Chief Machine Development Engineer

Role Summary

We're hiring a Chief Machine Development Engineer to own the design, build, and industrialization of our in-house production machines - from concept through mechanical, electrical, firmware, and controls integration, to a design that can be repeated reliably across every unit we build. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has taken complex electromechanical systems from prototype to high-volume production and is ready to build and lead the multi-disciplinary engineering team that will deliver it.
Core Responsibilities

Own the requirements-to-architecture handoff - turn product and process requirements into a machine architecture, with a concept, risk plan, prototype plan, and production plan, while owning the interfaces to both the product and the plant

Lead design through prototype and into high-volume production - drive design reviews grounded in physics and failure modes, get hardware built and tested in our shop, and take machines from first article through a drawing package that can be repeated at every site

Build and lead the machine engineering organization - hire and structure mechanical, structural, electrical, and process engineers, designers, analysts, and build technicians, and set the standard the team designs to

Own machine technology strategy and make-vs-buy - decide where to build in-house versus integrate off-the-shelf equipment, and feed a multi-year machine roadmap that leadership can plan and invest around

Work directly alongside build technicians on the shop floor during prototype build, debug, and first-article support

Collaborate cross-functionally with product, process, and controls leadership - including remote teammates - to integrate machine design into complete production systems

Required

15+ years designing and delivering complex electromechanical or process-equipment systems - mechanical engineering is the default spine, though equivalent depth from aerospace, automotive, capital equipment, or industrial automation is acceptable

Proven track record taking hardware from prototype to production volume - not a one-off that stayed in the lab, and not a career spent only writing specs for someone else to design

Integrated-systems fluency across mechanics, structures, electrical power/actuation, and thermal/fluids - you don't have to be the best specialist in any one discipline, but you know when it's on the critical path and how to lead it

Track record leading multi-disciplinary design teams (mechanical, structural, electrical, and ideally process) through design, build, test, and revision

First-principles design ability - can derive loads, power, heat, and cycle life on a whiteboard, then decide which analysis is worth running

Comfort in the shop - has stood next to a prototype that wasn't working, found the real failure, and changed the design the same week

High agency - doesn't wait for a perfect requirements document; interrogates the spec until it's buildable, then builds

Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent; advanced degree is a plus but production track record matters more

Effective communicator and collaborator in a distributed team environment - comfortable with async communication and remote teammates

Flexible with schedule and hours; thrives in a startup environment where priorities shift and urgency is real

Nice-to-Have

Background in advanced integrated systems - production machinery, transportation or aerospace structures and mechanisms, industrial robotics, or large-scale process equipment

Deep experience in one complex process industry already in hand, with the ability to ramp quickly in adjacent ones

Structural design of large frames and heavy equipment, and the civil/install interface that comes with it

Electrical power and drive-system literacy at the machine level (servo and induction, cabinets, safety, grounding) - enough to lead electrical engineers rather than hand off work at a wall

Process-equipment literacy - vessels, heat transfer, sealing, materials of construction

PLM and configuration control discipline - making revision 12 cheaper than revision 1

Track record hitting first-unit dates and unit-cost targets on large capital equipment

Additional

Willingness to travel as needed for vendor visits, factory acceptance testing, and on-site equipment commissioning

Comfort with a startup pace - this role demands flexibility, self-direction, and a bias toward getting things done over waiting for perfect conditions

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