WHAT DOES A LEAD MECHANICAL ENGINEER DO?

Published: Jan 14, 2026 - The Lead Mechanical Engineer defines and reviews product requirements based on customer VOC input and leads the design and development of innovative new products. This role performs simulations, testing, tolerance analysis, and design reviews to ensure reliable performance and compliance with customer standards. The engineer also manages design team activities, coordinates global contractors, and maintains strong collaboration with customers and vendors.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Lead Mechanical Engineer

1. Lead Mechanical Engineer Responsibilities

  • Requirements Translation: Accountable for the translation of business and customer needs into functional mechanical designs
  • Stakeholder Collaboration: Work with key stakeholders within engineering, manufacturing, and suppliers to ensure timely and high-quality product development
  • Project Oversight: Be responsible for successfully overseeing the completion of several complex NPD projects
  • Project Prioritization: Prioritize and handle multiple project deliverables in a fast-paced and result-oriented environment
  • Technical Leadership: Provide technical leadership to a team of Designers and Engineers
  • Engineering Governance: Provide policy and direction for standard mechanical engineering activities as part of new product development
  • Design Compliance: Provide oversight to ensure mechanical designs meet the product level requirements, collaborating closely with the various engineering, design, marketing, and program management disciplines
  • Requirements Development: Develop technical requirement specifications, functional and performance requirements, and test requirements
  • Test Development: Design and build test procedures and test fixtures/equipment
  • Concept Translation: Translate user needs into mechanical design concepts and translate system/module-level requirements into functional mechanical designs
  • CAD Modeling: Utilize computer 3D CAD to create models and/or assemblies
  • Prototype Development: Design and build prototypes and functional models
  • Risk Management: Lead the mechanical engineering team through technical risk identification and management, as well as issue and test defect resolution
  • Standards Compliance: Review development plans for compliance with adopted engineering standards and internal quality systems requirements

2. Lead Mechanical Engineer Overview

  • Conceptual Design: Actively involved in conceptual design
  • Concept Modeling: Generate concept models and drawings
  • Technical Support: Support internal and external customers on technical queries
  • Mathematical Analysis: Mathematical analysis of problems
  • Report Writing: Detailed report writing and tracking the progress of the design
  • Documentation Control: Maintain design files and related documentation
  • Procedure Development: Generate procedures (assembly, test, etc.)
  • Component Sourcing: Identify, analyse, and source components
  • Test Assembly: Perform test build of new equipment
  • Workplace Safety: Maintain a high standard of personal safety in the workplace, advise safety and senior staff of hazards, potential hazards, and incidents

3. Lead Mechanical Engineer Details and Accountabilities

  • Mechanical Expertise: Support and provide mechanical engineering expertise for project development to ensure project performance targets are achieved in a safe and environmentally sound manner.
  • Engineering Solutions: Participate and actively contribute in providing mechanical engineering solutions to the technical issues raised on the Company's existing FPSO fleets.
  • Deliverables Preparation: Be responsible for preparing mechanical engineering deliverables based upon Project requirements, and company-accepted practices
  • Technical Evaluation: Perform technical evaluation on Vendor or Supplier proposal, selecting the technical compliance and the most competitive bid
  • Vendor Management: Manage Package Vendor or Supplier to ensure the Package is delivered with technical compliance, within budget, and on time.
  • Deliverables Review: Review and approve Vendor or Supplier deliverables
  • Operations Support: Support the FPO Operations team on MOCs, investigate the equipment failure, and provide technical recommendations.
  • Engineer Mentoring: Provide guidance and on-the-job training to younger engineers or graduate trainees
  • Standards Application: Performed varied tasks using established codes and standards.
  • Independent Planning: Plans and carries out successive steps independently and resolves problems and deviations in accordance with related codes and standards, and the Company's accepted practices.
  • Safety Engineering: Ensure safety is a critical concern by providing good safety engineering with meeting minimum safety regulations and requirements
  • Innovative Design: Participate in developing innovative and cost-effective solutions in designing package equipment
  • Work Coordination: Prioritize and organize work by many parties, and for multiple projects

4. Lead Mechanical Engineer Additional Details

  • Requirements Review: Lead the review of the product requirements specification based on input from customer OEMs
  • VOC Translation: Generate the product requirements specification from the Voice of Customer (VOC) input
  • Product Development: Follow the product spec, design, and development of new and innovative products
  • Design Reviews: Prepare for, present, and participate in formal and informal design review activities
  • Product Testing: Conduct testing of all new products in accordance with Eaton standards and customer requirements
  • Technical Documentation: Complete appropriate technical documentation for new product development and plant introductions
  • Design Reviews: Prepare for, present, and participate in formal and informal design review activities
  • Product Launch: Launch new product line extensions following a stage-gate process (i.e., PROLaunch)
  • Materials Research: Investigate and analyze new materials and their appropriate use within the product line
  • Simulation Modeling: Create simulation models to predict structural, fatigue, vibration, thermal, and flow performance of new products in development
  • Tolerance Analysis: Conduct a detailed analysis of tolerance stacks to ensure efficient assembly and reliable product performance
  • Team Direction: Direct the day-to-day activities of the design and drafting team
  • Contractor Leadership: Successfully led contractors either co-located or at international locations
  • Relationship Management: Establish and maintain a collaborative working relationship with key customers and vendors

