Mechanical Engineer – Food-Plant Equipment Design Lead

Jobot; Delphos (OH); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobot seeks an experienced Mechanical Engineer to lead design and modernization of production and packaging equipment at our Delphos, Ohio facility. You will own projects from concept and calculations to fabrication, installation, and startup, spending time in CAD, fabrication shops, and the production floor.

You will work on mechanical design, equipment modifications, utilities, and asset reliability in a fast-paced food-manufacturing environment with a stable 1st shift (6:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.).

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent demonstrated mechanical‑design engineering experience.
• Minimum of three years of mechanical‑design experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated proficiency with 3D CAD and the development of complete, dimensioned, buildable fabrication drawings.
• Working knowledge of GD&T, fits, tolerances, and surface‑finish specifications.
• Ability to perform and document the engineering calculations supporting a design, including the assumptions used.
• Experience designing or modifying production equipment, packaging equipment, machinery, or material‑handling systems.
• Working knowledge of motors, gear reducers, bearings, belts, chains, couplings, and other power‑transmission components.
• Knowledge of machine guarding, equipment‑safety standards, and risk assessments.
• Experience selecting materials, coatings, finishes, and elastomers for the intended manufacturing environment.
• Ability to work directly with fabrication shops, machine shops, vendors, equipment suppliers, and contractors.
• Proven ability to follow projects from design through fabrication, installation, testing, and startup.
• Ability to work hands‑on in production, maintenance, and fabrication environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop 3D models and fabrication drawings for production and packaging equipment, change parts, tooling, fixtures, guards, transitions, chutes, hoppers, frames, and platforms.
• Specify dimensions, tolerances, surface finishes, materials, fasteners, and fabrication requirements.
• Perform and document engineering calculations involving loads, stress, deflection, fatigue, torque, drive sizing, and power transmission.
• Select materials, coatings, finishes, and elastomers appropriate for food contact, washdown, cleaning chemicals, temperature, corrosion, and wear.
• Apply sanitary-design principles involving surface finish, radii, drainability, cleanability, joints, fasteners, crevices, and hollow structures.
• Coordinate fabrication through internal resources and outside vendors, including drawing release, quoting, design reviews, inspections, and final acceptance.
• Maintain controlled drawings, revision histories, equipment files, and bills of material.
• Design and validate modifications to existing production and packaging equipment.
• Modernize aging machinery through equipment redesigns, component upgrades, rebuilds, and obsolete-part replacement.
• Evaluate how proposed modifications affect machine safety, sanitation, maintainability, warranties, and OEM support.
• Design conveyance and material-handling systems involving transfers, accumulation, elevation changes, and product flow.
• Size and select motors, gear reducers, belts, chains, bearings, couplings, and related drive components.
• Design machine guarding and access systems in accordance with applicable safety standards.
• Support machine-safety risk assessments and corrective actions.
• Develop pneumatic and hydraulic circuits and specify components appropriate for the application.
• Design equipment so wear parts and service points can be accessed without unnecessary disassembly.
• Provide engineering support for refrigeration, steam and condensate, compressed air, process water, wastewater, heating, and ventilation systems.
• Perform load, capacity, and equipment-sizing calculations for mechanical utility systems.
• Identify utility-capacity constraints, oversized systems, and opportunities to reduce energy or operating costs.
• Specify pumps, piping, valves, and heat-transfer equipment, including sanitary-service components where required.
• Support Process Safety Management activities involving ammonia refrigeration, mechanical integrity, process hazard analysis, and management of change.
• Analyze recurring mechanical failures involving wear, fatigue, misalignment, lubrication, overload, or incorrect material selection.
• Develop permanent engineering corrections instead of repeatedly replacing failed components.
• Support predictive and condition-monitoring strategies involving vibration analysis, thermography, oil analysis, and alignment standards.
• Develop critical-spare-parts strategies focused on interchangeability, standardization, availability, and single-source risk.
• Assess equipment condition and remaining useful life.
• Develop technically and financially supported recommendations for equipment rebuilding or replacement.
• Develop mechanical engineering standards for design, materials, guarding, fasteners, documentation, and fabrication.
• Provide advanced technical support to maintenance when mechanical issues exceed routine repair.
• Support Manufacturing Engineering with the physical equipment requirements of process‑improvement and capital projects.
• Provide documentation and technical justification during internal, customer, regulatory, and third‑party audits.
• Direct the technical work of designers, drafters, fabricators, vendors, and contractors.
• Support equipment installations, trials, commissioning, production startups, and planned shutdowns.

Skills

Hands-on engineering

Cross-functional teamwork

Engineering calculations

Food/packaging equipment experience

Travel flexibility

Education

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent

Tools

SolidWorks

Job description

Jobot seeks an experienced Mechanical Engineer to lead design and modernization of production and packaging equipment at our Delphos, Ohio facility. You will own projects from concept and calculations to fabrication, installation, and startup, spending time in CAD, fabrication shops, and the production floor.

You will work on mechanical design, equipment modifications, utilities, and asset reliability in a fast-paced food-manufacturing environment with a stable 1st shift (6:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.).