{"id":2566791,"url":"https://alion.io/job/aes-corporation-principal-mechanical-engineer-thermal-projects","title":"Principal Mechanical Engineer - Thermal Projects","company":{"id":1754852,"name":"AES Corporation","domain":"aes.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/aes-com","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":98,"open_postings":7,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.286,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":21,"computed_at":"2026-10-19T05:45:15Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":110000,"max_usd":225000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":1695},"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AutoCAD","optional":true},{"name":"Microsoft Office","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-14T22:03:50Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-14","last_verified_at":"2026-10-19T20:38:10Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":5,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":5},"description":"Are you ready to be part of a company that's not just talking about the future, but actively shaping it? Join The AES Corporation, the largest US-based global power company with a team of 8,300 employees across 12 countries. \nAES has been ranked #1 by BloombergNEF in renewable energy sales to corporations in the US and Americas for five consecutive years, providing electricity for millions of people worldwide. \nWe are proud to foster a strong workplace culture, earning prominent positions in Great Place to Work™ rankings across the markets where we operate. AES was also named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the 13th consecutive year in 2026, highlighting our dedication to integrity, transparency, and responsible business practices.\nOur spirit of innovation continues to earn industry recognition. AES is the only seven-time winner of the Edison Electric Institute’s Edison Awards in the twenty-first century, a distinction honoring global leadership in advancing the electric power industry. \nIf you're ready to be part of a company that's not just adapting to change, but driving it, AES is the place for you. We're not just building a more sustainable future, we're powering it. Apply now and energize your career with a true leader in global energy. \nThe Principal Mechanical Engineer - Thermal Projects will be responsible for providing subject matter expertise and technical leadership for the mechanical design and engineering of thermal power generation projects in development, construction, and operation. Responsibilities include technical oversight of third-party engineering, design reviews, contract document development and negotiation, procurement specification preparation, and other technical support activities.\nThe Principal Mechanical Engineer will join a team of project engineers reporting to the Director of Engineering and will serve as the mechanical subject matter expert supporting thermal projects across the portfolio. Additional responsibilities include mentoring and training other Engineers, directly supporting projects as a subject matter expert, providing technical guidance and resolving complex mechanical engineering issues, driving innovation within the team, and driving institutional change within the wider organization.\nThe successful candidate will have a depth of experience in the development, analysis, and design of thermal generation facilities, including gas turbines, reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE) power plants, combined-cycle facilities, simple-cycle generation, cogeneration systems, hybrid thermal generation projects, heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs), steam turbines, and associated thermal balance-of-plant systems. Experience with related technologies and infrastructure, including natural gas and LNG systems, electrical interconnections, battery energy storage systems (BESS), microgrids, renewable energy integration, and data center power solutions, is highly desirable. Experience with other generation technologies including renewable energy, nuclear, hydroelectric, or emerging energy technologies is a plus. Excellent communication, task management, and planning skills are needed, in addition to technical depth and breadth.\nKey Responsibilities\nProject Execution\nDevelop, review, and support engineering for gas and steam turbines, HRSGs, fuel-gas systems, cooling systems, water treatment, compressed air, fire protection, HVAC, piping, pumps, heat exchangers, and mechanical balance-of-plant.\nPrepare and review design criteria, calculations, drawings, specifications, data sheets, technical reports, cost estimates, and scopes of work.\nCoordinate interfaces with civil, structural, electrical, mechanical, controls, environmental, operations, construction, and commissioning disciplines.\nReview EPC, consultant, OEM, and vendor work products for compliance with project requirements, codes, standards, contracts, and expected deliverables.\nPerform technical studies, equipment selection, design optimization, constructability, and value-engineering evaluations.\nSupport procurement through technical bid evaluations, vendor-document review, inspections, factory testing (FAT), and issue resolution.\nProvide field engineering support and review installation for conformance with approved documents, quality requirements, and safe work practices.\nInvestigate design, fabrication, construction, software, and commissioning issues and develop practical technical resolutions.\nSupport project schedule, budget, risk, interface, and management-of-change activities.\nSupport mechanical completion, Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), testing, energization, commissioning, startup, performance verification, and turnover.\nMaintain technical baselines, redlines, approved changes, test records, and as-built documentation.\nPrepare training and operating information and transfer knowledge to project and plant personnel.\nCapture lessons learned and improve standards, templates, and reference designs.\nTravel to engineering offices, vendor facilities, and project sites as required.