Refrigeration Engineer or Designer

Position Description

As a Refrigeration Engineer or Designer at Cushing Terrell, you will design and deliver commercial refrigeration systems for national retail clients across grocery stores, distribution centers, and fuel centers. This is a fully on-site role based in Boise, Missoula, or Austin, depending on your location. From day one you will manage a project load of roughly 20 active projects in various phases, working across standard DX systems, centralized and distributed refrigeration, and advanced transcritical CO2 (TCCO2) systems. You are not specifying single components for an equipment vendor. You are engineering the full system.

Day to day, you will assign work to your team of Engineer-in-Training staff, maintain project schedules, perform quality control, and ensure deliverables go out the door on time. Strong schedule and workload management is what separates success from struggle in this seat. Within 90 days you will be fully integrated into your assigned program, handling design, client communication, and planning. At one year, you will be running the group: knowing your team's capacity, balancing workloads, and driving the program without needing oversight.

This role offers real autonomy. You set your team's schedule, build relationships with major national retail accounts, and have the support of a skilled and stable team to grow alongside. Cushing Terrell brings a built training program, balanced workload, and quick-turnaround project cycles so you stay engaged without burning out. Work-life balance is a real part of how this team operates, not a tagline.

Position Salary Range*

The expected salary range for this position is $70,000 to $90,000 annually.

Required Qualifications**

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering or a related field
• 5 to 10 years of refrigeration design experience
• In-depth knowledge of refrigeration systems including standard DX, centralized, distributed, CO2, and advanced hybrid systems
• Experience developing fees, creating scopes of work, and managing multiple resources to deliver projects on budget and on schedule
• Intermediate proficiency in AutoCAD or Autodesk MEP Revit (Revit preferred); familiarity with Bluebeam and Microsoft Office
• Ability to lead design teams and manage design efforts for program-level accounts
• Strong client communication skills and quality control discipline

Preferred Qualifications**

• Licensed Professional Engineer (PE), or ability to obtain licensure by comity in the state of the hiring Cushing Terrell office
• Experience with transcritical CO2 (TCCO2), secondary overfeed CO2, propane, or A2L refrigerant systems
• Proficiency in Autodesk MEP Revit specifically

Did you know that some people hold back on applying to jobs if they don't meet 100% of the listed requirements? We don't want you to hold back! If you check most of the qualifications above and believe you could successfully do the work, we encourage you to apply!

Position Responsibilities***

• Lead full-system commercial refrigeration design from schematic concept through construction documents for retail clients including grocery stores, distribution centers, and fuel centers
• Consult directly with clients to define functional requirements, develop project scopes, estimate costs and construction timelines, and maintain relationships through project delivery
• Assign and manage work across a team of EIT staff, balancing workloads across a portfolio of roughly 20 active projects in various design phases
• Collaborate across disciplines to integrate refrigeration systems into broader building designs and produce coordinated drawings for contractor use
• Select equipment, prepare specifications, and apply applicable codes and jurisdictional requirements to all deliverables
• Conduct site visits and lead team meetings to support project progress, EIT development, and client relationship management
• Perform engineering studies and prepare reports as required by project scope

Working at Cushing Terrell

Cushing Terrell is a multidisciplinary design firm with 17 offices and more than 500 team members who bring together their expertise to deliver holistic built environments. Leveraging our influence as designers, we work to create sustainable systems and spaces that help people live their best lives.

Why Cushing Terrell

At Cushing Terrell, we empower creative designers to discover imaginative, responsible, first-of-their-kind environments. But more than that, we support a strong, cohesive team from our design professionals to our business operations staff. Together, we champion diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging placing people at the center of our practice, thus our tagline, 'design meets you.' Together, we find joy in uncovering imaginative solutions for the people who work here, the people we work for, and the planet as a whole. We offer a competitive benefits package, work opportunities in a variety of locations and markets, and a company culture that celebrates all the unique viewpoints and personalities that make up our talented team. View our Employee Benefits Guide: https://cushingterrell.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CushingTerrell_Benefits-Guide_2025.pdf

Things to Note

*Actual pay will be determined based on the candidate's years of experience, licensure status, location, level of proficiency, and other job-related factors (as permitted by law). This position is also eligible for an annual performance bonus.

**Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Cushing Terrell will not sponsor applicants for work visas.

***The majority of the time, a person in this role will be sitting in an office with limited physical requirements. This may require individuals to bend, stretch, twist, and reach.

Cushing Terrell is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances. Contact 406.248.7455 if you require assistance or accommodation during the employment application process.

Note to recruitment agencies: Cushing Terrell does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms or agencies. Any resume submitted to any employee of Cushing Terrell without a prior written search agreement will be considered unsolicited and the property of Cushing Terrell.