience (years of service) may be considered for vacation accruals.
• All regular full-time employees receive up to 11 paid holidays per year.