About XPAK
XPAK Robotics is a fast-growing designer and manufacturer of custom robotic and mechanical end-of-line packaging automation systems. Every system we deliver is engineered to the specific needs of the customer — there are no off-the-shelf solutions here. Our team is small, technically driven, and moving quickly. If you want to own projects from first conversation to final commissioning, and meaningfully participate in the growth of the company, this is the place for you.
Job Summary
The Principal Project Engineer is a hybrid technical sales and project leadership role — one of the most important positions at XPAK. You will be the primary customer-facing engineering contact throughout the entire project lifecycle: from initial lead qualification and discovery, through concept development and formal quoting, through order execution and final acceptance. You are the person the customer calls. You are the person who understands what they need, translates it into a viable engineered solution, and then delivers on it.
This role requires someone who is equally comfortable presenting solutions to customers and developing/reviewing designs with our mechanical design team. Technical credibility and commercial drive are equally important here.
Responsibilities
Sales & business development
- Qualify and develop opportunities through technical conversations, site visits, and relationship building
- Conduct discovery calls and facility walk-throughs to define customer requirements, throughput targets, product specs, and constraints
- Act as the primary technical point of contact during the sales process — building customer confidence through engineering knowledge and responsiveness
- Drive opportunities from initial contact to signed order, managing proposal timelines and follow-up cadences
- Collaborate with XPAK leadership on pricing strategy, scope definition, and contract negotiations
Engineering & quoting
- Develop initial concept layouts and work directly with XPAK's mechanical design team on quotable system designs for each opportunity
- Author or oversee the preparation of formal technical proposals, RFQ responses, and system performance specifications
- Ensure proposed designs are technically sound, commercially competitive, and deliverable within XPAK's capabilities
Project management
- Serve as the primary project manager for active orders — owning the customer relationship from PO through commissioning
- Manage project timelines, milestone tracking, change orders, and customer communications throughout execution
- Coordinate internally across mechanical design, controls, procurement, and field services to keep projects on schedule
- Lead factory acceptance tests and support on-site installation and startup activities as needed
What we're looking for
- 3+ years of experience in industrial automation, robotics, or custom machinery — with meaningful customer-facing or sales engineering exposure
- Strong mechanical design background; proficiency in Autodesk Inventor and/or Fusion 360 preferred
- Demonstrated ability to take a technical lead and close — you understand what it means to own a sales cycle in a technical environment
- Experience managing complex custom projects with multiple stakeholders, long lead times, and evolving scope
- Exceptional communication skills — you can simplify complex engineering concepts for non-technical audiences without losing accuracy
- High degree of self-motivation and organizational discipline; capable of managing multiple active opportunities and projects simultaneously
- Willingness to travel for customer site visits, FATs, and installations (estimated 10-20%)
- BS in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related technical field preferred
Nice to have
- Prior experience selling or quoting packaging systems
- Ability to speak Spanish — a meaningful asset when working with bilingual operations teams in the field
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: From $100,000.00 per year
Work Location: Remote
