---
title: 'Principal Mechanical Engineer at Blue Energy'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-mechanical-engineer-blue-energy-chevy-chase-k1za1ehtg4dd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-16'
---

# Principal Mechanical Engineer at Blue Energy

- **Company:** Blue Energy
- **Location:** Chevy Chase, MD
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-10-02
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/blue-energy/7eb7cd3f-95f2-4ef8-9919-74f714d7da7c

## Job description

Company Overview Blue Energy is transforming how nuclear power gets built. Instead of constructing each plant on-site from scratch - a process that takes 10-15 years and is too expensive and unpredictable to finance - we build our plants like ships: in a factory, on an assembly line, then transport and assemble them at the site. This cuts costs by over 60% and brings plants online in just three years. We also pair natural gas with nuclear at our sites, so customers can start receiving power from gas turbines right away and then switch over to clean nuclear power once it comes online - getting energy to the grid faster while nuclear is being built. Our mission is to make nuclear energy abundant, affordable, and repeatable at global scale. We use proven, already-approved reactor designs and work with existing nuclear and industrial sites, giving us a faster path to regulatory approval. By manufacturing this way, we put nuclear power on the same cost-reduction curve that has made wind, solar, and batteries cheaper every year.

Position Summary The Principal Mechanical Engineer serves as the senior technical authority within Blue Energy's Owner's Engineering organization, leading the design, integration, and delivery of Blue Energy's gas-to-nuclear bridge. This role provides technical leadership across the full project lifecycle, from FEED through detailed engineering, construction, commissioning, and startup. As the technical owner of the gas generation bridge, the Principal Mechanical Engineer drives critical engineering decisions, and ensures alignment across process, mechanical, electrical, controls, civil, and construction disciplines. The position is accountable for resolving complex technical challenges, managing design risk, and ensuring the plant is safe, reliable, operable, maintainable, and fully compliant with applicable codes, standards, and regulatory requirements. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring both deep technical expertise and the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels. The Principal Mechanical Engineer serves as the primary engineering representative, translating technical decisions into clear business impacts on schedule, cost, performance, and project risk.

## Key Responsibilities

- Develop and maintain the technical basis for utility-scale gas generation projects as part of an owner’s engineering team, including plant configuration, major equipment selection, and performance requirements.
- Lead FEED and detailed design reviews, providing technical direction and approving key engineering deliverables from EPCs, OEMs, and engineering consultants.
- Perform and review plant performance studies to evaluate design options, operating scenarios, and commercial impacts.
- Drive resolution of complex technical issues, design conflicts, and field challenges throughout project execution.
- Support development of project scopes, engineering cost estimates, schedules, and technical execution plans.
- Lead technical evaluations for major equipment procurements, including bid reviews, vendor selection, design reviews, and factory acceptance testing.
- Coordinate technical interfaces across mechanical, process, electrical, controls, civil, and construction teams to ensure an integrated plant design.
- Support construction, commissioning, startup, and performance testing activities, including field troubleshooting and design clarifications.
- Ensure compliance with applicable codes, standards, regulations, and company engineering requirements.
- Develop and maintain engineering standards, specifications, and design practices that support current projects and future deployments.
- Mentor junior and mid-level engineers and provide technical guidance to project teams across the organization.

## Minimum Qualifications

- 12+ years of engineering and project delivery experience in simple-cycle or combined-cycle natural gas power generation.
- Demonstrated experience leading projects through the full lifecycle, including concept development, feasibility studies, FEED, detailed design, construction, commissioning, startup, and operational handover.
- Strong technical foundation in power generation systems, including combustion turbines, heat recovery systems, balance-of-plant equipment, utility systems, and plant integration.
- Working knowledge of thermodynamics, heat transfer, hydraulics, rotating equipment, piping systems, instrumentation and controls, and plant performance analysis.
- Experience developing, reviewing, and validating plant performance models using industry-standard software such as THERMOFLEX, GateCycle, GT PRO, or equivalent tools.
- Ability to review, comment on, and approve engineering deliverables, drawings, specifications, calculations, and contractor design packages using tools such as Bluebeam and other engineering document management systems.
- Working knowledge of applicable codes, standards, and industry practices governing utility-scale power generation facilities.
- Demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and managing EPC contractors, OEMs, and external engineering consultants.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.

