Our Integra Engineer division has a primary focus on HVAC Manufacturing, 1^st and 2^nd tier vendors and the automotive industry!  It’s amazing to me the startling number of HVAC manufacturing companies looking for tankless development engineers! Tankless water heaters have gained popularity in the North American market for the past 25 years, so this is by no means a “newly created” position, however the design and re-design is a continuous process! The DOE estimates that water heating accounts for over 16 percent of an average household’s annual energy expenses, second to that is the heating and cooling system.  The tankless product can save energy and reduce water heating bills, not to mention…you never run out of hot water.  In my household, this is worth its weight in gold!  Gone are the days of trying to be the first in the shower! It’s cool to think about how the tankless operates and that the tankless does not store water, but has a flow sensing device that activates with the hot water as the tap is opened.

So, back to our tankless development engineers, they are responsible for the design and development of the tankless systems.  And what makes these positions so unique, is the fact the tankless development engineers are normally cross functional throughout the organization, which makes it imperative they have strong verbal skills! Finding passive talent that not only has the skill set is one thing, finding the passive talent that has strong verbal and written communication is another…hence, some of our headhunters’ favorite positions!  Who doesn’t like being a specialist in your domain?  Spending time with passive talent and learning the theoretical and experimental investigations of design is music to our HVAC team’s ears!  Listening to the products and projects they have worked on and understanding any developmental challenges they’ve overcome is fascinating to say the least!  Their brains are an incredible place to be… chemical and mathematical concepts, listening to their test plans, and how they interpret data is a rabbit hole that makes us not want to come out!  Who would have ever told me 20 years ago that I’d be more fascinated by gas combustion principles, tankless water heaters, boilers, chillers, engineering design, and model making than fashion!  I’d trade my Jimmy Choo shoes, for a day in a manufacturing facility with the design engineers!  Any offers????  However, if my Jimmy Choo shoes were steel toed, I’d need to keep them…safety first!

A. Michelle Fish