Firms Offer Mechanical Engineers Challenges and Opportunities
Firms Offer Mechanical Engineers Challenges and Opportunities
The largest employers of mechanical engineers in the U.S. are professional services firms that leverage their expertise to meet tight project timelines and complex multi-disciplinary client mandates.
Professional services firms are a significant employers of mechanical engineers in the United States—a situation underscored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which counted more than 293,000 mechanical engineers in 2024, with roughly one in five working in professional services. And demand is poised to grow, but so are the expectations.
Firms are grappling with tighter project timelines, complex multi-disciplinary scopes, and client mandates for sustainability, cost transparency, and digital deliverables—pressures that elevate the value of mechanical engineers who can pair core design expertise with fluency in simulation, data, and collaboration tools.
For mid-career job seekers and early-career engineers, the opportunity is significant—and so is the upskilling curve. Continuous training in emerging software stacks, model-based workflows, and evolving codes and standards will be critical to staying billable and advancing quickly.
Margo Botti is the people and culture manager at PAE Engineers—an engineering services firm headquartered in Portland with locations throughout the United States.
“The talent pipeline for Mechanical Engineers remains tight," Botti said. “Fewer students are choosing mechanical engineering as Gen Z explores alternative education paths and adjacent tech fields, while many senior engineers are nearing retirement. This creates a shortage at the mid-career level, which is the talent band most firms are chasing right now.”
Botti added that mechanical engineers’ skills may transfer into aerospace, tech, and energy, where compensation or product-centric missions can be attractive. This poses some competitive challenges for professional services firms as they must compete hard for experienced talent.
“Beyond technical proficiency, firms need engineers who can communicate with clients, adapt to shifting project schedules, and collaborate across disciplines,” Botti added. “The people skills remain critical in the hiring landscape.”
Mark Bradby is the mechanical engineering lead at LEO A DALY, an engineering consulting firm based in Omaha. Bradby is responsible for the technical leadership and advancement of mechanical engineering across the firm.
“It’s a really tight job market right now and potential employees have a lot of options," Bradby said. “These challenges us to articulate why LEO A DALY is an attractive place to work. For mechanical engineers specifically, I highlight the interesting projects they’d be working on, the supportive company culture, and the collaborative nature of an integrated firm. Fortunately, I work at a firm whose leadership wants to attract the best candidates, so we’re all always working to create a place where people want to work.”
As for specific skill sets, Bradby said they have more clients asking for high performance design and energy efficient buildings nowadays, so any training or experience in those areas are a huge benefit to his firm.
“As far as specific programs and training, I see a lot of candidates coming straight out of school with no experience in Revit. This modeling program is standard across the built environment. We can teach it on the job, but students will have a leg up if they already know how to use it,” Bradby explained. A little more niche, but very useful, he added, is IES, a load calculation and energy modeling software. “Experience with IES would make a resume stand out to me right away,” Bradby said.
Margo Botti of PAE also explained that fluency in BIM/Revit is a critical skill, but what will make you stand out is proficiency in advanced simulation, data-driven design, and emerging AI workflows.
“Firms are investing in continuous digital upskilling as part of their talent strategy to stay competitive,” she said. “The Professional Engineer license remains the benchmark; it gives clients confidence an engineer can take responsibility for designs. For entry-level engineers, the F.E.-to-P.E. pathway is still highly valued.” In addition, she added that sustainability credentials such as LEED AP and WELL AP are increasingly expected for client-facing, high-performance building work.
For mechanical engineers, professional services firms are a lucrative opportunity that always seem to be in recruitment mode. To be attractive to such firms, mechanical engineering graduates should strengthen their credentials and certifications in common modeling software and technology that best suits the market niches that the professional service firms serve such as building interiors, sustainability, and engineering design.
“Technology is changing so fast and even the software we use and the way we use it is changing," Bradby noted. “The key to success in that changing environment is a drive to learn and not keep doing things the same way. This is especially true now that AI programs can take on some of our routine tasks. We need people who know how to ask the right questions, as that’s something AI can’t do for us.”
Jim Romeo is a technology writer in Chesapeake, Va.
Firms are grappling with tighter project timelines, complex multi-disciplinary scopes, and client mandates for sustainability, cost transparency, and digital deliverables—pressures that elevate the value of mechanical engineers who can pair core design expertise with fluency in simulation, data, and collaboration tools.
Mechanical engineers are in demand
For mid-career job seekers and early-career engineers, the opportunity is significant—and so is the upskilling curve. Continuous training in emerging software stacks, model-based workflows, and evolving codes and standards will be critical to staying billable and advancing quickly.Margo Botti is the people and culture manager at PAE Engineers—an engineering services firm headquartered in Portland with locations throughout the United States.
“The talent pipeline for Mechanical Engineers remains tight," Botti said. “Fewer students are choosing mechanical engineering as Gen Z explores alternative education paths and adjacent tech fields, while many senior engineers are nearing retirement. This creates a shortage at the mid-career level, which is the talent band most firms are chasing right now.”
Botti added that mechanical engineers’ skills may transfer into aerospace, tech, and energy, where compensation or product-centric missions can be attractive. This poses some competitive challenges for professional services firms as they must compete hard for experienced talent.
“Beyond technical proficiency, firms need engineers who can communicate with clients, adapt to shifting project schedules, and collaborate across disciplines,” Botti added. “The people skills remain critical in the hiring landscape.”
Mark Bradby is the mechanical engineering lead at LEO A DALY, an engineering consulting firm based in Omaha. Bradby is responsible for the technical leadership and advancement of mechanical engineering across the firm.
“It’s a really tight job market right now and potential employees have a lot of options," Bradby said. “These challenges us to articulate why LEO A DALY is an attractive place to work. For mechanical engineers specifically, I highlight the interesting projects they’d be working on, the supportive company culture, and the collaborative nature of an integrated firm. Fortunately, I work at a firm whose leadership wants to attract the best candidates, so we’re all always working to create a place where people want to work.”
Emerging skill sets for mechanical engineers
As for specific skill sets, Bradby said they have more clients asking for high performance design and energy efficient buildings nowadays, so any training or experience in those areas are a huge benefit to his firm.
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Margo Botti of PAE also explained that fluency in BIM/Revit is a critical skill, but what will make you stand out is proficiency in advanced simulation, data-driven design, and emerging AI workflows.
“Firms are investing in continuous digital upskilling as part of their talent strategy to stay competitive,” she said. “The Professional Engineer license remains the benchmark; it gives clients confidence an engineer can take responsibility for designs. For entry-level engineers, the F.E.-to-P.E. pathway is still highly valued.” In addition, she added that sustainability credentials such as LEED AP and WELL AP are increasingly expected for client-facing, high-performance building work.
The road ahead
For mechanical engineers, professional services firms are a lucrative opportunity that always seem to be in recruitment mode. To be attractive to such firms, mechanical engineering graduates should strengthen their credentials and certifications in common modeling software and technology that best suits the market niches that the professional service firms serve such as building interiors, sustainability, and engineering design.
“Technology is changing so fast and even the software we use and the way we use it is changing," Bradby noted. “The key to success in that changing environment is a drive to learn and not keep doing things the same way. This is especially true now that AI programs can take on some of our routine tasks. We need people who know how to ask the right questions, as that’s something AI can’t do for us.”
Jim Romeo is a technology writer in Chesapeake, Va.
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