5. Lead Mechanical Engineer Role Purpose

  • Avionics Ownership: Extreme ownership of avionics builds and mechanical engineers to enable the rapid progress of design, integration, test, and launch activities
  • Conceptual Design: Drive conceptual design, architecture trades, and first-order sizing.
  • Requirements Definition: Develop design requirements where definition is lacking
  • Design Optimization: Optimize the development speed, mass, and cost of the avionics
  • Structural Analysis: Perform in-depth first principles analysis and FEA to assess and optimize designs
  • Manufacturing Design: Incorporate design for manufacturing principles, drive first article builds, and make improvements necessary to hand off subsequent builds to production
  • Production Support: Support production issues and drive design, process, and procedure improvements for maximum production efficiency and rate after the first article build
  • Test Execution: Design and execute development, acceptance, and qualification testing
  • Schedule Delivery: Drive the delivery timeline through conception, design, parts, assembly, integration, and launch
  • Cross Functional Collaboration: Work closely with analysts to develop thermal, vibration, and loading requirements and with manufacturing engineers to optimize designs for rapid manufacturability

6. Lead Mechanical Engineer General Responsibilities

  • Equipment Procurement: Lead requisitioning engineer for the planning, specification, and subsequent purchase order management of complex static, rotating, or packaged equipment, which may include Pumps, Compressors, Pressure Vessels, Dehydration Packages, Cooling Towers, Water Treatment, Adsorption Skids, Clarifiers, and similar.
  • Equipment Design: Proficient in undertaking the design and analysis of equipment typical of those listed above.
  • Technical Review: Review customer technical requirements to prepare execution strategies, technical specification packages for enquiry or purchase, and undertake technical evaluations and risk assessment of supplier proposals, coordinating the vital cross-functional input to support this.
  • Workload Coordination: Coordination of workload to meet schedule, quality, and budget requirements, together with timely reporting on status and progress for themselves and for members of their team who may be in the UK or overseas.
  • Cross Functional Coordination: Collaborate closely with other engineering functions and coordinate multi-functional reviews of supplier designs and documentation to facilitate the integration of purchased equipment into the overall plant design.
  • Mechanical Representation: Represent the Mechanical subject area in the preparation of hours and resource estimates, P and ID reviews, HAZOP, and model reviews.
  • Inspection Testing: Undertake witness inspections and acceptance testing of purchased equipment.
  • Issue Resolution: Resolve customer or joint venture partner comments.
  • Construction Support: Provide technical support throughout construction and commissioning phases of projects, retaining overall technical responsibility for equipment until successful handover.
  • International Travel: Undertake international travel to equipment suppliers and site locations at appropriate times throughout the project delivery.

7. Lead Mechanical Engineer Roles and Details

  • Client Consultation: Meets with clients’ technical staff to discuss technical information and features.
  • Engineering Calculations: Prepares sketches and performs calculations for a detailed segment of a project.
  • Field Assessment: Conducts field trips to existing plants to gather operating data and equipment information.
  • Equipment Specification: Prepares equipment specifications, inquiries, and purchase requisitions for approval.
  • Vendor Evaluation: Evaluates vendors' bids and drawings to ensure compliance with specifications.
  • Design Communication: Communicates equipment design to the client and other design disciplines.
  • Drawing Approval: Reviews and approves design drawings for the assigned segment of a project.
  • Process Review: Participates in reviews of PFDs and P&IDs.
  • List Preparation: Participates in the preparation of equipment lists, piping line lists, and specialty item lists.
  • Subcontract Monitoring: Monitors subcontracted technical services' activities.
  • Design Documentation: Participates in the preparation of design guides, guide specifications, and contract proposals.
  • Team Supervision: Supervises and directs the activities of other personnel working on one or more projects.
  • Project Estimation: Provides input to estimates, proposals, scheduling, manpower planning, et cetera.

8. Lead Mechanical Engineer Duties and Roles

  • Product Support: Support the design, integration, prototyping, and testing of gas pressure regulator equipment.
  • Gas Systems: Familiar with natural gas metering and pressure regulating systems.
  • Issue Resolution: Identify and resolve assembly, build, design, and functionality issues.
  • Work Planning: Plan and execute work with limited supervision, placing priority on current sales order needs and research and development.
  • Design Execution: Review and execute product design and changes.
  • Product Development: Execute overall product development from concept to testing and full production to market entry.
  • Schedule Control: Ensure product development is on schedule and within budgetary guidelines.
  • Cross-Functional Coordination: Work with management, Operations, and Marketing to discuss project specifications or procedures.
  • Technical Support: Provide technical support to Sales, Marketing, and Operations regarding new valves and repairs.
  • Standards Compliance: Follow standards and procedures for engineering and technical work.
  • Quality Support: Assist Quality with third-party product certifications and inspections.
  • Quality Audits: Assist with internal quality audits.
  • Problem Solving: Identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
  • Engineering Documentation: Prepare engineering drawings, bill of materials (BOMs), plans, and specifications.
  • Sizing Tools: Support product sizing tools and software with technical data.
  • Engineering Reference: Provide miscellaneous engineering solutions or reference documents.
  • Test Procedures: Write procedures to test products, perform tests, and report test results.
  • Partner Support: Provide technical assistance for channel partners and customers.
  • Engineering Liaison: Serve as liaison between organizations in matters related to engineering issues.
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