Mechanical Design Engineer

Instrumental technology is used by the world’s most admired electronics brands like Bose, Cisco, and SolarEdge to significantly reduce the 20 cents of waste in every dollar spent on manufacturing. Our technology leverages AI from data coming off of the manufacturing floor to automate failure identification and resolution – improving yield, quality, and time to market.

About the Role:

We’re looking for a Mechanical Design Engineer who thrives on autonomy and ownership—someone eager to step into a role where they get to make real decisions and drive real impact. This is not a back-seat, wait-for-instructions type of role. You will be the person responsible for designing and optimizing our custom fixtures, optical systems, and station/industrial hardware for Fortune 100 customers. Your work will be directly responsible for expanding our capabilities and scaling our impact.

This is an opportunity for a sharp, systems-thinking mechanical engineer with 1.5–3 years of experience to accelerate their career by taking on a role typically reserved for more senior engineers. You recognize why some organizations have the bureaucracy they have but you move through those same checks at a much faster rate and want to own your work and build smarter systems, this is your chance.

Our team is scrappy, fast-moving, and entrepreneurial. We don’t wait for things to happen—we make them happen. The person in this role will not just execute designs but improve how we design, introducing automation, systems, and scalable processes to help us work faster and smarter. We want someone who sees inefficiencies and doesn’t just accept them but actively finds ways to fix them.

This is not a narrowly defined, assembly-line design job. It’s a role for someone who wants to own a function, drive innovation, and create smarter ways to work. If you’ve worked at a startup or naturally gravitate toward leadership roles, you’ll thrive here. You’ll get the kind of autonomy and impact that’s usually only available to more senior engineers—but with the support of a high-caliber team to help you grow.

• Thinks like an owner – you don’t wait for permission to solve problems, you just go solve them.
• Is deeply technical but also business-minded – you can debate trade-offs, push back on ideas that don’t make sense, and align your work with company goals.
• Has 1.5+ years of experience leveraging CAD professionally – with a strong emphasis on CNC machining. You should have solid intuition around designing for CNC, optimizing for manufacturability, and understanding machining constraints.
• Loves efficiency – you’re always looking for ways to automate, streamline, and optimize.
• Is a natural problem solver – when faced with ambiguity, you create clarity.
• Can handle direct feedback and debate ideas without ego – we value strong opinions loosely held.Has experience working cross-functionally, ideally with customers, and enjoys translating technical challenges into solutions that make sense for the business.

• Own the design process – create fixtures and optical designs for a wide range of products, from wearables to industrial appliances, that integrate smoothly into customer lines and processes.
• Design with CNC machining in mind – develop precise, manufacturable designs that leverage your knowledge of machining constraints, materials, and processes.
• Scale and systematize our design workflows – develop smarter ways to execute designs, introduce automation, and make our design process more efficient.
• Solve novel design challenges – push our technology into new applications with creative, scalable solutions.
• Communicate and collaborate – meet with customers, partners, and contract manufacturers to understand their needs and integrate feedback into better designs.
• Manage projects with autonomy – set accurate expectations, drive execution, and deliver high-quality designs on time.
• Continuously improve – identify, propose, and implement better ways for our team to deliver our product.
• Travel occasionally – visit customer sites to see designs in action, ensure smooth integration, and refine future iterations.

This position requires access to items and data that are developed under U.S. government contracts and subject to dissemination controls that limit access to U.S. citizens only. 

We’re a growing team that consistently works collaboratively, is supportive of each other, and is highly energized by the opportunity for large impact. We actively work to promote an inclusive environment, valuing passion and the ability to learn. You’re encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn’t precisely match the job description!

The following is a representative annual base salary range within the Bay Area: $137,000 - 152,000. Job level and salary opportunities are evaluated through our interview process—we review each applicant's experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.

All candidates must have an unrestricted right to work in the U.S.