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Structural Engineer

Modular Building & Enclosure Manufacturing

Location: Itasca, IL (Onsite)

Compensation: $130k to $150k base, tiered by licensure (top of range reserved for a fully licensed Illinois Structural Engineer)

Reports to: Engineering Manager

Team: Individual contributor role, newly created to support company growth

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Civil, Structural, or Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
• 3 to 7+ years of experience completing structural calculations on steel structures or similar, using software such as RISA, SAP2000, or equivalent
• Proficiency in finite element analysis and structural engineering software, along with working knowledge of AutoCAD, SolidWorks, or equivalent 3D modeling tools
• Ability to analyze structures for gravity, wind, seismic, snow, transportation, and lifting loads to ensure safety, performance, and code compliance
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to coordinate structural requirements across architectural, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, and project management teams
• A track record of managing competing priorities and critical timelines in a production-driven environment

Nice to Have

• Professional Engineer (PE) license, or ideally an Illinois-licensed Structural Engineer (S.E.)
• Experience with modular, prefabricated, or transportable structures, including transportation constraints, crane lifting points, rigging loads, and site setting conditions
• Experience preparing engineering packages and calculations for customer approvals, permitting, or fabrication
• Familiarity with project management software such as Microsoft Project, Procore, or equivalent

The Opportunity

Our client is a well-established, family-run heavy industrial manufacturer with a multi-decade track record designing and building custom structures, including modular buildings and skid-based projects. This is a newly created role, built specifically to support the growth of the company's enclosures division as demand for modular and code-certified structures continues to expand.

Today, all officially stamped structural work is outsourced to third-party PE firms, while informal calculations are handled internally through SolidWorks FEA analysis and hand calculations. This role exists to change that. Leadership wants to bring sound structural engineering in-house, both to support day-to-day design work and, over time, to reduce reliance on outside firms.

What You'll Do

• Conduct structural analysis: Perform gravity, wind, seismic, snow, transportation, and lifting load analysis on modular buildings and skid-based structures to ensure safety, performance, and code compliance.
• Develop structural designs and calculations: Build out structural designs, calculations, and construction details for floors, walls, roofs, frames, and connection systems.
• Prepare engineering packages: Create and review structural drawings, calculations, and supporting documentation for customer approvals, permitting, fabrication, and field installation.
• Coordinate across teams: Work with architectural, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, and project management functions to deliver complete, buildable designs.
• Account for transportation and installation realities: Ensure designs reflect transportation constraints, crane lifting points, rigging loads, and site setting conditions specific to modular construction.
• Support standardization: Help establish standard calculations for projects that do not require a PE stamp, and publish them for both internal use and customer-facing design validation.
• Bridge the licensure gap: If licensed in the state a given project is shipping to, stamp that project directly. If not yet licensed in that state, complete the initial analysis and structural optimization to bring more of this work in-house over time.

Why This Role Is Different

This is a rare opportunity to build something rather than maintain it. The company is intentionally not filtering candidates by licensure status; whether someone is an experienced, unlicensed structural engineer or a fully licensed Illinois S.E., there is a real seat here, with compensation and scope shaped around where that person is in their career. For a licensed candidate, this is a chance to bring stamped work in-house that is currently sent to outside firms. For an unlicensed candidate with strong steel calculation experience, this is a chance to own structural analysis for a growing product line and to build toward licensure with a company that will benefit directly from that progression.

The role sits at the center of a genuine growth story. As the company's modular and code-certified building business expands, this hire will directly shape how structural engineering gets done, from establishing standard calculations to defining what stays in-house versus outsourced going forward.

The Culture

This is a company where people build careers, not just resumes. Retention is strong, and tenure runs long, reflecting a leadership team that genuinely invests in its people. Joining now means joining at a formative moment, helping build out a function from the ground up rather than stepping into a fully defined process. The ideal candidate will bring technical rigor and a builder's mindset, someone who is comfortable establishing standards where none exist yet while collaborating closely with a manufacturing team that has deep institutional knowledge of how these products come together.