Project Engineer (Defense)

Description

Job Title: Project Engineer
Reports To: Engineering Manager
Division/Department: GHM/Engineering
Level of Work: Level II

Position Summary:

The Project Engineer serves as the primary technical conduit between Graham and customer teams, ensuring effective communication, specification compliance, and schedule execution. Responsible for leading custom-engineered equipment projects from contract award through shop fabrication and delivery, this role manages technical submittals, resolves design inquiries, and aligns cross-functional internal teams, including design engineering, quality, procurement, weld engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing, with customer requirements. This position requires a mix of office work along with time on the manufacturing floor. Success in this role requires a balance of engineering judgment and strong customer-facing skills to protect project scope, quality, and delivery milestones.

Key Results Areas by Level of Work

Level II: Service - Coordinating "production" with problem solving and prevention

Resource Management – Material and People

• Coordinate with design engineering, quality, procurement, weld engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing to ensure project requirements are understood and executed.
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact between Graham and customer teams.
• Maintain effective communication and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.
• Coordinate resources and technical requirements to support successful project execution.

Resource Scheduling, Output Management and Reporting

• Lead custom-engineered equipment projects from contract award through shop fabrication and delivery.
• Manage project schedules and coordinate activities to support established delivery milestones.
• Manage technical submittals and ensure required documentation is completed accurately and submitted in accordance with project requirements.
• Monitor project progress and communicate changes, concerns, and status to appropriate internal and external stakeholders.
• Maintain accountability for project commitments and communicate potential delays or issues in a timely manner.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify project issues and develop effective solutions to prevent recurrence and minimize impact to project scope, quality, and schedule.
• Analyze problems, establish facts, and implement practical solutions using sound engineering judgment.
• Support improvements to project execution processes, communication, and cross-functional coordination.
• Apply lessons learned from projects to improve future project execution.

Equipment & Process Maintenance

• Review and interpret customer specifications, applicable industry standards, and manufacturing code requirements to ensure compliance throughout project execution.
• Resolve technical and design inquiries that arise during engineering and manufacturing.
• Support the transition of engineered designs and requirements into manufacturing.
• Work with manufacturing personnel and engineering teams to address technical issues encountered during fabrication.
• Ensure technical requirements and changes are effectively communicated to appropriate personnel.

Professional Development

• Maintain and develop technical knowledge related to engineering, project management, customer requirements, and applicable industry standards.
• Continue to develop engineering judgment and problem-solving skills through project experience and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Maintain proficiency in engineering calculations, technical documentation, and applicable engineering software.
• Seek opportunities to expand technical and project management capabilities.

Requirements

Qualifications: 

To qualify for this position, an individual must possess the knowledge, training, experience and abilities required.

Education and Training

• Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent

Experience

• All levels considered.

Other

• Must be willing to work overtime as required.
• Minimal travel may be required, both domestically and internationally.

Skills:

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

1. Must have proficiency in MS Office applications, enterprise resource planning, database, and specialized application software.
2. Strong written and verbal communication skills required.
3. Strong organization and time management skills.
4. Ability to successfully plan, self-direct, and implement objectives within established timelines and work schedules.
5. Ability to analyze problems and develop effective solutions at both strategic and functional levels.
6. Ability to work independently, with minimal direction as a highly motivated self-starter and within a team-oriented culture.
7. Maintain a collaborative relationship with internal and external stakeholders.
8. Ability to apply mathematical operations to tasks such as geometric tolerances and drawing interpretation.
9. Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community.
10. Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
11. Strong reasoning ability required to assess a broad range of customer requirements.
12. Proficient in mathematics for first-level engineering calculations.
13. Sound engineering judgment required to support customer-consulting tasks.
14. Customer relationship skills to establish technical scope, requirements, and technical corrective actions.
15. Ability to read, analyze, and interpret scientific and technical documents, customer specifications, and applicable industry standards.
16. Ability to solve practical problems in a timely manner while dealing with a level of ambiguity.
17. High degree of accountability to meet commitments.
18. Familiarity with interpreting applicable industry standards, customer specifications, and manufacturing code requirements.

Preferred Experience

• Military Standard (MIL-STD) specifications
• NAVSEA Technical Publications
• Performing engineering calculations
• Drawing creation
• Technical writing
• Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)
• Specification, procedure, and/or work instruction writing
• MATLAB and/or Mathcad
• ANSYS (Structural and/or Fluent)
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler Pressure Vessel Code (ASME BPVC) specifications
• American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications
• Heat transfer industry work experience
• Shipbuilding industry work experience
• Machining
• Welding
• Destructive testing (Tensile/Shear/Charpy/etc.)
• Non-destructive testing (PT/UT/MT/RT)
• Experience quoting new and/or repeat work
• Customer interfacing
• Vendor interfacing
• Project management

Work Authorization/Security Clearance

Must be able to work in the U.S without sponsorship.