Industrial Refrigeration Engineer

Confidential; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 75,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential company in Charlotte, NC seeks an experienced Industrial Refrigeration Engineer to design and quote large refrigeration systems. This role emphasizes collaboration with customers and technical judgment in developing efficient refrigeration solutions.

The ideal candidate will have over 7 years of experience, a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, and the ability to perform critical refrigeration calculations while effectively communicating with diverse teams.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of refrigeration engineering and design experience.
• Ability to perform refrigeration load calculations and equipment sizing.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and quote industrial refrigeration systems.
• Meet with customers to understand design and timing needs.
• Prepare and review technical design documents.
• Provide technical support to field teams.

Skills

Refrigeration load calculations

Technical judgment

Customer communication

Estimating support

Problem-solving skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Industrial Refrigeration Engineer to design, quote, and support large commercial and industrial refrigeration systems using ammonia, CO₂, and Freon refrigerants. This role is responsible for working directly with customers, preconstruction teams, vendors, subcontractors, installation crews, and service/startup teams to develop safe, efficient, practical, and timely refrigeration solutions.

A primary responsibility of this position is quoting design-build refrigeration work. The ideal candidate must be able to meet with customers, determine their design and timing needs, develop appropriate system solutions, coordinate vendor and subcontractor input, and help produce accurate quotes quickly. This position requires strong technical judgment, customer communication, estimating support, and the ability to move projects from early concept to executable scope.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and quote industrial refrigeration, CO₂ and Freon systems for food processing and distribution, pharmaceutical, cold storage, manufacturing, distribution, and similar environments.
• Work with customers to understand both design needs and timing needs so that quotes can be developed accurately and delivered quickly.
• Meet with customers to understand project goals, operating conditions, temperature requirements, product requirements, cooling loads, humidity issues, environmental factors, space constraints, budget considerations, and long‑term needs.
• Perform refrigeration load calculations, system sizing, pipe sizing, equipment selection, pressure drop calculations, and other engineering calculations required for complete system design and quoting.
• Work with vendors and manufacturers to select appropriate equipment, obtain pricing, compare options, review submittals, and confirm equipment compatibility with the project design.
• Visit customer sites to evaluate existing systems, gather field information, identify operational issues, diagnose refrigeration, cooling, humidity, capacity, airflow, controls, energy usage, or reliability problems, and develop practical corrective solutions.
• Prepare and review drawings, layouts, piping plans, equipment schedules, specifications, sketches, P&IDs, and other technical design documents as needed.
• Coordinate with project managers, installation teams, service technicians, startup teams, vendors, subcontractors, and customers throughout the project lifecycle.
• Provide technical support to installation and service/startup teams when field questions, design conflicts, commissioning issues, or troubleshooting needs arise.

This role includes a combination of office engineering work, customer communication, vendor coordination, preconstruction support, quoting, and field site visits. The engineer must be comfortable working around active industrial facilities, mechanical rooms, refrigeration equipment, construction areas, installation crews, and service technicians. Travel to customer sites may be required based on project needs.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline strongly preferred buy not required.
• 7+ plus year refrigeration engineering and design experience
• Ability to perform refrigeration load calculations, equipment sizing, pipe sizing, and related engineering calculations.
• Knowledge of applicable refrigeration safety practices, codes, and regulatory requirements, especially related to ammonia systems.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to communicate effectively with field technicians, installers, service personnel, project managers, plant managers, owners, vendors, and subcontractors.
• Strong attention to detail, organization, follow‑through, and documentation.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and the ability to make sound technical recommendations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional Engineer license preferred but not required.

Physical Requirements

Ability to visit industrial and commercial job sites, walk mechanical rooms and production areas, climb stairs or ladders as needed, review existing equipment, and gather field information. Must be able to follow all customer and company safety requirements while on site.