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Vulcan Elements manufactures American rare-earth permanent magnets for defense, aerospace, and automotive applications with a focus on national security and economic resilience. The Mechanical Systems Engineer will serve as the technical owner for cooling water and industrial gas systems at the Benson, NC production facility, supporting design, buildout, commissioning, and ongoing operation.
Key responsibilities include:
- Serve as technical owner for facility cooling water and industrial gas systems
- Support design, specification, installation, commissioning, and startup of chillers, pumps, heat exchangers, piping, valves, and controls
- Develop and review distribution designs, equipment connections, piping layouts, flow requirements, and operating parameters
- Coordinate cooling utility and gas requirements with process equipment suppliers, engineering partners, contractors, and internal stakeholders
- Review P&IDs, equipment drawings, specifications, submittals, and technical documentation
- Support system sizing, hydraulic calculations, pressure drop analysis, and equipment selection
- Provide field engineering support during construction, installation, flushing, pressure testing, balancing, commissioning, and startup
- Troubleshoot cooling system performance, reliability, capacity, water quality, and equipment issues
- Identify and implement improvements to increase system reliability, efficiency, maintainability, and production capability
- Develop and maintain system documentation, operating requirements, equipment records, and preventive maintenance recommendations
- Support capital projects and facility modifications impacting cooling water systems
- Track asset utilization, uptime, and KPIs to ensure uninterrupted service
- Own and manage operational costs for assigned systems, including utility consumption and lifecycle costs
The role requires regular presence on the production floor, ability to navigate all facility areas, climb stairs, stand and walk for extended periods, and work in hot, humid, or noisy environments. Personal protective equipment, including respirators, is required.
**Requirements:**
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related engineering discipline
- Experience with cooling water, chilled water, and industrial gas systems in industrial or manufacturing environment
- Ability to read and interpret P&IDs, mechanical drawings, specifications, and equipment documentation
- Working knowledge of pumps, piping systems, heat transfer, and fluid flow
- Ability to work onsite and support construction, commissioning, startup, and operational activities
- Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities
**Desired Qualifications:**
- Experience with industrial chilled water, process cooling water, and industrial gas systems
- Experience with chillers, cooling systems, pumps, heat exchangers, expansion tanks, filtration, and associated controls
- Experience performing or reviewing hydraulic calculations, pipe sizing, pump sizing, heat load calculations, and equipment selection
- Experience with industrial gas distribution systems, bulk gas storage, pressure regulation, piping, and point-of-use connections
- Experience supporting greenfield manufacturing facility construction or major utility system installations
- Experience with commissioning activities such as flushing, hydrostatic testing, chemical cleaning, balancing, functional testing, and performance verification
- Familiarity with cooling water chemistry, treatment, filtration, corrosion control, and water quality management
- Experience troubleshooting system flow, pressure, temperature, capacity, fouling, and reliability issues
- Familiarity with mechanical codes, piping standards, industrial construction practices, and equipment installation requirements
- Experience reviewing P&IDs, equipment layouts, piping drawings, isometrics, vendor submittals, and control narratives
- Strong problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional coordination skills
- Experience with AutoCAD, Bluebeam, hydraulic modeling software, or similar engineering tools
- PE, EIT, or other relevant professional certification
