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Principal Mechanical Engineer Jobs in Raleigh, NC

In this role, you'll be the technical glue across mechanical design, controls, automation, process ... Clear runway into senior systems, principal engineer, or technical leadership roles * Work that ...

Senior Systems Engineer

Raleigh, NC · On-site

$145K - $175K/yr

In this role, you'll be the technical glue across mechanical design, controls, automation, process ... Clear runway into senior systems, principal engineer, or technical leadership roles * Work that ...

Senior Principal Engineer

Raleigh, NC · On-site

$110K - $152K/yr

S. degree in Environmental, Civil, Mechanical or Chemical Engineering or commensurate hands-on experience that provides the candidate with the knowledge to complete the specific duties. Position ...

Principal Responsibilities Project planning, requirements development, test planning and execution ... Mechanical/Biomedical (mechanical) Engineering preferred Minimum of eight (8) years relevant ...

This is a highly visible role at the intersection of product, engineering, sales, marketing ... Establish launch priorities, adoption milestones, success metrics, and mechanisms for tracking ...

Principal Responsibilities • Project planning, requirements development, test planning and ... Mechanical/Biomedical (mechanical) Engineering preferred • Minimum of eight (8) years relevant ...

Showing results 21-40

Principal Mechanical Engineer information

See Raleigh, NC salary details

$83.6K

$141K

$165.7K

How much do principal mechanical engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 2, 2026, the average yearly pay for principal mechanical engineer in Raleigh, NC is $141,025.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $132,200.00 and $151,600.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a principal mechanical engineer?

A Principal Mechanical Engineer is a senior-level engineering professional responsible for leading mechanical design projects, overseeing teams, and ensuring technical excellence in product development. They often play a strategic role in planning, innovation, and providing expert guidance to solve complex engineering challenges. Principal Mechanical Engineers typically have significant experience, advanced technical knowledge, and are involved in mentoring junior engineers, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and ensuring projects meet safety, quality, and regulatory standards.

What types of projects and responsibilities can a principal mechanical engineer expect to handle on a typical team?

As a Principal Mechanical Engineer, you will often lead multidisciplinary teams on complex projects, overseeing the design, development, and testing of mechanical systems or products. Your responsibilities commonly include setting technical direction, mentoring junior engineers, ensuring quality standards, and collaborating closely with project managers and other engineering disciplines. You may also be involved in client consultations, risk assessments, and making high-level decisions to drive innovation and efficiency. The role often requires balancing hands-on technical work with strategic planning and leadership duties.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a principal mechanical engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Principal Mechanical Engineer, you need deep expertise in mechanical design, analysis, and project management, typically supported by a bachelor's or master's degree in mechanical engineering and significant industry experience. Familiarity with CAD software (such as SolidWorks or AutoCAD), FEA tools, and knowledge of relevant industry standards or certifications (like PE licensure) are essential. Leadership, effective communication, and problem-solving are crucial soft skills for guiding teams and collaborating with stakeholders. These skills ensure the successful delivery of complex engineering projects, innovation, and alignment with organizational goals.

What is the difference between Principal Mechanical Engineer vs Mechanical Engineer?

AspectPrincipal Mechanical EngineerMechanical Engineer
Required CredentialsBachelor's or Master's in Mechanical Engineering, Professional Engineer (PE) license often preferredBachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field
Work EnvironmentDesign, development, and oversight of complex mechanical systems, often in leadership rolesDesign, analysis, and testing of mechanical components and systems
Industry UsageUsed across manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, and energy sectorsCommon in similar industries, often as entry to mid-level roles

The Principal Mechanical Engineer typically holds advanced credentials and leads complex projects, focusing on strategic oversight. Mechanical Engineers are more involved in hands-on design and analysis tasks. Both roles are vital in engineering teams, but the Principal Mechanical Engineer usually has more experience and responsibility.

How much does a principal mechanical engineer earn?

A principal mechanical engineer typically earns between $100,000 and $150,000 annually, depending on experience, location, and industry. Senior roles often require advanced skills in CAD software, project management, and engineering design.

What does a principal mechanical engineer do?

A principal mechanical engineer leads the design, development, and testing of mechanical systems and components, often overseeing projects and providing technical guidance. They typically have advanced knowledge of engineering principles, CAD tools, and industry standards, and may coordinate teams to ensure project goals are met efficiently.

What job categories do people searching Principal Mechanical Engineer jobs in Raleigh, NC look for?

The top searched job categories for Principal Mechanical Engineer jobs in Raleigh, NC are:

What cities near Raleigh, NC are hiring for Principal Mechanical Engineer jobs?

Cities near Raleigh, NC with the most Principal Mechanical Engineer job openings:

Infographic showing various Principal Mechanical Engineer job openings in Raleigh, NC as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 88% Full Time, 9% Part Time, 1% Contract, and 2% Nights. Highlights an 96% Physical, 1% Hybrid, and 3% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $141,025 per year, or $67.8 per hour.

Principal Machine Learning Engineer I

LexisNexis

Raleigh, NC • On-site

$136K - $252K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted 22 days ago


LexisNexis rating

7.6

Company rating: 7.6 out of 10

Based on 17 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

194th of 500 rated business services


Job description

hackajob is collaborating with LexisNexis to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.

About our Team

LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,800 employees worldwide, is part of RELX (www.relx.com), a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. Our company has been a long-time leader in deploying AI and advanced technologies to the legal market to improve productivity and transform the overall business and practice of law, deploying ethical and powerful generative AI solutions with a flexible, multi-model approach that prioritizes using the best model from today’s top model creators for each individual legal use case. The company employs over 2,000 technologists, data scientists, and experts to develop, test, and validate solutions in line with RELX Responsible AI Principles (https://stories.relx.com/responsible-ai-principles/index.html).

About the Role

Do you love collaborating with teams to solve complex technical problems?

We are seeking a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to design, build, and operate scalable AI/ML systems and agentic architectures that support next-generation legal research and analytics products. This role combines deep ML expertise with distributed systems engineering and AI platform development.

You will play a key role in developing enterprise-grade AI systems, including large language model (LLM) infrastructure, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, and autonomous agent frameworks designed for complex large unstructured data.

Responsibilities:

  • Provide architectural direction and code-level guidance.

  • Establish engineering best practices for ML system design, testing, and deployment.

  • Conduct design reviews, performance reviews, and technical roadmap planning.

  • Architect distributed ML systems serving multiple global products.

  • Standardize infrastructure patterns for LLM serving and retrieval systems.

  • Define and implement enterprise-ready agentic frameworks.

  • Architect multi-step reasoning systems.

  • Lead decisions on deterministic workflows vs. autonomous agents.

  • Implement guardrails, safety layers, and traceability mechanisms.

  • Develop evaluation frameworks to measure reasoning quality, hallucination rates, and reliability.

  • Establish CI/CD standards for ML lifecycle management.

  • Ensure compliance with enterprise data governance and responsible AI standards.

Requirements

  • 10 + years of Machine Learning/Software Engineer experience

  • Master’s degree or bachelor's degree, computer science degree is highly desirable.

  • Strong software engineering background with experience in building system design, architecting AI feature/products that caters large number of users and deals with large volume of unstructured data

  • Experience with ML deployment to production

U.S. National Base Pay Range: $136,100 - $252,800. Geographic differentials may apply in some locations to better reflect local market rates.

This job is eligible for an annual incentive bonus.

We know your well-being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. We are delighted to offer country specific benefits. Click here to access benefits specific to your location.

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We are an equal opportunity employer: qualified applicants are considered for and treated during employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship status, disability status, protected veteran status, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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