Fractional Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering Lead (Chicago)

Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering Lead (Fractional)

Location: Remote / Flexible (U.S. Based)

Engagement: Fractional / Part-Time (5-15 hours per week)

About the Company

We are developing a next-generation wearable EEG patch designed for continuous brain monitoring.

Backed by early-stage funding and preparing for future growth, the company is expanding its technical leadership team to support product development, commercialization readiness, and upcoming clinical milestones.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Fractional Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering Lead to provide strategic leadership for the industrial design, mechanical engineering, and product development efforts behind a novel wearable neurotechnology platform.

This role is ideal for a highly experienced medical device product development leader who has successfully brought wearable, skin-contacting medical devices from concept through development, design freeze, validation, and commercialization.

The individual will serve as a senior technical advisor and program leader, helping the company make informed engineering decisions while coordinating external development resources, engineering firms, and specialized consultants. This individual will provide oversight, direction, and expertise to ensure the product advances efficiently toward key development milestones.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead industrial design and mechanical engineering strategy for a wearable neurological monitoring platform.
• Guide product development activities through late-stage R&D, system integration, verification, validation, and design freeze.
• Evaluate, select, and manage external engineering firms, product development partners, and specialized consultants.
• Provide technical oversight to mechanical engineering, industrial design, and product development efforts.
• Advise leadership on product architecture, design tradeoffs, manufacturability, reliability, usability, and risk mitigation.
• Oversee development efforts related to wearable form factor optimization, comfort, durability, and long-term wearability.
• Support collaboration across engineering, clinical, regulatory, quality, and manufacturing workstreams.
• Drive decision-making related to materials, enclosure design, electrode integration, skin-contact interfaces, and reusable hardware systems.
• Provide guidance on usability studies, human factors activities, and patient-centric design considerations.
• Assist in preparing the product for manufacturing scale-up, design transfer, and commercialization.
• Leverage industry relationships and professional networks to identify engineering resources, development partners, and subject matter experts.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to company leadership during a period of rapid growth.

Required Qualifications

• 10-20+ years of experience in medical device product development, mechanical engineering, industrial design, or related fields.
• Prior experience with a successful wearable, on-skin medical device or sensor platform.
• Demonstrated experience leading products through design freeze, verification, validation, and commercialization.
• Strong understanding of regulated medical device development processes.
• Experience managing external engineering firms, contract development organizations, and design partners.
• Ability to operate strategically while providing practical technical leadership.
• Proven success supporting multidisciplinary teams in startup or fast-paced product development environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with wearable EEG, ECG, EMG, neuromodulation, biosensing, or neurological monitoring products.
• Experience with continuous physiological monitoring systems.
• Familiarity with skin-worn electronics and wearable health technologies.
• Prior work supporting manufacturing scale-up and commercialization efforts.
• Experience with human factors engineering and usability testing for medical devices.