Sr. Product Engineer - Heat Pumps

Job Description:

We're working together to build strong communities through smart, sustainable water solutions. Join us in shaping a future where water is moved, improved, and enjoyed responsibly.

Grow With Us

Pentair is seeking an experienced Heat Pump Product Engineer to provide technical support for our growing pool heat pump portfolio. This part-time role serves as a technical resource to Product Management, Sales, Customer Service, Operations, and Engineering teams. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in pool heat pump design, manufacturing, troubleshooting, and customer support, with the ability to quickly diagnose technical issues and recommend practical solutions.

This position will play a key role in supporting customers, improving product quality and reliability, accelerating root cause investigations, and helping develop the next generation of technical talent within the organization.

Title: Heat Pump Product Engineer (Part-Time)

Location: Apex, NC (Hybrid/Remote Flexibility)

Hours: Approximately 15-20 hours per week

Travel: Occasional travel required for customer visits, factory support, training events, and industry meetings.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Support & Customer Engagement

• Serve as a subject matter expert for Pentair heat pump products, supporting technical inquiries from Sales, Customer Service, Service Teams, distributors, and customers.
• Assist in diagnosing field issues and recommending corrective actions to improve customer satisfaction and product performance.
• Support customer visits, troubleshooting efforts, and technical escalations as required.

Product Management Support

• Provide technical expertise to the Heat Pump Product Management team.
• Evaluate product opportunities, feature enhancements, and design changes from a technical feasibility and customer value perspective.
• Support documentation reviews, technical specifications, and product performance analyses.

Quality & Continuous Improvement

• Partner with manufacturing and quality teams to investigate field failures and product issues.
• Lead or support root cause analyses and corrective action activities.
• Identify recurring issues and recommend product, process, or supplier improvements to improve reliability and reduce warranty costs.

Competitive Benchmarking

• Conduct competitive product teardowns and technical evaluations.
• Document competitive insights, design approaches, strengths, weaknesses, and emerging technologies.
• Provide recommendations to support product roadmap and differentiation strategies.

Knowledge Transfer & Capability Building

• Mentor and train a Product Engineer to assume technical responsibilities over time.
• Develop technical documentation, troubleshooting guides, and best practices to preserve organizational knowledge.
• Support technical training for internal teams, distributors, and customers as needed.

Additional Support

• Assist with factory projects, component evaluations, validation activities, and sustaining engineering initiatives.
• Support special projects and cross-functional activities as business needs require.

Qualifications

• BS in Mechanical Engineering or related engineering discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in HVAC, pool equipment, heat pump systems, refrigeration systems, or related products.
• Strong understanding of heat pump design, performance, controls, refrigerant systems, and manufacturing processes.
• Demonstrated experience with root cause analysis, product troubleshooting, and quality improvement initiatives.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Experience working directly with customers, service organizations, and manufacturing teams.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to operate independently in a part-time advisory capacity.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience with pool heat pumps or related aquatic equipment.
• Familiarity with regulatory and certification requirements for North American pool heating products.
• Experience conducting competitive benchmarking and product teardowns.
• Previous mentoring or training experience.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Pentair is an Equal Opportunity Employer. With our expanding global presence, cross-cultural insight and competence are essential for our ongoing success. We believe that a diverse workforce contributes different perspectives and creative ideas that enable us to continue to improve every day.