{"id":2991713,"url":"https://alion.io/job/highcat-mechanical-development-engineer","title":"Mechanical Development Engineer","company":{"id":4445402,"name":"HIGHCAT","domain":"highcat.io","url":"https://alion.io/company/highcat","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Recruitee","truth_index":null},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Konstanz, Germany"],"countries":["DE"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":66000,"max_usd":115000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":35},"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"GD&T","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-14T07:30:13Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-14","last_verified_at":"2026-10-23T07:26:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":9,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":9},"description":"ABOUT THE ROLE\nAt HIGHCAT, you’ll develop the mechanical systems behind our drones and their wider product ecosystem -from first concepts and prototypes through testing, industrialisation, and series production.\nWorking closely with electronics, software, product, manufacturing, and external suppliers, you’ll turn requirements into robust, manufacturable hardware. You’ll work across injection-moulded plastics, sheet metal, machined parts, and mechanical assemblies, with responsibility for making sure products not only perform, but can also be assembled efficiently and manufactured reliably at the right cost.\nThis is a hands-on role with real ownership. You’ll spend time in CAD, build and test prototypes, work directly with suppliers, solve production problems, and continuously improve our products based on manufacturing and field experience.\nIf you want to build hardware from the ground up and see it progress from your screen and workbench into series production and real-world deployment, we’d love to hear from you.\nCORE TASKS & RESPONSIBILITIES\nDevelop mechanical components and assemblies for HIGHCAT’s drones and supporting product ecosystem, from concept through series production.\n\nDevelop injection-moulded plastic, bent sheet metal, and machined components with a strong focus on manufacturability.\n\nIntegrate electronics, sensors, antennas, connectors, batteries, motors, cables, and other components into robust mechanical assemblies.\n\nApply DFM and DFA principles to optimise part count, assembly, reliability, manufacturing cost, and production efficiency.\n\nCreate production-ready 3D CAD, technical drawings, tolerances, and manufacturing documentation.\n\nBuild, test, and iterate prototypes using 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, and other rapid manufacturing methods.\n\nWork directly with manufacturers and suppliers on tooling, DFM, first articles, quality, cost, and production ramp-up.\n\nSupport the transition from prototypes and low-volume builds into stable, repeatable series production.\n\nIdentify and resolve mechanical, assembly, tolerance, and manufacturing issues.\n\nSupport mechanical testing, validation, failure analysis, and continuous product improvement.\n\nRequirements\nABOUT YOU\n5+ years of experience in mechanical engineering or hardware product development, ideally in drones, robotics, electronics, aerospace, mobility, or other complex hardware.\n\nProven experience taking physical products from prototype through industrialisation into series production.\n\nStrong hands-on experience with injection-moulded plastic parts and a solid understanding of tooling and injection-moulding DFM.\n\nExperience developing bent sheet metal components and understanding their manufacturing constraints.\n\nStrong 3D CAD skills and experience with production-ready technical drawings and tolerancing.\n\nGood understanding of engineering materials, manufacturing processes, fastening methods, and assembly techniques.\n\nYou understand DFM/DFA and naturally consider manufacturing cost, part count, assembly time, tooling investment, and production volume when developing a product.\n\nYou are comfortable working directly with suppliers and solving real manufacturing and production issues.\n\nYou are a hands-on, independent engineer who enjoys building, testing, learning, and iterating quickly.\n\nExperience with GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, IP-rated enclosures, thermal management, vibration, shock, or FEA is a plus.\n\nWHAT YOU CAN EXPECT\nCompensation and Ownership:\nCompetitive compensation with meaningful equity, giving you a real stake in the company you’re helping to build.\nMission and Impact:\nSee your work become real products used in demanding environments where reliability and good engineering matter.\nAccess and Influence:\nA small, ambitious team with direct access to founders, engineers, and decision-makers-and real influence over the products we build.\nCulture and Environment:\nA high-trust, low-bureaucracy environment where decisions move quickly, ownership is high, and strong work earns increasing responsibility.\nResources and Engineering:\nThe freedom and tools to develop, prototype, manufacture, test, break, and improve hardware quickly.\nProfessional Growth:\nThe opportunity to grow alongside an early-stage hardware company and help shape its products, engineering practices, and manufacturing capabilities.\nYOUR APPLICATION\nWe’d love to hear from you if you’re excited about building real hardware and taking ownership from concept to production.\nTo apply, please send us:\nYour CV or LinkedIn profile, highlighting your relevant mechanical engineering and product development experience.\n\nA portfolio or examples of previous work showing mechanical components, assemblies, or products you’ve developed-ideally including injection-moulded parts, sheet metal, or products brought into series production.\n\nA short introduction explaining why you’re interested in HIGHCAT and what makes you a good fit for the role.\n\nYour availability and salary expectations.\n\nWe care more about what you’ve built and the problems you’ve solved than polished applications. Show us your work, tell us about your contribution, and what you learned along the way.\nABOUT HIGHCAT\nEurope’s airspace is evolving. We are building the systems that help secure it.\nHIGHCAT is a team of builders, engineers, and problem-solvers. We develop modular unmanned systems and the product ecosystem around them, designed for real-world deployment. Built and manufactured in Germany, our platforms support the people and organisations that protect critical infrastructure, public services, and operational capabilities.\nWe like solving difficult problems. From first concept to deployment, we build technology that performs when it matters most. Our focus is simple: reliable systems, intuitive operation, and real-world impact.\nOur work enables safer and more effective operations across security, industry, and defence-related applications. Guided by strong ethical principles and a commitment to European technological sovereignty, we are helping build the next generation of operational capabilities for Europe.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6144,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Drones & UAVs","Supply Chain"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-21T10:11:51Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":83,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.831,"p_room":1,"age_days":8,"expected_fill_days":36,"reasons":["conf:4","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-23T05:54:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/highcat-mechanical-development-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/highcat-mechanical-development-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-23T13:17:44Z","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":19809,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-24T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"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":4445402},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4445402"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fhighcat-mechanical-development-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"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%2Fhighcat-mechanical-development-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"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%2Fhighcat-mechanical-development-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/highcat-mechanical-development-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fhighcat-mechanical-development-engineer"}]}