Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

NextAero Pty Ltd | Clayton South, Melbourne VIC

Full-time | Permanent | Immediate Start Preferred

About NextAero

NextAero is a growing technology company developing bespoke fluid testing equipment for the aerospace, transport, energy, and chemical sectors. We deliver complex, high-value engineering projects in the $300k to $1m range, and our clients rely on us to execute them with precision.

We are expanding our engineering team and seeking a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer who thrives on technically demanding, hands-on engineering projects.

This role is suited to an experienced engineer with strong analytical and practical skills who enjoys developing complex mechanical and fluid systems, solving challenging engineering problems, and seeing designs progress through manufacture, testing, and commissioning.

The Role

As a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer at NextAero, you will take responsibility for the engineering design and development of complex fluid machinery and testing systems, with a strong emphasis on technical performance, operational safety, and reliability.

You will work across the engineering lifecycle, from initial feasibility studies and conceptual design through to detailed engineering, assembly, testing, and commissioning.

Your work will involve fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, pressure systems, mechanical behaviour, and the integration of interacting engineering subsystems. You will develop engineering calculations, assess system performance, specify equipment, and evaluate design alternatives to meet customer requirements.

A key part of this role is understanding how a complete system will operate, including its expected performance, operating limits, potential failure modes, and associated safety requirements. You will be expected to identify engineering risks, develop appropriate safeguards, and ensure designs are supported by sound engineering analysis and relevant standards.

You will work closely with mechanical designers, project engineers, and technical staff to translate engineering concepts into practical machinery. While CAD and detailed mechanical design form part of the broader engineering process, your primary contribution will be the engineering judgement and system-level understanding that underpin safe and reliable designs.

This is not a purely desk-based role. You will participate in the testing, troubleshooting, and iterative improvement of equipment, using experimental results and operational experience to validate and refine engineering designs.

As a senior member of our engineering team, you will exercise independent technical judgement, participate in design reviews, and provide technical guidance to less experienced engineers.

Location & Travel: NextAero is based in Clayton South, Melbourne. The role combines office-based engineering design with hands-on activities in our workshop and regional Victorian testing facilities. Remote work is supported where practical. Occasional travel to testing facilities, suppliers, and client sites is required.

Commencement: Immediate start preferred due to current project delivery requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• System Design: Develop engineering designs for complex fluid machinery, pressure systems, and testing equipment, ensuring performance, safety, and reliability requirements are satisfied.
• Engineering Analysis: Perform calculations and analysis involving fluid flow, pressure losses, thermodynamics, heat transfer, mechanical behaviour, and system performance.
• Equipment Selection & Sizing: Specify and size pumps, valves, regulators, piping, pressure equipment, instrumentation, and associated mechanical components.
• Safety Engineering: Identify hazards, evaluate potential failure modes, establish safe operating limits, and incorporate appropriate engineering controls and safeguards into system designs.
• Design Development: Evaluate engineering concepts and alternatives through technical trade-off analysis, balancing performance, safety, reliability, cost, and manufacturability.
• Engineering Standards: Identify, interpret, and apply relevant engineering standards, codes, and regulatory requirements to machinery and pressure system designs.
• Systems Integration: Understand and manage the interactions between fluid, mechanical, thermal, instrumentation, and control subsystems.
• Verification & Validation: Develop engineering calculations, analytical models, simulations, and testing methods to demonstrate that systems meet their design requirements.
• Technical Problem Solving: Investigate discrepancies between predicted and measured system performance, identify root causes, and develop practical engineering solutions.
• Technical Documentation: Prepare engineering calculations, design reports, specifications, risk assessments, and supporting technical documentation.
• Technical Leadership: Review engineering work, guide junior engineers, and contribute to maintaining high standards of engineering practice.

Key Selection Criteria

Qualifications & Industry Experience

• Essential: Tertiary qualification in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• Essential: At least 3 years of relevant industry experience applying mechanical engineering principles to the design and development of commercial engineering systems.
• Essential: Demonstrated experience developing engineering solutions that consider system performance, reliability, and operational safety.
• Highly desirable: Postgraduate qualifications (Masters or PhD) in Fluid Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering, Thermofluids, or a closely related discipline.
• Highly desirable: Experience applying advanced analytical or experimental fluid mechanics principles to the development of commercial machinery.

Engineering & Technical Skills

• Essential: Strong understanding of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and mechanical engineering fundamentals.
• Essential: Demonstrated ability to analyse and design complex mechanical and fluid systems, including equipment selection, sizing, and performance assessment.
• Essential: Ability to identify engineering hazards, assess potential failure modes, and incorporate appropriate safety measures into equipment and system designs.
• Essential: Strong analytical problem-solving skills, including the ability to decompose complex, interacting engineering problems into manageable subsystems.
• Essential: Ability to support engineering decisions with calculations, evidence, and sound technical judgement.
• Highly desirable: Advanced understanding of compressible and incompressible flow, pressure losses, transient behaviour, and complex fluid system performance.
• Highly desirable: Demonstrated knowledge and practical application of engineering standards relevant to fluid machinery, pressure equipment, piping systems, and associated safety requirements.
• Highly desirable: Experience with high-pressure fluid systems, pumps, valves, regulators, pressure vessels, and instrumentation.
• Experience with engineering modelling, simulation, CFD, or scientific programming (Python preferred) is highly regarded.
• Experience with experimental testing, instrumentation, data acquisition, and machinery commissioning is desirable.
• Familiarity with CAD software, including SolidWorks, is beneficial but not essential.

Professional & Practical Skills

• Essential: Strong engineering judgement and a demonstrated commitment to safe, reliable, and technically defensible engineering design.
• Essential: High respect for engineering standards, risk management, professional integrity, and disciplined engineering processes.
• Essential: Ability to communicate complex engineering concepts clearly through calculations, technical reports, diagrams, and discussions.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a small, multidisciplinary engineering team.
• Demonstrated ability to recognise technical uncertainties, challenge assumptions, and systematically investigate engineering problems.
• Practical experience building, operating, testing, or troubleshooting mechanical and fluid equipment is highly desirable.
• Highly desirable: Availability for an immediate start or within a short timeframe.

Applicants are encouraged to provide a short portfolio of relevant engineering projects, particularly examples demonstrating system design, engineering calculations, equipment selection, safety considerations, and completed machinery.

Why Join NextAero

• Design complex engineering equipment used in aerospace, hydrogen, energy, and advanced manufacturing applications.
• Take responsibility for the performance and safety of sophisticated fluid machinery and testing systems.
• Work across the entire engineering lifecycle, from concept and system design through to commissioning and experimental testing.
• See your engineering designs become real, operating machinery.
• Take on meaningful technical responsibility within a small, high-performing engineering team.
• Develop specialist expertise in high-pressure fluids, cryogenic systems, and advanced testing equipment.
• Work directly with experienced engineers, suppliers, and clients on challenging commercial engineering projects.
• Contribute to the development of engineering processes, technical capability, and the continued growth of NextAero.

How to Apply

Please submit your CV and a brief cover letter outlining your relevant engineering experience.

We encourage applicants to include a short technical portfolio demonstrating completed engineering work, particularly examples involving fluid system design, engineering analysis, performance assessment, safety engineering, or operational machinery.

Please indicate your earliest available commencement date in your application.

Pay: $90,000.00 – $110,000.00 per year

Work Location: In person

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