Senior/Staff Mechanical Engineer

Confidential client. Search led by VoltForce.
Location: San Leandro, CA (on-site)
Job Type: Full-time
About The Company

VoltForce is working with an early-stage materials-inspection company on the search for a Senior/Staff Mechanical Engineer. Our client helps manufacturers make better, safer, and more reliable micro- and nano-scale materials, the building blocks of critical sectors like energy storage, semiconductors, aerospace, and power systems. As demand surges and production grows more complex and faster, small undetected variations during manufacturing lead to waste, lower performance, higher cost, and safety risk, leaving manufacturers with little visibility into the quality of what they produce.
The company's platform changes that. It non-destructively probes materials during production, pairing a novel sensing approach with physics-informed machine learning to capture real-time signals that conventional measurement techniques cannot access. Those signals give manufacturers rare visibility into how materials behave as they are made.
The company turns that hidden data into actionable intelligence, helping manufacturers reduce variability and increase yield and performance. The platform can run as a standalone tool or integrate directly into production lines, it is already in early deployment with leading global manufacturers, and the first commercial product is on the way.
Role Overview

Our client is seeking a Senior/Staff Mechanical Engineer to help deliver a sensing and software platform that can be integrated inside high-volume thin film manufacturing lines. As an early member of the team, you will be able to make a real impact on next-generation thin film technologies and help build a solid technical foundation upon which a small company can grow. The ideal candidate will learn new concepts quickly and take pride in the quality of their work. You will apply sound engineering judgement to solve a wide range of technical challenges efficiently and creatively. Some of these problems may lie outside your core areas of expertise, so technical curiosity and a self-starting attitude are critical for success.
This role offers an opportunity to be at the forefront of technological innovation, working with cutting-edge systems in a collaborative environment. If you are a driven and skilled engineer looking to make a significant impact in advanced manufacturing and the energy transition, we encourage you to apply.
What You'll Do

Lead the mechanical design and validation of the company's novel non-destructive sensing platform.
Interface with a small, cross-functional project team to research, develop, and validate new sensing concepts.
Perform fundamental studies to characterize and understand the sensitivity of the sensor and platform performance.
Closely interact with clients to iterate on the design based on their feedback, paying close attention to integration speed.
Create and maintain technical design documentation (e.g. requirements, 3D and 2D data, assembly documentation, test processes and test reports).
What We're Looking For

B.S./M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minimum of 6 years of relevant industry experience.
Experience autonomously leading independent mechanical design projects, in particular those that involve designing a product that can be integrated into a larger system.
Experience with design of motion control mechanisms. Ability to properly constrain parts, define datums, and run through tolerance analysis. Use of GD&T to control those tolerances in drawings. Setting requirements and selection of motors, couplers, stages, and gearboxes.
Programming of motion controllers is a plus.
Static and dynamic stress and strain analysis, including vibration testing and analysis.
Some familiarity with part quality and measurement setup for CMM or OMM inspection.
Experience with hands-on development of prototypes.
Experience with initiating and maintaining supplier support.
Experience with maintaining awareness of customer needs and iterating on designs accordingly.
Experience with mechanical design for manufacturing lines.
Familiarity with standards requirements for high-voltage/low-voltage or gas distribution devices is a plus.
Experience with performing sensitivity and risk analysis and using the results of those analyses to inform future mechanical designs, e.g., quantifying a prototype's sensitivity to certain environmental disturbances and creating a mechanical design that mitigates the effects of those disturbances.
Prior exposure to high-precision, high-throughput industrial designs for material handling, metrology, and/or process automation applications is a plus.
Experience taking designs from initial concept development to product launch. Design for reliability, manufacturing, and service (DFx) is a plus.
Proficiency with CAD and PDM tools (e.g., SolidWorks or OnShape) to design parts and assemblies and prepare technical documentation.
Ability to independently identify and procure parts, manage supplier relationships, and rapidly fabricate medium-fidelity prototypes using 3D printers, metal stock, optical breadboards, etc. is preferred.
Demonstrated ability to adapt to new technical challenges and excitement to work in a dynamic, multi-disciplinary environment.
Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills.
Ability to rapidly create and iterate upon prototypes based on client and team feedback.
Nice to Have

Experience with metrology equipment and sensors, particularly those used for metrology of advanced materials.
Some familiarity with thin films, in particular those related to lithium- and zinc-based battery electrodes, thermal barrier coatings for turbine blades, photovoltaics, optical coatings, displays, packaging materials, semiconducting wafers, and/or adhesives.

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