Principal R&D Engineer

ERII is seeking a qualified candidate for a full-time job opening for the position of Principal R&D Engineer, based in India, reporting to the Director, Product Design. The role will be a founding member of ERI’s India R&D team and will be remote until our India office is established.

The R&D department is a dynamic, global group of engineers and technicians with a wide range of backgrounds, several of them holding PhD and Masters degrees. We are looking for a talented and energetic Principal engineer who can thrive in a multi-national team environment and serve as a technical lead on R&D projects for New Technology and New Product development of fluid machinery in desalination, wastewater, and other industrial processes. The position requires a well-rounded expertise in development of fluid machines and other high-pressure fluid equipment, and a track record of taking products from concept through validation and release to manufacturing. A sound knowledge base in mechanics of fluids and solids is required. Experience across a combination of areas such as mechanical design, analytical & computational modeling, testing & experimental validation, and materials is strongly preferred. The candidate will work closely with R&D, product engineering and testing teams in the US and India to develop disruptive technologies and products based on our proprietary isobaric pressure exchangers. The position also requires strategic outlook for technology and products toward their commercial applications.

• Serve as R&D technical lead on various New Technology and New Product development projects involving fluid machines such as pressure exchangers, centrifugal and reciprocating pumps, turbines, turbochargers etc.
• Lead / participate in the entire development cycle of a fluid machine including 1-D sizing (mechanical & hydraulic), engineering analyses, detailed design & layout prep, design/selection of rotor-bearing systems, seals & secondary flow paths, materials selection, validation test rig development, experimental validation & release to manufacturing.
• Apply a combination of design, modeling (FEA, CFD, 1-D system models), testing and materials expertise to solve complex technical problems and make sound engineering trade-offs.
• Define validation test plans and work with US and India-based teams to obtain high quality data, confirm model predictions and refine designs.
• Collaborate daily with multi-national, cross-functional teams across time zones, including R&D, product engineering, manufacturing, quality and business units.
• Provide technical guidance and design review leadership to India-based engineers and help establish engineering best practices for the India team.
• Follow ERI’s structured, phase-gated development process, leading design reviews and documentation at each phase.
• Contribute to the R&D technology roadmap and identify opportunities to expand ERI's product lines.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

Master's degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering (or related discipline) with 10+ years of relevant industry experience required. PhD desirable.

Demonstrated track record of developing fluid machines or other high-pressure fluid equipment, taking at least two products from concept through validation and release to manufacturing, required.

Experience working with multi-national teams across geographies and time zones required.

Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical work of others is required.

Proficiency in CAD packages such as SolidWorks/Onshape/Creo/NX/CATIA is required.

Expertise in commercial FEA and/or CFD tools such as ANSYS Mechanical, CFX/Fluent or STAR-CCM+ is required.

Proven expertise across a combination of areas such as mechanical design, strong GD&T fundamentals, stack-up analysis, analytical & computational modeling (FEA/CFD/1-D), testing & experimentation, and materials strongly preferred.

Proficiency in using AI tools to accelerate engineering work (e.g. research, scripting/automation, data analysis, documentation), with sound engineering judgment to verify AI-generated results, is a plus.

Experience with design and validation of rotodynamic & reciprocating fluid machines (pumps, turbines, compressors etc.) highly desirable.

Hands-on experience with testing and experimentation, sensors/transducers, controls/data acquisition highly desirable.

Familiarity with engineering standards such as HI/ASME/API/ANSI/ISO etc.

Demonstrated ability to lead technical work independently, prioritize across multiple projects, and make sound engineering decisions with limited direct supervision.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Must be willing to work from ERI's India office once it is established; the role will be remote until then.

Regular overlap with US Pacific time, typically 2-4 hours in the IST evening, in-office workday adjusted accordingly.

Position requires up to 10% travel, including international travel.