COMPANY OVERVIEW

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

Learn more about this Employer on their Career Site

Principal Engineer - Beta Star