Principal Mechanical Design Engineer

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Title: Principal Mechanical Design Engineer - Electrical Equipment Enclosures

Company: Global Power Components - www.globalpowercomponents.com

Location: Milwaukee, WI (onsite 5-days/week)

Hire Type: Direct Hire

Position Summary:

Global Power Components is seeking a Principal Mechanical Design Engineer to provide expert technical leadership for the mechanical design and analysis of electrical power distribution enclosures. This role will own enclosure integrity, short-circuit withstand, thermal management, simulation, and design validation. The engineer will work directly with product development, certification, and manufacturing teams to turn new equipment concepts into safe, repeatable, production-ready designs.

Key Responsibilities:

Enclosure Design and Technical Ownership

• Own the structural and mechanical design of enclosures, frames, doors, covers, barriers, mounting structures, bus supports, and bracing systems for electrical power distribution equipment.
• Translate electrical ratings, short-circuit requirements, thermal loads, environmental requirements, and manufacturing constraints into robust mechanical designs.
• Establish structural and thermal design criteria, safety margins, calculation methods, and reusable engineering standards across product families.
• Make material, thickness, joining, fastening, gasketing, and reinforcement decisions based on analysis, testing, cost, and manufacturability.

Simulation, Analysis, and Test Confidence

• Lead finite element analysis of short-circuit forces, structural loading, stress, deformation, vibration, and dynamic response using ANSYS or comparable simulation software.
• Lead thermal and airflow analysis to predict heat rise, hot spots, ventilation performance, and component or bus temperature limits.
• Develop simulation models that represent actual enclosure construction, joints, supports, materials, bus structures, and boundary conditions.
• Correlate simulation results with prototype and laboratory test data, then continuously improve model accuracy and design rules.
• Use analysis to identify design risk before certification testing and recommend changes that improve the probability of passing on the first test.

Validation, Certification, and Manufacturing Integration

• Own the mechanical and thermal portions of verification plans, design reviews, instrumentation, acceptance criteria, and failure analysis.
• Provide mechanical and thermal technical leadership before, during, and after product and certification testing.
• Partner with the product-development engineer to meet product-layout and performance requirements while developing and validating the enclosure and structural design.
• Work directly with manufacturing on sheet metal fabrication, welding, hardware, assembly, finishing, prototypes, first builds, and design-for-manufacturing improvements.
• Document assumptions, calculations, analysis results, design decisions, and lessons learned so they become part of the product-development system.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline.
• Twelve or more years of direct design experience with enclosures for electrical power distribution equipment.
• Demonstrated expertise using ANSYS or comparable simulation software for structural, dynamic, or short-circuit-force analysis.
• Experience modeling thermal performance, airflow, heat transfer, and temperature rise in enclosed electrical equipment.
• Experience owning the mechanical design of enclosures and structures through analysis, prototype, certification testing, and production release.
• Deep knowledge of fabricated sheet metal structures, welded assemblies, bolted joints, fasteners, materials, tolerances, and design for manufacturing.
• Ability to make and defend technical decisions using calculations, simulations, test evidence, and sound engineering judgment.

Preferred:

• Experience designing switchgear, switchboards, motor control centers, busway, panelboards, or other high-current electrical equipment.
• Experience analyzing electromagnetic short-circuit forces and the mechanical response of bus supports, barriers, and enclosures.
• Experience with coupled structural and thermal simulation, CFD, multiphysics analysis, or nonlinear contact analysis.
• Experience preparing designs for UL, IEEE, ANSI, NEMA, IEC, or related certification and high-power laboratory testing.
• Experience building simulation methods and design standards for a new or expanding product platform.

Success Profile:

• Is a true technical expert who uses engineering tools and evidence to reduce design and certification risk.
• Does not rely on excessive material or conservative sizing as a substitute for analysis.
• Balances short-circuit performance, thermal performance, manufacturability, cost, and scalability.
• Remains hands-on with models, calculations, designs, prototypes, and laboratory testing.
• Establishes reusable methods that raise the technical capability of the broader engineering team.