Chief Engineer - Generator/Mechanical Engineering

Chief Engineer - Generator/Mechanical Engineering

ANDRITZ

Linz, Austria

The Chief Engineer - Generator/Mechanical Engineering role is responsible for defining and governing global engineering standards, ensuring technical excellence, design integrity, safety, and competitiveness across the complete lifecycle—from tendering and design to manufacturing, installation, commissioning, and long-term operation. As a senior technical leader, this position plays a critical role in shaping technology and innovation roadmaps, supporting complex and high-impact projects, and driving continuous improvement in mechanical engineering practices across the global organization.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Act as the highest global technical authority for mechanical engineering in hydropower technologies, covering turbines, generators, hydromechanical equipment, valves, and mechanical balance of plant.
• Provide strategic technical leadership in complex, high‑risk, or business‑critical projects, including participation in Technology Boards and executive decision forums.
• Shape and contribute to the long‑term technology and R&D roadmap aligned with market demands, sustainability, digitalization, efficiency, and cost competitiveness.
• Drive innovation in high‑value areas such as flexible operation, lifetime extension, refurbishment solutions, advanced materials, cavitation mitigation, digital twins, monitoring, and predictive maintenance.
• Represent ANDRITZ as senior technical authority towards customers, partners, certification bodies, and external innovation ecosystems.
• Govern and approve engineering concepts, critical design decisions, deviations, and concessions, ensuring technical integrity and risk mitigation.
• Define, implement, and continuously improve global mechanical engineering standards, guidelines, tools, and best practices.
• Ensure compliance with international standards and codes (e.g. IEC, ISO, ASME, IEEE) as well as customer specifications.
• Provide high‑level technical support during tendering and contract negotiations, including guarantees, risk assessment, and technical clarifications.
• Support critical project phases through escalation (design reviews, FAT, site issues, commissioning) and lead task forces in challenging situations.
• Drive engineering quality, design robustness, operational safety, and lead root cause analyses for major technical issues and field incidents.
• Provide global functional leadership to mechanical engineering teams (direct and matrix), fostering technical excellence and collaboration.
• Develop, coach, and mentor senior engineers, technical experts, and future chief engineers worldwide.
• Safeguard institutional knowledge, lessons learned, and technical documentation across the organization.
• Promote cross‑functional collaboration with Manufacturing, Procurement, Project Execution, Quality, Service, Sales, and Operations.
• Support standardization, modularization, and scalability initiatives to enhance productivity, efficiency, and organizational maturity.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Recognized expert in at least one hydropower core technology (turbines, valves, generators, hydromechanical equipment, mechanical balance‑of‑plant systems), with broad understanding across all.
• Strong understanding of hydropower plant interfaces (generators, civil works, balance of plant).
• Experience with:
  • Complex international projects.
  • Contractual and technical risk management.
  • Customer and consultant negotiations.
• Ability to combine hands‑on engineering depth with strategic and systems thinking.
• Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder‑management skills.
• Fluent in English; additional languages are an asset.

SCHOOL EDUCATION

• Minimum: Master’s degree or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Hydropower Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Desirable: Deep technical expertise in turbine hydraulic design, mechanical design, performance guarantees, and lifecycle behavior.

EXPERIENCE

• 15+ years of professional experience in hydropower turbine engineering.
• Target industries and companies: HYDROPOWER, energy sector or engineering companies.