Senior Blade Structure Engineer
Summary
| Title: | Senior Blade Structure Engineer |
|---|---|
| ID: | 1050 |
| Location: | Boulder, CO |
| Salary Range: | $115,000.00 - $150,000.00 |
Description
Senior Blade Structure Engineer | Global Blade Innovation Center
About the Global Blade Innovation Center
Envision Energy’s Global Blade Innovation Center (GBIC) was established in 2015 to build a world-class,
in-house blade design capability. Engineers from industry-leading OEMs, national
laboratories, and top graduate programs have collaborated to create a state-of-the-art design
capability from the ground up. Envision’s in-house blade designs and technologies have disrupted
global markets and delivered significant reductions in Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) alongside
measurable expansion of Envision’s market share.
The Role
As a Senior Blade Structure Engineer, you will operate across the full span of composite blade
engineering: from hands-on field failure investigation through to the development of next-generation
design technologies and product-level solutions. You will own the most technically complex
challenges the business unit faces, with a mandate not only to diagnose and close field problems,
but to translate that physical understanding into better designs, improved materials application, and
new engineering capabilities that advance the product. You will serve as a key technical voice on
the team’s hardest problems and bring the cross-functional influence to drive solutions across
design, production, and operations.
To be successful in this role you will be expected to bring the judgment to frame the right problem,
the physical intuition built through hands-on field investigation, and the cross-functional influence
required to turn technical insight into business action.
Key Responsibilities:
Composite Structural Design & Technology Development
• Lead development of composite design technologies and methodologies that advance blade
structural performance, durability, and manufacturability, from concept through validation
and production integration.
• Develop and apply multi-fidelity engineering tools and models to evaluate, optimize, and
improve blade structural designs at both component and product level.
• Characterize and apply composite material behavior, including damage progression, fatigue
response, and failure mechanisms, to drive design improvements informed by physical
evidence.
• Identify product-level structural challenges and lead engineering solutions that address root
causes, not just symptoms, spanning laminate design, joint architecture, sandwich
construction, and manufacturing methods.
• Collaborate with aerodynamics, loads, controls, and manufacturing disciplines to ensure
structural designs are integrated, producible, and field proven.
Field Investigation & Root Cause Analysis
• Lead hands-on assessment of damaged and failed composite wind turbine blades in factory
and field environments. This is a core, non-delegable part of the role.
• Own root cause analysis for the business unit’s most challenging structural failure modes,
with current priority on root joint structural fatigue; sandwich composite damage
mechanisms including core cracking and laminate-core interface delamination; and
manufacturing defect characterization and prediction.
• Define and implement corrective and preventive solutions that close the loop between field
findings and upstream design, including repair methodologies, design changes, material
substitutions, and process improvements.
• Work with blade material and testing teams to validate engineering models and design
assumptions against physical evidence from field and factory.
• Communicate findings and recommendations with clarity to engineering, production, and
operations stakeholders.
AI-Augmented Engineering
• Apply AI and data-driven tools to accelerate structural assessment, defect pattern
recognition, and failure analysis of workflows.
• Leverage available AI tools to improve the efficiency and consistency of RCA
documentation, reporting, and corrective action tracking.
• Maintain engineering rigor in evaluating AI-assisted outputs. Physical understanding of
composite behavior governs not model output alone.
Qualifications Required:
• MS or PhD in Aerospace, Mechanical, Civil Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• 5+ years of professional engineering experience in wind energy, aerospace, or a closely
related structural composites industry.
• Deep knowledge of composite design, damage mechanics, and manufacturing methods,
including sandwich composite structures, adhesive joints, and bolted connections.
• Expertise in FEA/FEM modeling and analysis experience (ANSYS, ABAQUS, or similar) in
shells and solids covering composites to tooling interfaces and damage modeling.
• Demonstrated track record of leading root cause analysis for complex composite structural
failures and driving corrective and preventive solutions through implementation.
• Proven ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries (production, operations,
and engineering) without direct authority.
Strongly Valued
• Hands-on experience leading or strongly supporting blade manufacturing, prototyping, or
serial production on a specific project.
• Background in novel concept development: ideation, engineering, prototyping, testing, and
production integration.
• Experience developing or applying data-driven / AI tools in a structural engineering context
(e.g., defect classification, anomaly detection, fatigue life prediction).
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, or similar scripting, data processing, automation of
analyses.
• Background in novel composite repair methodology development, including validation
testing and production integration.
What We’re Looking For
The ideal candidate moves fluidly between the field and the design office and sees them as the
same problem viewed from different angles. You build physical intuition from hands-on failure
investigation, and you apply that intuition to develop design technologies and product solutions that
make the next blade better than the last. You are intellectually restless about failure: you want to
understand why something failed and use that understanding to advance the product, not just
document the incident. You have the persistence and cross-functional credibility to drive solutions
from first principles all the way through to implementing design and field-validated results.
Strong interpersonal, collaboration, and communication skills are essential. Envision’s culture is
entrepreneurial and fast-moving; a minds-on/hands-on approach is expected. Desire and ability to
work effectively across cultural boundaries and international time zones is critical.
