Site Designer/Engineer or Senior Site Designer/Engineer - Grain Handling

Mid-States Companies; Ames (IA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay based on experience

100% company‑paid health, dental, and 

101% company‑paid health, dental, and 

Job summary

Mid-States Design & Engineering (MDE) seeks a Senior Designer to lead facility and plant design across grain handling and storage, milling, and bulk-handling facilities in Nevada, Iowa. You’ll own the layout with direct accountability for safety, cost, and operability.

You’ll mentor designers, drive design standards, and coordinate with internal teams. Expect 15% travel to customer sites and partner offices; office-based role with hands-on field exposure.

Qualifications

• Associate's degree or higher in drafting, design, engineering technology, or related field.
• 6+ years of facility, plant, or site design experience in grain, bulk handling, or industrial settings.
• Proficiency in Revit.
• Experience mentoring designers and owning scope, schedule, and budget on projects.
• Willing to travel up to 15% to customer sites and partner offices.

Responsibilities

• Develop Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs) and General Arrangement (GA) drawings, including equipment placement, tonnage paths, head spacing, and operator access.
• Place and integrate Mid-States material handling equipment into site layouts, coordinating with our Material Handling Engineering Lead.
• Work the trade-offs between site constraints, customer operations, code requirements, and budget, and stand behind the call you make.

Skills

Experience

Mentoring

Layout judgment

Travel readiness

Education

Associate degree or higher in drafting/design/engineering technology

Tools

Revit

Autodesk Forma

Autodesk Construction Cloud

Autodesk Inventor

Navisworks

Point cloud workflows

Microsoft 365

Job description

Why Mid-States

Mid-States Design & Engineering (MDE) is the design and engineering division of Mid-States Companies, a vertically integrated bulk material handling and structural steel EPC firm headquartered in Nevada, Iowa. Design, fabrication, and millwright installation all operate under one organization, which gives our engineering staff direct visibility into how their designs are built and a continuous feedback loop from the field.

Why Mid-States

Mid-States Design & Engineering (MDE) is the design and engineering division of Mid-States Companies, a vertically integrated bulk material handling and structural steel EPC firm headquartered in Nevada, Iowa. Design, fabrication, and millwright installation all operate under one organization, which gives our engineering staff direct visibility into how their designs are built and a continuous feedback loop from the field.

We're looking for a Senior Designer to lead facility and plant design across grain handling and storage, milling, feed mill, commercial seed production, pet food, oilseed extraction, ethanol, and adjacent bulk handling facilities — the senior design authority on the facility side of our engineering department. Three values run through everything we do here, and they're the same three we'll hold this role to: ownership of the layout with your name on it, tenacity to work a hard trade‑off until it's actually solved, and stewardship of the customer's money, our reputation, and the people around you.

What You'll Do

• Develop Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs) and General Arrangement (GA) drawings, including equipment placement, tonnage paths, head spacing, and operator access
• Place and integrate Mid-States material handling equipment into site layouts, coordinating with our Material Handling Engineering Lead
• Work the trade-offs between site constraints, customer operations, code requirements, and budget, and stand behind the call you make

Serve as the technical authority

• Review and sign off on general arrangement and layout work before it reaches the Engineer of Record or the customer
• Critique designs for safety, constructability, operability, code compliance, and lifecycle cost
• Research and confirm compliance with applicable federal, state, and municipal codes, permits, and standards, including OSHA, MSHA, IBC, IFC, and NFPA requirements
• Represent facility design in customer technical reviews and EOR coordination meetings

Own the standards

• Own facility design standards and methodology, including general arrangement conventions, drawing standards, and review checklists
• Build and maintain a knowledge base of facility types, code references, and reusable layout patterns
• Drive design reuse and methodology improvements across projects

Develop the team

• Mentor designers and detailers, and raise the technical floor of the group over time
• Lead internal training on facility layout, process flow, and equipment arrangement
• Coach people along the designer career path, including the path to credentialed engineer where it fits

Own your projects

• Establish and manage design scope, schedule, and budget on assigned facility projects
• Pick up projects at award: absorb the assumptions, inclusions, exclusions, and known problem areas, and flag scope that delivery can't hold
• Coordinate on RFIs, submittals, and procurement-driven design decisions

Tools You'll Use

• Revit and Autodesk Forma / Autodesk Construction Cloud: proficiency required
• Autodesk Inventor: working proficiency for tower, catwalk, and structural overlap
• Navisworks or Forma clash detection workflows for model coordination
• Reality capture and point cloud workflows (laser scanning data, scan‑to‑BIM)
• Microsoft 365 for design documentation and project coordination

What You Bring

• Associate's degree or higher required — we're flexible on the field: drafting, design, engineering technology, or something adjacent
• 6+ years of facility, plant, or site design experience in grain, bulk handling, or industrial settings
• Proficiency in Revit
• Strong layout, planning, and equipment arrangement judgment across multiple facility types
• Experience mentoring designers and owning scope, schedule, and budget on projects
• Willing to travel up to 15% to customer sites, project sites, and partner engineering offices
• Equipment commissioning and startup experience (preferred) — designers who have been on site through startup tend to lay out a facility differently, and better

Work Environment

This is primarily an office-based design role in Nevada, Iowa. During site visits and project travel, which run about 15% of the time, expect an active industrial environment: climbing ladders, scaffolds, and stairs, working around operating equipment, occasional confined spaces such as pits and tunnels, uneven terrain, and hot or cold conditions depending on the season. Personal protective equipment is required while on site, and the role includes occasional lifting of up to 50 pounds.

Benefits

• Competitive pay based on experience
• 100% company‑paid health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Profit‑sharing program
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Company‑provided PPE and safety equipment for site visits
• Ongoing training and career development

We've built this company by keeping design, fabrication, and field installation under one roof — so the people who lay out a facility hear directly from the crews who build it. If you want your name on work that ships, and a technical career path with real room to grow, we'd love to talk.