Project Engineer (Defense)

Job Title: Project Engineer
Reports To: Engineering Manager
Division/Department: GHM/Engineering
Level of Work: Level II
Position Summary:
The Project Engineer serves as the primary technical conduit between Graham and customer teams, ensuring effective communication, specification compliance, and schedule execution. Responsible for leading custom-engineered equipment projects from contract award through shop fabrication and delivery, this role manages technical submittals, resolves design inquiries, and aligns cross-functional internal teams, including design engineering, quality, procurement, weld engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing, with customer requirements. This position requires a mix of office work along with time on the manufacturing floor. Success in this role requires a balance of engineering judgment and strong customer-facing skills to protect project scope, quality, and delivery milestones.
Key Results Areas by Level of Work
Level II: Service - Coordinating "production" with problem solving and prevention
Resource Management – Material and People

• Coordinate with design engineering, quality, procurement, weld engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing to ensure project requirements are understood and executed.
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact between Graham and customer teams.
• Maintain effective communication and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.
• Coordinate resources and technical requirements to support successful project execution.

Resource Scheduling, Output Management and Reporting

• Lead custom-engineered equipment projects from contract award through shop fabrication and delivery.
• Manage project schedules and coordinate activities to support established delivery milestones.
• Manage technical submittals and ensure required documentation is completed accurately and submitted in accordance with project requirements.
• Monitor project progress and communicate changes, concerns, and status to appropriate internal and external stakeholders.
• Maintain accountability for project commitments and communicate potential delays or issues in a timely manner.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify project issues and develop effective solutions to prevent recurrence and minimize impact to project scope, quality, and schedule.
• Analyze problems, establish facts, and implement practical solutions using sound engineering judgment.
• Support improvements to project execution processes, communication, and cross-functional coordination.
• Apply lessons learned from projects to improve future project execution.

Equipment & Process Maintenance

• Review and interpret customer specifications, applicable industry standards, and manufacturing code requirements to ensure compliance throughout project execution.
• Resolve technical and design inquiries that arise during engineering and manufacturing.
• Support the transition of engineered designs and requirements into manufacturing.
• Work with manufacturing personnel and engineering teams to address technical issues encountered during fabrication.
• Ensure technical requirements and changes are effectively communicated to appropriate personnel.

Professional Development

• Maintain and develop technical knowledge related to engineering, project management, customer requirements, and applicable industry standards.
• Continue to develop engineering judgment and problem-solving skills through project experience and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Maintain proficiency in engineering calculations, technical documentation, and applicable engineering software.
• Seek opportunities to expand technical and project management capabilities.

Requirements

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, an individual must possess the knowledge, training, experience and abilities required.
Education and Training

• Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent

Experience

• All levels considered.

Other

• Must be willing to work overtime as required.
• Minimal travel may be required, both domestically and internationally.

Skills:
To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

• Must have proficiency in MS Office applications, enterprise resource planning, database, and specialized application software.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills required.
• Strong organization and time management skills.
• Ability to successfully plan, self-direct, and implement objectives within established timelines and work schedules.
• Ability to analyze problems and develop effective solutions at both strategic and functional levels.
• Ability to work independently, with minimal direction as a highly motivated self-starter and within a team-oriented culture.
• Maintain a collaborative relationship with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to apply mathematical operations to tasks such as geometric tolerances and drawing interpretation.
• Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community.
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Strong reasoning ability required to assess a broad range of customer requirements.
• Proficient in mathematics for first-level engineering calculations.
• Sound engineering judgment required to support customer-consulting tasks.
• Customer relationship skills to establish technical scope, requirements, and technical corrective actions.
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret scientific and technical documents, customer specifications, and applicable industry standards.
• Ability to solve practical problems in a timely manner while dealing with a level of ambiguity.
• High degree of accountability to meet commitments.
• Familiarity with interpreting applicable industry standards, customer specifications, and manufacturing code requirements.

Preferred Experience

• Military Standard (MIL-STD) specifications
• NAVSEA Technical Publications
• Performing engineering calculations
• Drawing creation
• Technical writing
• Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)
• Specification, procedure, and/or work instruction writing
• MATLAB and/or Mathcad
• ANSYS (Structural and/or Fluent)
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler Pressure Vessel Code (ASME BPVC) specifications
• American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications
• Heat transfer industry work experience
• Shipbuilding industry work experience
• Machining
• Welding
• Destructive testing (Tensile/Shear/Charpy/etc.)
• Non-destructive testing (PT/UT/MT/RT)
• Experience quoting new and/or repeat work
• Customer interfacing
• Vendor interfacing
• Project management

Work Authorization/Security Clearance
Must be able to work in the U.S without sponsorship.