Work Arrangement & Travel
• Work arrangement: Hybrid
• Travel: Up to 15% international travel, including field site visits and collaboration with global
GBIC teams.
About the Global Blade Innovation Center
Envision Energy’s Global Blade Innovation Center (GBIC) was established in 2015 to build a world-class,
in-house blade design capability. Engineers from industry-leading OEMs, national
laboratories, and top graduate programs have collaborated to create a state-of-the-art design
capability from the ground up. Envision’s in-house blade designs and technologies have disrupted
global markets and delivered significant reductions in Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) alongside
measurable expansion of Envision’s market share.
The Role
As a Senior Blade Structure Engineer, you will operate across the full span of composite blade
engineering: from hands-on field failure investigation through to the development of next-generation
design technologies and product-level solutions. You will own the most technically complex
challenges the business unit faces, with a mandate not only to diagnose and close field problems,
but to translate that physical understanding into better designs, improved materials application, and
new engineering capabilities that advance the product. You will serve as a key technical voice on
the team’s hardest problems and bring the cross-functional influence to drive solutions across
design, production, and operations.
To be successful in this role you will be expected to bring the judgment to frame the right problem,
the physical intuition built through hands-on field investigation, and the cross-functional influence
required to turn technical insight into business action.
Key Responsibilities:
Composite Structural Design & Technology Development
• Lead development of composite design technologies and methodologies that advance blade
structural performance, durability, and manufacturability, from concept through validation
and production integration.
• Develop and apply multi-fidelity engineering tools and models to evaluate, optimize, and
improve blade structural designs at both component and product level.
• Characterize and apply composite material behavior, including damage progression, fatigue
response, and failure mechanisms, to drive design improvements informed by physical
evidence.
• Identify product-level structural challenges and lead engineering solutions that address root
causes, not just symptoms, spanning laminate design, joint architecture, sandwich
construction, and manufacturing methods.
• Collaborate with aerodynamics, loads, controls, and manufacturing disciplines to ensure
structural designs are integrated, producible, and field proven.
Field Investigation & Root Cause Analysis
• Lead hands-on assessment of damaged and failed composite wind turbine blades in factory
and field environments. This is a core, non-delegable part of the role.
• Own root cause analysis for the business unit’s most challenging structural failure modes,
with current priority on root joint structural fatigue; sandwich composite damage
mechanisms including core cracking and laminate-core interface delamination; and
manufacturing defect characterization and prediction.
• Define and implement corrective and preventive solutions that close the loop between field
findings and upstream design, including repair methodologies, design changes, material
substitutions, and process improvements.
• Work with blade material and testing teams to validate engineering models and design
assumptions against physical evidence from field and factory.
• Communicate findings and recommendations with clarity to engineering, production, and
operations stakeholders.
AI-Augmented Engineering
• Apply AI and data-driven tools to accelerate structural assessment, defect pattern
recognition, and failure analysis of workflows.
• Leverage available AI tools to improve the efficiency and consistency of RCA
documentation, reporting, and corrective action tracking.
• Maintain engineering rigor in evaluating AI-assisted outputs. Physical understanding of
composite behavior governs not model output alone.
Qualifications Required:
• MS or PhD in Aerospace, Mechanical, Civil Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• 5+ years of professional engineering experience in wind energy, aerospace, or a closely
related structural composites industry.
• Deep knowledge of composite design, damage mechanics, and manufacturing methods,
including sandwich composite structures, adhesive joints, and bolted connections.
• Expertise in FEA/FEM modeling and analysis experience (ANSYS, ABAQUS, or similar) in
shells and solids covering composites to tooling interfaces and damage modeling.
• Demonstrated track record of leading root cause analysis for complex composite structural
failures and driving corrective and preventive solutions through implementation.
• Proven ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries (production, operations,
and engineering) without direct authority.
Strongly Valued
• Hands-on experience leading or strongly supporting blade manufacturing, prototyping, or
serial production on a specific project.
• Background in novel concept development: ideation, engineering, prototyping, testing, and
production integration.
• Experience developing or applying data-driven / AI tools in a structural engineering context
(e.g., defect classification, anomaly detection, fatigue life prediction).
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, or similar scripting, data processing, automation of
analyses.
• Background in novel composite repair methodology development, including validation
testing and production integration.
What We’re Looking For
The ideal candidate moves fluidly between the field and the design office and sees them as the
same problem viewed from different angles. You build physical intuition from hands-on failure
investigation, and you apply that intuition to develop design technologies and product solutions that
make the next blade better than the last. You are intellectually restless about failure: you want to
understand why something failed and use that understanding to advance the product, not just
document the incident. You have the persistence and cross-functional credibility to drive solutions
from first principles all the way through to implementing design and field-validated results.
Strong interpersonal, collaboration, and communication skills are essential. Envision’s culture is
entrepreneurial and fast-moving; a minds-on/hands-on approach is expected. Desire and ability to
work effectively across cultural boundaries and international time zones is critical.
Work Arrangement & Travel
• Work arrangement: Hybrid
• Travel: Up to 15% international travel, including field site visits and collaboration with global
GBIC teams.
