{"id":4070756,"url":"https://alion.io/job/fotokite-senior-mechanical-engineer","title":"Senior Mechanical Engineer","company":{"id":2347701,"name":"fotokite","domain":"fotokite.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/fotokite","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"BambooHR","truth_index":null},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Zurich, Switzerland"],"countries":["CH"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"GD&T","optional":false},{"name":"SolidWorks","optional":false},{"name":"FMEA","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-11T13:22:15Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-11","last_verified_at":"2026-11-11T13:22:15Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"Fotokite builds autonomous, actively tethered drones that give firefighters, police and other first responders an aerial view of an incident at the push of a button. More than 1,000 systems are in service worldwide. Our goal now is to make every next generation more robust, easier to build and cheaper to produce, while it keeps working in rain, snow, wind and on the roof of a moving vehicle.\nWe are looking for an experienced mechanical engineer who has developed complex electro-mechanical products and guided them through industrialization, production ramp-up and years of field use.\nYou will join our engineering team in Zurich to help shape the mechanical architecture of the Fotokite system: the kite, the tether, and the ground station it launches from, including our vehicle-mounted Rooftop Box and Transport Case. You will make sure each design meets the demands of reliability, serviceability, cost and quality.\nYour daily mission:\nLead the development of mechanical systems for the kite, tether and ground station, from concept through series production\nDesign and improve the flight frame, tether components, enclosures and opening mechanisms, focusing on weight, robustness, serviceability and cost\nWork with external partners to integrate new payloads and features to the Fotokite\nKeep the system sealed and durable outdoors: weather protection (IP55), vibration on vehicle roofs, temperature extremes and thousands of launch and recovery cycles\nDrive design for manufacture, assembly and serviceability, and design-to-cost\nOwn industrialization with production, supply chain and quality, so designs move cleanly from prototype to the production line\nDefine the mechanical architecture, component specifications, tolerances and critical interfaces between kite, tether and ground station\nRun structural, fatigue, thermal, tolerance and reliability analyses that back design decisions\nLead root-cause analysis of failures from testing, production and the field, and see corrective actions through\nSelect and qualify suppliers, and run technical reviews with manufacturing partners\nPlan validation and oversee testing against performance and reliability requirements\nMentor other engineers and set engineering best practices for CAD, documentation and change control\nWork closely with electronics, controls, firmware, product and operations teams to deliver a tightly integrated system\nWhat you bring to the team:\nMaster's or Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or a related field\n6+ years developing complex mechanical or mechatronic products, including at least one you took into series production\nPractical command of manufacturing processes: CNC machining, sheet metal, injection molding, composites and precision assemblies\nSolidWorks (or equivalent), fluent GD&T, and experience with PLM tools\nA solid foundation in structural mechanics, dynamics and fatigue\nComfort in the workshop: you build, debug and break your own prototypes\nIndependence: you set your own priorities and make technical calls in a multidisciplinary team\nFluent English\nNice-to-have\nBackground in drones, aircraft, robotics or other weight-critical systems\nLightweight structures and carbon fiber composite design\nExperience with IP-rated enclosures or vehicle-mounted equipment\nFMEA, risk analysis and quality systems\nExperience leading a mechanical team or a major subsystem","description_format":"text","description_chars":3375,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"Advanced (C1)","optional":false}]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Drones & UAVs","Domestic & Household Robotics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-11T13:22:15Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":29,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-11T15:48:50Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/fotokite-senior-mechanical-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/fotokite-senior-mechanical-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-11T15:48:50Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":29569,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-12T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":2347701},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=2347701"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Ffotokite-senior-mechanical-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Ffotokite-senior-mechanical-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Ffotokite-senior-mechanical-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/fotokite-senior-mechanical-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Ffotokite-senior-mechanical-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":4070756}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"fotokite.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":4070756},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}