Mechanical Engineering Structures Group Technical Lead

Clipper Windpower is a growing company in a surging industry that has a reputation for innovative electro-mechanical design of wind turbines. 

Position Overview: 

This position is for a full time Structures Group Technical Lead to join the Mechanical Engineering Department at our headquarters in Carpinteria, CA.  This is a great opportunity for the properly qualified and motivated individual to lead a group of 5 Engineers responsible for the design of 4 wind turbine main subassemblies: Nacelle, hub, spinner and machine base.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for prioritizing and assigning tasks (Work Breakdown Structures) and facilitating workflow within the structures group to meet department / organization / company goals and project schedules.
• Responsible for general management of the structures group.
• Responsible for leading the design (requirement specifications, CAD models, drawings, bill of materials, procedures) through the internal tollgate process (Conceptual Design, Preliminary Design, Detail Design, Design Validation, Product Introduction).
• Responsible for processing the design (BOM, Documentation records, materials) through the Engineering Change Management system (Design for Manufacturability, Cost impact reviews).
• Responsible for interpretation / implementation of recommended analyses results and making own design recommendations based on sound engineering principles.
• Responsible for providing support on engineering dispositions on hardware non-conformances.
• Responsible for sustaining engineering support for on-going Root Cause Analyses.
• Responsible for mentoring mechanical design to less senior employees.
• Responsible for performing peer reviews and presentations.
• Report weekly group progress status to Mechanical Engineering Manager.
• Participate in the recruitment of new Mechanical Engineers.

Qualifications: 

Required Qualifications, Knowledge and Abilities:

• Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from an accredited university.
• Minimum of 2 years working experience as a technical lead or group leader / manager for a mechanical engineering design group with responsibilities similar to above or equivalent.
• Minimum of 5 years of structural design and analysis experience.
• Design experience with  AISC code.
• Proficiency with one of the following FEA software: Nastran, ProMechanica, CosmosM.
• Proficiency with ProEngineer Wildfire 4.0 and Windchill PDM 9.0 or ProIntralink.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work under pressure in a fast paced team environment.
• Computer expertise in MS Office, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, MSProject.
• Proficiency with geometric dimensioning and tolerancing per ASME Y14.5M.
• Knowledge of the metric system, metric hardware and metric fit tolerances.
• Ability to work extra hours beyond 40 hours per week as project schedules may require.
• Ability to travel approximately 5% of the time.
• Ability to lift 50 lbs.
• Ability to climb 80 m towers via ladder.

Desired Qualifications, Knowledge and Abilities:

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering or relevant field of study.
• PE or CE certification.
• Experience with GL guidelines for the certification of wind turbines.
• Experience with IEC requirements for wind turbines.
• Experience with Eurocode design and analysis methods, requirements, etc.
• Dynamics Analysis Experience
• 6 sigma green belt certification.

REPORTING TO THIS POSITION:  5 Mechanical Engineers and some Designer Contractors on an as needed basis. Number of reports will grow in the future.

Working Conditions:

• Office work ~ 95%: Moderate noise (Example: business office with typewriters/printers, light traffic, etc.), comfortable temperatures, clean air
• Travel to manufacturing facilities, foundries, etc. ~ 3% Moderate to high levels of noise (Example: grinding equipment, etc.), comfortable to uncomfortable temperatures, clean to unclean air
• Travel to wind turbine sites ~ 2% Moderate to high levels of noise (Example: noisy brakes, generators, etc.), comfortable to uncomfortable temperatures (climbing a tower in the summer, etc.), clean air