Job Description

Mechanical Engineer – Water Systems (ALS-U)

Location: Berkeley, CA | Onsite

Employment Type: Full-Time, Contract

Contract Duration: Approximately 12 months

Pay Rate: $85.83 per hour

About Essnova Solutions, Inc.

At Essnova Solutions, Inc., meaningful work starts with people who care about doing it well. We provide technology, engineering, and professional services that help government and commercial clients solve complex challenges, strengthen operations, and accomplish their missions.

Our team brings together professionals with diverse technical backgrounds, united by integrity, collaboration, and a commitment to delivering exceptional results.

About the Opportunity

Essnova Solutions is seeking an experienced Mechanical Engineer – Water Systems to support the Advanced Light Source Upgrade (ALS-U) project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, California.

This position plays a critical role in the engineering, operation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of process and facility water systems supporting both the ALS-U project and ongoing Advanced Light Source (ALS) operations.

The selected engineer will serve as a primary technical resource for cooling water infrastructure supporting accelerator systems, beamlines, experimental equipment, HVAC interfaces, and associated utility systems.

This opportunity is ideal for a mechanical engineering professional with extensive experience in industrial cooling water systems, low-conductivity water (LCW), deionized (DI) water systems, and high-reliability mechanical infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

Water Systems Design & Engineering

• Lead the design, engineering, and optimization of cooling water systems supporting ALS-U and existing ALS infrastructure.
• Develop piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), flow diagrams, hydraulic calculations, equipment specifications, and technical documentation.
• Perform engineering analyses involving heat transfer, fluid dynamics, pump sizing, pressure drops, thermal stability, and water quality.
• Specify and support procurement of pumps, heat exchangers, filtration systems, expansion tanks, piping, valves, instrumentation, and water treatment equipment.
• Coordinate integration of cooling water infrastructure with accelerator, beamline, cryogenic, HVAC, and facility utility systems.
• Ensure engineering designs comply with applicable ASME, ANSI, California mechanical and building codes, and laboratory safety standards.

Water Quality & System Reliability

• Oversee the operation and maintenance of closed-loop low-conductivity water (LCW) and deionized (DI) water systems.
• Monitor critical water quality parameters, including resistivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, and system performance.
• Manage and optimize chemical treatment processes, UV sterilization, mixed-bed deionization, and reverse osmosis (RO) systems.
• Identify and mitigate biological growth, scaling, corrosion, contamination, and water chemistry concerns.
• Troubleshoot equipment failures, leaks, pump malfunctions, resin degradation, flow instability, and thermal excursions.
• Evaluate piping materials, valves, and instrumentation to maintain system integrity and water purity.

Operations, Maintenance & Commissioning

• Develop and implement preventive and predictive maintenance programs for critical cooling water infrastructure.
• Evaluate equipment reliability, lifecycle conditions, and opportunities for operational improvement.
• Coordinate maintenance activities, repairs, shutdowns, and system upgrades to minimize facility downtime.
• Support installation, startup, testing, balancing, and commissioning of new and modified water systems.
• Provide technical support during operational incidents and system failures.

Project Coordination & Documentation

• Manage engineering projects from conceptual design through installation and commissioning.
• Collaborate with engineering teams, contractors, vendors, facilities personnel, and scientific staff.
• Develop project schedules, cost estimates, technical scopes of work, and equipment specifications.
• Review installation quality and verify compliance with approved engineering requirements.
• Maintain engineering drawings, operating procedures, maintenance records, system inventories, and configuration documentation.
• Support engineering change control and continuous improvement initiatives.

Safety & Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure work complies with Integrated Safety Management (ISM), Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) requirements, laboratory policies, and applicable regulations.
• Participate in hazard analyses, readiness reviews, and safety assessments.
• Support lockout/tagout procedures, safe equipment isolation, and operational safety planning.
• Promote safe engineering and maintenance practices throughout facility operations.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Minimum of 8 years of relevant professional engineering experience, including substantial experience designing, operating, or maintaining industrial process or facility water systems; an equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• Demonstrated knowledge of low-conductivity water (LCW) and deionized (DI) water systems, including water purity, corrosion prevention, chemical treatment, and troubleshooting.
• Experience with closed-loop cooling systems, industrial piping, process utilities, and mechanical infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of hydraulic engineering, fluid flow, heat transfer, pressure management, and thermal system design.
• Experience developing, interpreting, and maintaining engineering drawings and P&IDs.
• Familiarity with pumps, heat exchangers, cooling towers, filtration systems, water treatment equipment, instrumentation, and controls.
• Demonstrated troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and equipment reliability experience.
• Ability to coordinate multiple engineering projects and operational priorities.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary technical teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional Engineer (PE) license.
• Experience supporting scientific research facilities, particle accelerators, semiconductor manufacturing, or other high-availability technical environments.
• Experience with EPICS or industrial control systems integration.
• Familiarity with vibration-sensitive equipment and thermally stable cooling systems.
• Experience commissioning and starting up large-scale mechanical utility systems.
• Knowledge of reliability-centered maintenance and predictive maintenance methodologies.
• Previous experience supporting Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories or comparable research facilities.

Work Environment & Schedule

• Position is based onsite in Berkeley, California.
• Work may be performed in office, laboratory, mechanical equipment, and construction environments.
• Occasional after-hours or weekend support may be required during shutdowns, commissioning activities, or operational events.
• Duties may involve accessing mechanical spaces and working around industrial equipment.
• Assignment is anticipated to last approximately 12 months, with any extension dependent on project requirements and customer authorization.

Benefits

Compensation & Benefits

Pay Rate: $85.83 per hour

Essnova offers a competitive benefits package for eligible employees, which may include:

• Medical and dental insurance
• Paid time off
• Paid holidays
• Retirement benefits

Specific benefits and eligibility will be discussed during the recruitment process.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Essnova Solutions, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Essnova provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and employment process, consistent with applicable law.