Product Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Product Engineer — Design & Engineering

Litelab Corp | Buffalo, NY

For over four decades, Litelab has been shaping how the world experiences light — our fixtures illuminate world-class museums, flagship retail stores, and residences around the globe. Now we're looking for a Product Engineer to help write the next chapter: someone who wants their fingerprints on products people will actually stand beneath, admire, and remember.

This is a rare seat at the table — you'll take ideas straight from R&D and directly from customers, and carry them all the way from first sketch to a shipping product, with real ownership of the mechanical design decisions in between. This is a full-time, on-site position based in our office in downtown Buffalo, NY, reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer.

Litelab operates across multiple locations: Research and Development and Industrial Design are based in our New York City office, while Mechanical Design, Testing & Certification, Manufacturing, and Sales are based in Buffalo, NY, where this role is located. Some travel between locations may be required, though not frequent.

Why This Role

• Process ownership, not just execution. You'll shepherd designs from concept through detailed design to production release — not just fill in someone else's spec.
• Work that gets seen. Our fixtures live in landmark museums, marquee retail spaces, and homes around the world — this isn't anonymous industrial hardware.
• A tight, seasoned team. You'll collaborate directly with Sales, Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing veterans, and report straight to the CTO — your ideas won't get lost in a big-company hierarchy.
• Room to shape process, not just parts. As gatekeeper of our CAD document system, you'll have real influence over how the whole team works, not just what gets designed.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with a seasoned team of Sales, Design, Engineering and Manufacturing professionals to bring about world-class, award-winning lighting products that meet or exceed our customers' expectations
• Develop mechanical designs for lighting fixtures and equipment, taking customer-provided or R&D-generated ideas and bringing them from concept through detailed design
• Apply design modifications, improvements, revisions, and updates to existing standard products
• Generate assembly drawings, exploded-view drawings, and detailed part drawings for manufacturing and documentation
• Serve as gatekeeper of our 3D CAD document management system, maintaining part numbering conventions and document version control
• Identify and resolve design problems throughout the product development lifecycle — materials, tolerances, manufacturability, and performance
• Coordinate new product release with factory personnel, ensuring designs translate cleanly into production; take feedback from Production and translate it into ease-of-manufacturing and cost-reducing improvements
• Collaborate with Research and Development, Manufacturing, and Testing/Certification teams to bring products from prototype to full production
• Support design revisions and engineering changes as products move through their lifecycle

 

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field (or equivalent experience)
• Proficiency in SolidWorks and AutoCAD for 3D modeling, assembly, and drawing generation
• Strong understanding of Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T), and Design for Manufacturability and Design for Assembly (DFM/DFA) principles, and mechanical assembly design
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced manufacturing environment
• Experience coordinating with manufacturing/production teams on new product introduction
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail

 

Pluses

• Experience with lighting equipment design
• Sheet metal design, layout, or fabrication experience
• Metal or plastic extrusion design
• Injection molded parts design
• Die casting design

 

What We Offer

• Salary: $70,000 - $90,000
• 401(k)
• Health Insurance with employer funded HRA
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Short Term and Long-Term Disability benefits
• Flexible Schedule
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Paid Time Off
• Professional Development Assistance/Tuition Reimbursement

Work Location: In Person