{"id":1710277,"url":"https://alion.io/job/blue-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer","title":"Principal Mechanical Engineer","company":{"id":450349,"name":"Blue Energy","domain":"blueenergy.co","url":"https://alion.io/company/blue-energy","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":76,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.75,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":77,"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Chevy Chase, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":108000,"max_usd":219000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":1961},"experience_years_min":12,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-02T14:08:34Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-02","last_verified_at":"2026-10-27T19:27:45Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":25,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":25},"description":"Company Overview\nBlue Energy is transforming how nuclear power gets built. Instead of constructing each plant on-site from scratch - a process that takes 10-15 years and is too expensive and unpredictable to finance - we build our plants like ships: in a factory, on an assembly line, then transport and assemble them at the site. This cuts costs by over 60% and brings plants online in just three years. We also pair natural gas with nuclear at our sites, so customers can start receiving power from gas turbines right away and then switch over to clean nuclear power once it comes online - getting energy to the grid faster while nuclear is being built. Our mission is to make nuclear energy abundant, affordable, and repeatable at global scale. We use proven, already-approved reactor designs and work with existing nuclear and industrial sites, giving us a faster path to regulatory approval. By manufacturing this way, we put nuclear power on the same cost-reduction curve that has made wind, solar, and batteries cheaper every year.\nPosition Summary\nThe Principal Mechanical Engineer serves as the senior technical authority within Blue Energy's Owner's Engineering organization, leading the design, integration, and delivery of Blue Energy's gas-to-nuclear bridge. This role provides technical leadership across the full project lifecycle, from FEED through detailed engineering, construction, commissioning, and startup. As the technical owner of the gas generation bridge, the Principal Mechanical Engineer drives critical engineering decisions, and ensures alignment across process, mechanical, electrical, controls, civil, and construction disciplines. The position is accountable for resolving complex technical challenges, managing design risk, and ensuring the plant is safe, reliable, operable, maintainable, and fully compliant with applicable codes, standards, and regulatory requirements. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring both deep technical expertise and the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels. The Principal Mechanical Engineer serves as the primary engineering representative, translating technical decisions into clear business impacts on schedule, cost, performance, and project risk.\nKey Responsibilities\nDevelop and maintain the technical basis for utility-scale gas generation projects as part of an owner’s engineering team, including plant configuration, major equipment selection, and performance requirements.\n\nLead FEED and detailed design reviews, providing technical direction and approving key engineering deliverables from EPCs, OEMs, and engineering consultants.\n\nPerform and review plant performance studies to evaluate design options, operating scenarios, and commercial impacts.\n\nDrive resolution of complex technical issues, design conflicts, and field challenges throughout project execution.\n\nSupport development of project scopes, engineering cost estimates, schedules, and technical execution plans.\n\nLead technical evaluations for major equipment procurements, including bid reviews, vendor selection, design reviews, and factory acceptance testing.\n\nCoordinate technical interfaces across mechanical, process, electrical, controls, civil, and construction teams to ensure an integrated plant design.\n\nSupport construction, commissioning, startup, and performance testing activities, including field troubleshooting and design clarifications.\n\nEnsure compliance with applicable codes, standards, regulations, and company engineering requirements.\n\nDevelop and maintain engineering standards, specifications, and design practices that support current projects and future deployments.\n\nMentor junior and mid-level engineers and provide technical guidance to project teams across the organization.\n\nMinimum Qualifications\n12+ years of engineering and project delivery experience in simple-cycle or combined-cycle natural gas power generation.\n\nDemonstrated experience leading projects through the full lifecycle, including concept development, feasibility studies, FEED, detailed design, construction, commissioning, startup, and operational handover.\n\nStrong technical foundation in power generation systems, including combustion turbines, heat recovery systems, balance-of-plant equipment, utility systems, and plant integration.\n\nWorking knowledge of thermodynamics, heat transfer, hydraulics, rotating equipment, piping systems, instrumentation and controls, and plant performance analysis.\n\nExperience developing, reviewing, and validating plant performance models using industry-standard software such as THERMOFLEX, GateCycle, GT PRO, or equivalent tools.\n\nAbility to review, comment on, and approve engineering deliverables, drawings, specifications, calculations, and contractor design packages using tools such as Bluebeam and other engineering document management systems.\n\nWorking knowledge of applicable codes, standards, and industry practices governing utility-scale power generation facilities.\n\nDemonstrated success leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and managing EPC contractors, OEMs, and external engineering consultants.\n\nStrong written and verbal communication skills.\n\nBachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.\n\nPreferred Skills/Qualifications\nProfessional Engineer (PE) license.\n\nExperience with first-of-a-kind or emerging technology deployment - nuclear balance-of-plant, small modular reactors, carbon capture, hydrogen, advanced power cycles, or similar.\n\nExperience managing technical interfaces between EPC contractors, OEMs, regulators, utilities, and project stakeholders.\n\nExperience supporting field teams during construction and start-up phases.\n\nFamiliarity with project risk management, design risk assessment, resource planning, and scenario-based decision-making.\n\nWillingness to travel to project sites, including remote and international locations as required.\n\nWe look forward to your application and helping foster an era of safe, clean, affordable, and abundant energy.\nBlue Energy is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every requirement, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might be the right candidate for this or other roles at Blue Energy now or in the future.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6353,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":12,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Nuclear Energy"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-02T17:01:50Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":84,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.842,"p_room":1,"age_days":24,"expected_fill_days":77,"reasons":["conf:3","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/blue-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/blue-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-27T20:51:05Z","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":11988,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-28T00:00:00Z"}},"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":450349},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=450349"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fblue-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer"},{"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%2Fblue-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer"},{"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%2Fblue-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer"},{"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/blue-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fblue-energy-principal-mechanical-engineer"}]}