Job Opportunities at Makai

Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. was established in 1973 as a diversified ocean engineering and naval architecture company providing service primarily in Hawaii and the Pacific. In Makai's early years, we took a technical lead in a number of innovative projects that helped develop a unique set of skills and expertise. Deep water pipeline design for energy applications, marine vehicles and deep water cable installation software development were some of those projects.

Today Makai's services have greatly expanded, and we are more global in nature. Our clients are found throughout the world. Makai has developed a broad spectrum of engineering expertise and provides services in research and development, design, construction engineering support, construction management, testing, and systems analysis, cable lay planning, analysis and support and other diverse operations in the marine field. Makai takes pride in providing innovative award winning design solutions to complex ocean engineering challenges. Our personnel have extensive engineering, software development and technical backgrounds and are experienced in working on new and unique projects and in the preparation of comprehensive design documentation, specifications, cost estimates, engineering reports and presentations.

In the last two years Makai has formed a partnership with Lockheed Martin Corporation on the development of the first commercial sized OTEC plant. This is a huge, demanding and exciting sustainable energy project that could have a major near term impact on energy production in remote islands such as Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Oceans. We are actively seeking talented engineers to join our team in this endeavor and on others as listed below.

We are looking for outstanding people for the following positions:

Corrosion Scientist/Engineer

Makai’s design group is interested in receiving resumes from talented and fast-learning graduate mechanical engineers or materials scientists to fill a key role in our Ocean Thermal Energy research team. The open position is in Makai’s design group which has major project responsibilities in design of a floating Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant. Within the group, an important research objective is to design custom heat exchangers that will meet the unique needs of commercially sized OTEC plants of the future. To meet this goal, the Corrosion Scientist/Engineer will lead Makai’s research in corrosion testing of aluminum alloys, their fabrication methods and corrosion protection methodologies. This person will also participate in heat exchanger configuration design and system analysis.

Over the past two years Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. has completed the design and construction of a heat exchanger test facility and corrosion laboratory at the Hawaii Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) at Keahole Point, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The long term goal of this facility is to provide heat transfer performance, corrosion and biofouling testing of heat exchangers in order to develop heat exchangers for use in commercial size Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Plants. The heat exchangers are the heart of an OTEC plant: They are the single most expensive component, and the most critical relative to the overall efficiency of the plant. A 100 MW OTEC plant envisioned by an OTEC development team made up of Lockheed Martin and Makai would house over 200 individual heat exchangers, each larger than a 20’ shipping container. Small changes in heat exchanger performance will have immense economic consequences, and any failure from corrosion or fouling would be catastrophic to the development of a billion dollar OTEC plant. Makai has need of a qualified Corrosion Scientist/Engineer to help lead this development. The work location for this position is at Makai’s heat exchanger research facility near Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The qualifications that Makai values highly in candidate Corrosion Scientist/Engineers include:

Solid academic background with a high grade point average.
High level of technical curiosity that will enable unique solutions to the technical challenges incumbent in the position.
Ability and interest to learn, and apply, new technologies in support of overall technical objectives.
Knowledge of aluminum corrosion mechanisms and strong materials science experience/background.
Research oriented individual who is very analytical, well versed in scientific method and thrives in lab environment.
Ability to think clearly and express oneself in written communication, project reports, scientific communication.
Ability to work independently or with minimal supervision and is detail oriented, and organized.
A strong working knowledge of MS Office Software and common engineering analytical software such as Matlab is required.
A chemistry background is a plus.
A knowledge of manufacturing processes is a plus.
All of Makai’s work is in the ocean or is marine related, so ocean experience, background or interest is always a plus.

Candidates with many or all of the above qualifications will be most highly considered.

Candidates should be U.S. citizens, possess a green card or be eligible for H-1B visa. Benefits of working at Makai include interesting and challenging projects, a competitive salary, a strong list of company benefits including full medical, dental and vision coverage, a simple IRA retirement plan and a beautiful and unique work atmosphere.

To apply for the Corrosion Scientist/Engineer position at Makai, submit the following via email to dale.jensen@makai.com

Comprehensive Resume including: Overall GPA in graduate and undergraduate studies, year(s) of graduation, and country of citizenship or visa status in US.
Cover Letter highlighting how your education and experience are suited to our needs and why you want to work at Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc.

Ocean/Mechanical Engineer

Makai's design group is interested in receiving resumes from talented and fast-learning graduate ocean and/or mechanical engineers to fill new or vacant positions as they become available. These positions are in Makai's design group which has major project responsibilities in design of a floating Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant and in design of Seawater Air Conditioning (SWAC) systems in selected locations around the world. Within the group, OTEC Design responsibilities include design of large diameter pipe handling equipment, heat exchanger design, corrosion testing, OTEC plant configuration design and system analysis. SWAC design responsibilities include project development, offshore survey planning and oversight, pipeline and environmental loading analysis, detailed mechanical design tasks and construction management duties.

The qualifications that Makai values highly in candidate engineers include:

Solid academic background with a high grade point average,
High level of technical curiosity that will enable unique solutions to the technical challenges incumbent in the position.
Ability and interest to learn, and apply, new technologies in support of overall technical objectives.
Some diversity in engineering skills; for example, a candidate with a mechanical engineering undergraduate degree and ocean engineering graduate degree is preferred.
Evidence of hands-on mechanical skills or aptitude.
Previous experience that has provided exposure to some phase of engineering design, construction or project management.
Ability to think clearly and express oneself in written communication.
Ability to work independently or with minimal supervision.
A strong working knowledge of MS Office Software and common engineering analytical software such as Matlab is required.
Capability to use CAD software such as Solidworks and/or Autocad

Candidates with many or all of the above qualifications will be most highly considered.

All of Makai's work is in the ocean or is marine related. Therefore, ocean experience, background or interest is always a plus. Candidates should be U.S. citizens or possess a green card and should be locally based in Hawaii as interviews shall be conducted in person here in Hawaii. Makai provides engineers with interesting and challenging projects, a competitive salary, a strong list of company benefits, and a beautiful and unique work atmosphere.

To apply for the Ocean or Mechanical Engineering position at Makai, submit the following via email to dale.jensen@makai.com

Comprehensive Resume including: Overall GPA in graduate and undergraduate studies, year(s) of graduation, and country of citizenship or visa status in US.
Cover Letter highlighting how your education and experience are suited to our needs and why you want to work at Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc.

Makai is a great place to work.

Our office is on Makai Pier in gorgeous Waimanalo, Hawaii, featured in National Geographic Magazine.

Overhead view of Makai Pier from the cliffs of Makapuu.

Sunrise of Makapuu Point as seen from Makai's offices.