\nReview and evaluate major equipment performance guarantees, reliability guarantees, availability guarantees, operating constraints, heat rate performance, emissions requirements, and project design assumptions.\nSupport fuel supply and infrastructure evaluations, including natural gas and LNG systems, in coordination with internal and external stakeholders.\nSupport permitting and environmental activities by providing technical input related to plant design, equipment selection, operating profiles, and emissions characteristics.\nSupport Operations/Asset Management teams to resolve mechanical and thermal technical issues at operating sites.\nMentor and provide technical guidance to engineers on thermal generation and mechanical engineering topics.\nGrowth and Leadership\nContribute to process improvement initiatives for the execution of safe, quality, and high-performance projects.\nProvide timely feedback on EPC and external engineer performance, and document lessons learned to influence internal process enhancements.\nMentor and educate team on changing trends in technology, best practices, code enforcement, and safety.\nDirect mentorship of other Engineers on job requirements and technical acumen.\nSupport the team as a technical subject matter expert.\nSupport evaluation of emerging technologies and companies for the Approved Vendor List.\nLead technical evaluations of new thermal generation technologies and provide recommendations to support project development, technology selection, and long-term business strategy.\nSafety\nAttend site safety walks and identify jobsite hazards.\nObtain and maintain safety training certifications (NFPA 70E, OSHA 10-hour, and CPR/first aid).\nLead by example.\nSkills and Qualifications\nPrimary Qualifications\nUndergraduate degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent technical field.\n10 or more years of mechanical engineering experience in power generation, oil and gas, industrial, or major capital projects.\nAbility to interpret P&IDs, equipment drawings, piping specifications, layouts, and vendor documents.\nAbility to coordinate cross-functional teams and resolve complex technical, commercial, or execution issues.\nEngineering design experience with thermal power generation facilities, including gas turbines, RICE power plants, combined-cycle facilities, simple-cycle facilities, cogeneration systems, HRSGs, steam turbines, and associated balance-of-plant systems.\nAbility to evaluate technical decisions with consideration for cost, schedule, constructability, operability, maintainability, and project risk.\nExperience reviewing operations and maintenance requirements, maintenance philosophies, outage planning considerations, and long-term asset performance expectations.\nStrong communication and interpersonal skills, including ability to successfully work cross-functionally across a large organization.\nSelf-starter with ability to work effectively in a remote and/or distributed team environment.\nAbility to effectively manage third party consultants, vendors, and internal stakeholders.\nProficient with MS Office Suite.\nDirect project experience with Procore.\nPlus Qualifications\nGraduate degree in mechanical engineering\nEIT or PE qualifications\nKnowledge of thermal power plant codes, standards, and industry practices\nExperience with air permitting, emissions compliance, and environmental regulations applicable to thermal generation facilities\nUnderstanding of generator interconnection processes and grid compliance requirements\nExperience with fuel systems, including natural gas and LNG infrastructure\nExperience with ETAP, SKM, AspenTech, GT PRO, Thermoflow, or other advanced power system and thermal performance modeling tools\nSubstation/High Voltage design experience\nStructural/SCADA/commissioning engineering design experience\nExperience with AutoCAD Civil3D\nFluency in Spanish\nAES is an Equal Opportunity Employer who is committed to building strength and delivering long-term sustainability through diversity and inclusion. Respecting all backgrounds, differences and perspectives enables us to improve the lives of our people, customers, suppliers, contractors, and the communities in which we live and work. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and/or expression, race, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion, marital status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law. E-Verify Notice: AES will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee's I-9 to confirm work authorization.","description_format":"text","description_chars":9886,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"Spanish","level":"Advanced (C1)","optional":false}]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Energy Storage","Fossil Fuels","Power Grid","Solar Energy"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-14T22:03:50Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":81,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":0.9,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":4,"expected_fill_days":21,"reasons":["conf:52","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-19T05:45:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/aes-corporation-principal-mechanical-engineer-thermal-projects","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/aes-corporation-principal-mechanical-engineer-thermal-projects.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-20T00:25:31Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":452,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":1754852},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1754852"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Faes-corporation-principal-mechanical-engineer-thermal-projects"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Faes-corporation-principal-mechanical-engineer-thermal-projects"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Faes-corporation-principal-mechanical-engineer-thermal-projects"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/aes-corporation-principal-mechanical-engineer-thermal-projects\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Faes-corporation-principal-mechanical-engineer-thermal-projects"}]}