Sr. / Principal Hose Design Engineer

Sr. / Principal Hose Design Engineer

Location: 203A Log Canoe Circle, Stevensville, MD 21666-2128

Work Hours: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday

Salary: $116,000 - $156,000/yr.

Hydrasearch is looking for a Senior Principal Hose Design Engineer to join our team in Stevensville, MD. In this role you will be a senior technical contributor responsible for developing advanced hose and fluid conveyance solutions for aerospace and defense programs. This role will focus on solving complex technical problems and accelerating product development efforts.

This is a hands-on engineering role focused on design, testing, qualification strategy, and technical problem solving. The Senior Principal Hose Design Engineer will work within a small, highly capable technical team executing rapid development cycles including design, prototype, validation, and transition to production. While the role emphasizes speed and innovation, the engineer must maintain the technical rigor and configuration discipline required in regulated aerospace and defense environments.

About Us: Hydrasearch is a U.S. manufacturer specializing in fluid-transfer and control systems for maritime, aerospace, and defense applications. Since its founding in 1962, Hydrasearch has developed capabilities in hose assemblies, valve fittings, and customer machined parts, often to meet MIL-SPEC and naval standards.

At Hydrasearch, we value the contributions of our Military Veterans and proudly employ our nation's heroes. Veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.

What Youll Do:

• Innovation & Design: Serve as the senior technical lead for hose innovation initiatives, designing custom assemblies for aerospace and defense.
• Rapid Development: Execute rapid design-build-test-iterate cycles to translate performance specifications into manufacturable solutions.
• Standards & Compliance: Establish design assumptions and qualification margins that meet MIL, NAVSEA, and AS9100 requirements.
• Technical Analysis: Perform engineering analysis related to burst, fatigue, impulse, vibration, and environmental factors.
• Internal Capability: Support the development of proprietary Hydrasearch hose constructions and internal testing capabilities to reduce dependency on external design authorities.
• Production Transition: Coordinate with Engineering, Quality, and Operations to ensure mature designs transition effectively into production.

What Were Looking For:

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related technical field.
• Experience: 8+ years of relevant hose or fluid conveyance design experience.
• Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of hydraulic, pneumatic, fuel, or seawater hose systems, including fatigue and impulse life performance.
• Material Science: Proficiency with elastomers, PTFE, metallic reinforcement technologies, and fitting/end connection design.
• Full Lifecycle Ownership: Demonstrated experience owning the full product lifecycle from initial concept through qualification and production release.
• Testing: Direct involvement in hose testing programs (burst, impulse, or fatigue).
• Mindset: A "builder" mentality with a bias toward execution and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with limited structure.
• Travel: Travel may be required, both domestically and internationally.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced Education: Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering.
• Certification: Professional Engineer (PE) license or active involvement in industry bodies like SAE or ASME.
• Specialized Standards: Deep familiarity with NAVSEA Tech Pubs or specific SAE aerospace standards.
• Advanced Development: Experience specifically working in advanced development environments or with proprietary hose construction development.
• Leadership: Experience mentoring internal engineers and leading technical discussions with customers.

What We Offer:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family
• Competitive salary
• Bonus programs
• 401K retirement plan
• Training opportunities
• Tuition reimbursement
• Paid vacation, PTO, and holidays
• Gym reimbursements, and more!

Join us and be a part of a team that values your contributions and supports your goals!

The Dixon Group is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices and laws. Accordingly, to the fullest extent required by applicable law, The Dixon Group strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants, or any other covered persons.

The Dixon Group is committed to protecting the privacy rights of its employees and job applicants to the fullest extent required by applicable law. To that end, personal information will be collected solely for those legitimate business purposes recognized by law, and then maintained in a manner consistent with all applicable laws and regulations pertaining to document retention requirements. The Dixon Group does not sell personal information to third parties, and does not share such personal information with third parties except when authorized by law to do so (e.g., in response to a lawful subpoena; mandatory tax reporting; etc.)

Please contact us at (410) 778-2000 or hr@dixonvalve.com if you need help to participate fully in the application process.