## Preferred Skills/Qualifications

- Professional Engineer (PE) license.
- Experience with first-of-a-kind or emerging technology deployment — nuclear balance-of-plant, small modular reactors, carbon capture, hydrogen, advanced power cycles, or similar.
- Experience managing technical interfaces between EPC contractors, OEMs, regulators, utilities, and project stakeholders.
- Experience supporting field teams during construction and start-up phases.
- Familiarity with project risk management, design risk assessment, resource planning, and scenario-based decision-making.
- Willingness to travel to project sites, including remote and international locations as required.

We look forward to your application and helping foster an era of safe, clean, affordable, and abundant energy. Blue Energy is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every requirement, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might be the right candidate for this or other roles at Blue Energy now or in the future.

## About Blue Energy

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Blue Energy designs and manufactures modular nuclear power plants using mature light water reactor technology, aiming to deliver scalable, reliable, and affordable clean energy.
- **Entity Type**: Private (startup stage; funding rounds not disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: United States (specific city not publicly disclosed)
- **Founded**: Not publicly available
- **Founders**: Jake Jurewicz (CEO & Co-founder)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Nuclear energy (small modular reactors / advanced nuclear)
- **Target customers**: Utilities, data center operators, industrial off-takers (B2B, large-scale)
- **Mission statement**: “Delivering abundant, reliable, and affordable energy to accelerate a safe and lasting era of progress.”

## Products & Services
- **Blue Energy Modular Nuclear Plant**: A small modular reactor (SMR) design using light water reactors with passive safety features. The plant is prefabricated at shipyards or fab yards, allowing fixed-price contracting and a claimed 3-year timeline to energize the turbine hall with gas (nuclear island follows later). The complete plant is designed for project finance. Blue Energy finances, builds, owns, and operates the plants, selling power through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not publicly available; targeting $5,000/kW capital cost and a 3-year build time for initial power generation.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly listed. The NRC (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission) is engaged in pre‑application activities (Docket 99902137).
- **Growth Signals**: Active regulatory engagement with the NRC (pre‑application since March 2025); growing team with open roles in engineering, project development, and licensing.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Modular manufacturing**: Plants are built in existing fab yards and shipyards, reducing on-site construction risk and cost.
- **Fixed-price contracting**: De-risks construction for customers by guaranteeing cost and schedule.
- **Simplified safety**: Reactor building submerged in a water pool provides passive cooling and reduces need for nuclear‑grade components.
- **Hybrid energization timeline**: Turbine hall can be powered by natural gas in ~3 years while the nuclear island is licensed and installed, giving off-takers early power and revenue certainty.
- **Turn-key model**: No upfront capital from customers; Blue Energy owns and operates the plant.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling new nuclear megawatts as fast as possible by working with regulators (NRC) and securing offtake agreements for firm, dispatchable baseload power.
- Targeting accelerating load growth from data centers and heavy industry.
- Building a multi‑disciplinary team of nuclear experts, engineers, and energy operators.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “pragmatic and results‑oriented” with a singular focus on deploying nuclear power this decade. Team includes former NRC leaders, energy executives, and engineers from MIT and Exelon.
- **Work environment**: Not explicitly stated as remote/hybrid; roles appear location‑dependent (likely office/hybrid in the US).
- **Opportunity**: Chance to work on one of the few advanced nuclear designs currently engaged with the NRC, with a clear path to construction.
- **Open roles** (as of mid‑2025): Director of Project Development, Lead Electrical & I&C Engineer, Senior Licensing Engineer, Lead Nuclear and Fuels Engineer, and others.

## Sources
1. [blueenergy.co](https://www.blueenergy.co/)
2. [blueenergy.co/about](https://blueenergy.co/about/)
3. [blueenergy.co/careers](https://blueenergy.co/careers/)
4. [blueenergy.co/team](https://blueenergy.co/team/)
5. [nrc.gov – Blue Energy pre-application](https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/advanced/who-were-working-with/pre-application-activities/blue-energy)

## Other roles at Blue Energy

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