Principal Engineer

Beta Star Life Science Equipment; Honey Brook (Chester County); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

R-V Industries, Inc. is expanding its Beta Star Division, offering a Principal Engineer role focused on autoclave product line. You will act as the senior technical voice and drive design quality across mechanical and controls disciplines.

We seek a hands-on leader with 8+ years of design experience, SolidWorks proficiency, and a track record in high-temperature/high-pressure systems. The position emphasizes ownership from concept through release and collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in machine or product design with leadership experience.
• Experience with autoclaves or high-temp/high-pressure vessels preferred.
• Strong background in stress/failure calculations and sensor selection.

Responsibilities

• Act as the senior technical voice on the Beta Star team — set the bar for design quality and help mechanical and controls peers solve hard problems.
• Own the deepest technical knowledge of the autoclave platform; be the go-to engineer for design questions across both disciplines.
• Drive product development from concept through release, coordinating with mechanical and controls peers on design, prototyping, and validation.
• Champion lifecycle improvement — own ECRs, root-cause field issues, and improve cost, reliability, and manufacturability of existing designs.
• Lead design reviews and mentor less-experienced engineers through pairing and coaching.
• Maintain the ASME Section VIII calculation set; perform, check, and technically review peers' calculations.
• Partner with Sales, PM, Purchasing, Quality, Manufacturing, Testing, and Installation, and serve as the primary technical contact with customer engineering.
• Uphold configuration management and design control standards; manage engineering budget and schedule on owned projects.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives — design standards, reusable building blocks, tooling, and processes that make the whole team faster and more consistent.

Skills

Senior technical leadership

Controls integration

SolidWorks experience

P&ID creation

Design standards creation

Design reviews mentorship

Education

Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

SolidWorks

AutoCAD

PDM

Job description

R-V Industries is a design and build manufacturer of custom industrial process equipment. We engineer a wide variety of specialty equipment. Most of our equipment is built in-house by our own in-house fabricators, machinists, mechanical and electrical assemblers. Our Beta Star Division provides a line of steam autoclaves used primarily in the life science field. Our Autoclaves are a highly configurable standard product that address simple lab decontamination to cGMP BSL 3 applications. Our product by provides market leading energy efficiency, process flexibility, and non-proprietary components backed by excellent service and support.

GENERAL JOB DESCRIPTION

The Principal Engineer is the senior technical voice and go-to engineer for the autoclave product line. It's an individual-contributor role that sets the technical tone for a small group of mechanical and controls peers through expertise and example, spanning both new product development and ongoing maintenance. We're open to a strong engineer earlier in their career looking for a growth path into technical leadership.

DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Act as the senior technical voice on the Beta Star team — set the bar for design quality and help mechanical and controls peers solve hard problems.
• Own the deepest technical knowledge of the autoclave platform; be the go-to engineer for design questions across both disciplines.
• Drive product development from concept through release, coordinating with mechanical and controls peers on design, prototyping, and validation.
• Champion lifecycle improvement — own ECRs, root-cause field issues, and improve cost, reliability, and manufacturability of existing designs.
• Lead design reviews and mentor less-experienced engineers through pairing and coaching.
• Maintain the ASME Section VIII calculation set; perform, check, and technically review peers' calculations.
• Partner with Sales, PM, Purchasing, Quality, Manufacturing, Testing, and Installation, and serve as the primary technical contact with customer engineering.
• Uphold configuration management and design control standards; manage engineering budget and schedule on owned projects.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives — design standards, reusable building blocks, tooling, and processes that make the whole team faster and more consistent.

SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS:

Required Skills:

• 8+ years of machine or product design experience, including several of: steam component selection; autoclaves or high-temperature/high-pressure vessels; pneumatic actuator design; stress/failure calculations; sensor selection; P&ID creation
• Comfortable as a senior technical voice — leading peers through expertise and example.
• Working understanding of controls engineering for autoclave systems (PLC/HMI, instrumentation, control valves, I/O) — enough to integrate mechanical and controls design.
• 3+ years of SolidWorks (AutoCAD a plus); fluent in calculation packages and detailed drawings.
• Track record of creating and upholding design standards across a product line.
• Gives and receives design feedback constructively, peer to peer.

Willing to Train the Right Candidate:

• Solidworks PDM
• cGMP validation, design and documentation protocols
• AWS Welding Symbols and GD&T
• Deeper controls/PLC exposure for mechanical-background engineers
• Active PA PE License (machine design) is a plus

EDUCATIONAL/PHSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• BS degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent (Electrical/Controls Engineering considered with strong mechanical product experience).
• Must be able to perform all essential functions of the job with or without accommodation

R-V INDUSTRIES, INC. IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER