Mechanical Engineer

Since 2001, Mid-States has been family-owned and operated, fabricating, installing, and servicing bulk material handling systems for grain, feed, milling, and processing facilities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. We design our own equipment and build it in our own shop, so engineering decisions show up on the shop floor and in the field quickly, and the feedback comes back just as fast. Add a 100% company-paid health plan option, a 5% 401(k) match, and annual profit sharing for every team member, and you have a place built for the long haul.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Mechanical Engineer to provide the core engineering behind our material handling equipment: drag conveyors, belt conveyors, bucket elevators, and gates. You will perform the analysis and sizing these product families rest on, own the engineering for assigned product lines, and turn field, shop, and customer experience into a design basis the rest of the team builds from. Reporting to our Material Handling Engineering Lead, you will work with a team of designers who turn your intent into shop-ready models, with your calculations behind equipment that ships every week. As our portfolio grows, you will have room to shape the product lines we add next, along with a clear path toward Material Handling Engineering Lead or a senior engineering seat. 

What You'll Do

• Perform engineering calculations: capacity, horsepower and drive selection, belt and chain tension, shaft and bearing sizing, and loads on casings and frames
• Use finite element analysis to validate weldments, casings, and supports, including pressure rating of bucket elevator trunking for explosion venting
• Own the engineering for assigned product families and help standardize heads, tails, shafts, and drive packages across sizes
• Help take our portfolio into new product lines, such as screw conveyors, valves, and distributors
• Select and specify purchased components: reducers, motors, bearings, belting, chain, buckets, flights, liners, and sensors
• Design to the codes that govern grain and bulk handling equipment, including NFPA 61 and NFPA 68, OSHA guarding requirements, and CEMA practice
• Support Sales on non-standard configurations, join customer technical reviews, and investigate field and shop issues to root cause
• Mentor designers on machine design fundamentals
• Grow toward Material Handling Engineering Lead or a senior engineering seat

What You Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Agricultural, or a related engineering discipline
• 3 years of mechanical design experience on material handling, agricultural, or fabricated industrial equipment (fewer years considered at the Mechanical Design Engineer level)
• Strong grounding in machine design, statics, strength of materials, weldment design, and material selection
• Experience with finite element analysis
• Proficiency in Autodesk Inventor, or another 3D CAD platform and the ability to transition
• A track record of taking designs from calculations through to released drawings
• Bonus: experience with grain or bulk material handling equipment
• Bonus: an EIT or PE
• Bonus: Autodesk Vault, Inventor Nastran, or iLogic experience

Benefits

• 100% company-paid high-deductible health plan option, plus 2 PPO options
• 5% 401(k) match
• Annual profit sharing for all team members
• Annual boot and eyeglass allowance
• 2 weeks PTO in your first year, 8 paid holidays, and 2 floating days
• Recognition for military and first responder employees

Who Thrives Here

• Ownership: Personal accountability to world-class results. You own your product line, stand behind your calculations, and follow a problem all the way to root cause.
• Stewardship: Cultivating what is entrusted to us. You build standards the whole team can rely on and invest in the designers learning from you.
• Tenacity: Grit. Perseverance. You turn field and shop feedback into better equipment, fast, and keep pushing until the design is right.

If you want real ownership of the equipment you engineer, a shop down the hall that tells you quickly what works, and a hand in shaping the product lines we build next, we want to hear from you. People stay at Mid-States for the challenge, and as we grow, so do the opportunities to move into your next stage.

• Ownership: Personal accountability to world-class results. You own your product line, stand behind your calculations, and follow a problem all the way to root cause.
• Stewardship: Cultivating what is entrusted to us. You build standards the whole team can rely on and invest in the designers learning from you.
• Tenacity: Grit. Perseverance. You turn field and shop feedback into better equipment, fast, and keep pushing until the design is right.

If you want real ownership of the equipment you engineer, a shop down the hall that tells you quickly what works, and a hand in shaping the product lines we build next, we want to hear from you. People stay at Mid-States for the challenge, and as we grow, so do the opportunities to move into your next stage.

Willing to hire at Engineer I or Engineer II level based upon background and experiences