Principal Mechanical Engineer

The Principal Mechanical Engineer will work directly as a member of a new product development team, applying their mechanical expertise to deliver a novel, integrated system to solve immediate customer challenges. They will at times work independently on pieces of systems, with a team of other mechanical engineers, or with other engineering disciplines to ensure a cohesive system design. The candidate must be highly experienced and autonomous with respect to designing, fabricating, and testing new designs, as well as launching new products into production and supporting systems fielded at customer sites. We expect our team members to take poorly or partially understood problems and develop high-quality pragmatic solutions quickly and independently.

Functions

• Internalize the notion of ownership, display the qualities of a self-starter and proactive problem solver on a cross-disciplinary product team to advance designs from conceptualization to customer acceptance.
• Deeply understand existing customer operational needs and constraints to define system-level requirements including decomposition into appropriate sub-systems.
• Design practical solutions both quickly and carefully, independently preempting issues of manufacturability and future maintenance.
• Design and execute tests to disambiguate between candidate solutions, find the best approach, and convince the team of your conclusion.
• Transform tested conceptual solutions into robust product designs in coordination with engineering operations, the customer and contract manufacturers.
• Design and release components and systems using SolidWorks and PLM systems.
• Develop production and support documentation including bills of material (BOMs), fabrication and assembly drawings, and maintenance instructions.
• Hands-on prototyping, utilizing shop tools and equipment to quickly iterate ideas and solutions.
• Travel to suppliers and customers as necessary to support build and installation of systems.
• Collaborate with suppliers, machinists, and contract manufacturers to guarantee on-time delivery and deployment for fully assembled, functional, and tested electromechanical systems to customer facilities.
• Perform test and verification of prototype systems.
• Perform system design analyses, including reliability, design-for-manufacture, design-for-assembly, cost-takeout, etc.
• Calculate forces, structural stresses, bearing life, required motor torques, thermal loads, and other critical design parameters for industrial equipment development.
• Oversee design, development, and test activities among more junior team members, including an emphasis on reinforcing existing and influencing new team standards.

Desired Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Mechanical Engineering.
• Eight or more years of related work experience with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), including successful product launches into volume manufacturing.
• Mastery of 3D CAD software, preferably SolidWorks - including 2D drawings, simulations, and PDM.
• Significant experience designing motion control systems with sensors, actuators, and complex mechanisms.
• Significant experience designing systems that are used in industrial settings, expecting to balance cost and durability for maximum customer success over the capital equipment’s full depreciation lifespan.
• Experience with structural and vibration analyses.
• Detailed knowledge of ASME drafting standards including GD&T(Y14.5-2009).
• Detailed knowledge of DFM/A, Six Sigma, and statistical tolerance analysis.
• Detailed knowledge of failure avoidance methods including DFMEA/PFMEA and fault tree analysis.
• Experience working effectively with customers, component suppliers, and contract manufacturers.
• Adept at setting aggressive yet feasible schedules and milestones for own work, and achieving them.
• Proficient at thinking strategically about risk; safety, design, manufacturing, reliability, and mitigations thereof.
• High level of technical writing proficiency (specs, test plans, reports, white papers, etc.)
• Ability to handle some minimal electrical design (cable harnesses, wiring diagrams, grounding strategies, etc.) is a plus.
• Strong working knowledge of the challenges facing neighboring disciplines, to collaboratively solve wire routing, strain management, and cabinet placement problems.

Travel:

Will travel be required? If Yes, what % of time: up to 10%

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