Lead Mechanical Design Engineer – Industrial Chillers

American Chillers LLC; Columbia (SC); On-site; USD 80,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with company match

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Job summary

American Chillers designs and manufactures industrial process chillers and cooling systems for demanding applications. You will own the mechanical design of chillers, designing frames, enclosures, sheet metal, piping, and component packaging, with 3D CAD in Inventor and AutoCAD.

This design-first role focuses on building production-ready designs, supporting sales on non-standard requests, and developing configurable master models for rapid variant creation, with on-site work in Columbia, SC.

Qualifications

• 3–7 years of mechanical design experience on equipment or engineered products.
• Strong 3D parametric CAD skills, preferably Autodesk Inventor; solid SolidWorks competence welcomed.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering; equivalent hands-on design experience considered.
• Solid engineering fundamentals: thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid flow, and basic structural analysis.
• Clean drawing discipline with tolerancing and accurate BOMs; revision control.
• On-site in the Columbia, SC area; experience on shop floor is valued.

Responsibilities

• Design chillers in 3D, including frames, bases, enclosures, sheet-metal panels, and assemblies.
• Route refrigerant circuits and process-water piping with serviceability in mind.
• Release build-ready designs with production drawings, BOMs, and 3D master models.
• Develop new products from concept to prototype to production for new markets.
• Build configurable master models to enable rapid variant creation.
• Perform engineering calculations for heat transfer, pressure drop, and structural integrity.
• Collaborate with production to optimize part count and lead times; ensure design compatibility with fabrication.
• Maintain revision control and support ECO processes.

Skills

3–7 years experience

Autodesk Inventor

SOLIDWORKS

Shop floor fabrication awareness

Engineering fundamentals

Revision control & BOM management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Autodesk Inventor

AutoCAD

PDM/PLM (Vault)

Job description

American Chillers designs and manufactures industrial process chillers and cooling systems for demanding applications. You will own the mechanical design of chillers, designing frames, enclosures, sheet metal, piping, and component packaging, with 3D CAD in Inventor and AutoCAD.

This design-first role focuses on building production-ready designs, supporting sales on non-standard requests, and developing configurable master models for rapid variant creation, with on-site work in Columbia, SC.