Director Mechanical Engineering

You gravitate to the hardest problem in the room, but never to take it away from anyone. You ask the questions that unlock your team’s thinking, contribute real engineering when it counts, and your engineers come out of those sessions sharper than they went in. You did not set out to be a manager. You became one because you could not watch the quality bar slip, and leading was the only way to be sure the work got done right. You still design. You still review the stack-up. You know there is no substitute for whiteboarding with your team or watching the drop tests live.

You are relentlessly organized. You keep issue trackers honest, timelines realistic, and a few versions of the schedule ready before anyone asks for them. You set technical direction that lines up with where the company and the team are going. You listen more than you talk, because you know the strongest leaders hear the problem before they answer it. And when it is time to brief leadership, you can take a messy technical reality and make it clear in a few minutes.

We are not looking for a professional manager who has drifted away from the bench. We want an engineer whose technical judgment earns the team’s trust every day.

Stay hands-on: own and contribute to mechanical design and CAD work on the hardest problems, not just review it

Set mechanical design direction for the department that aligns with company and team goals, and foster innovative design solutions

Mentor, coach, train, and grow a team of Mechanical Engineers

Listen first: surface the real constraints from your team and suppliers before setting a path

Drive organizational rigor: maintain issue trackers, run multiple schedule scenarios, and manage project activities to deliver on target, on time product launches

Work with Electrical Engineering, Industrial Design, and Manufacturing team members to ensure that new products meet design and cost requirements

Verify and analyze designs to meet product requirements, and support and participate in VA/VE analysis

Research materials, components, and technologies for development opportunities

Drive selection, qualification, and ongoing evaluation of critical suppliers and manufacturing partners across a global supply base, building the relationships that enable new technologies

Travel to suppliers to evaluate capabilities and perform first article inspections

Identify, procure, and qualify equipment needed to test developed products

Develop the department budget

Distill complex technical work into clear recommendations for an executive audience

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Mechatronics/BioMedical Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience

10+ years experience with consumer or industrial product development and electronics iteration

5+ years technical leadership experience

A hands-on engineer at heart: still fluent in CAD and able to contribute directly to design work, not only review it

Strong leadership, mentorship, and interpersonal skills, with a bias toward listening

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to interface with internal stakeholders, external suppliers, and customers worldwide, and to distill technical detail for an executive audience

Relentlessly organized, comfortable running issue trackers and maintaining multiple schedule versions

Experience in electromechanical assemblies (e.g., LCDs, batteries, sensors, flex circuits, PCBs, antennas, buttons)

Experience in Design for Manufacturability (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), statistical tolerance analysis techniques, functional dimensioning, and geometric tolerancing

Data-driven and detail focused, comfortable with statistical analysis methods

Self-motivated, collaborative, and able to manage multiple projects and priorities within a cross functional team

Experience with manufacturing and manufacturing processes (e.g., injection molding, compression molding, sheet metal, stamping, MIM, soft goods, and CNC machining) and process validation

Experience with reliability, cosmetic specs, the QA process, and standard mechanical test methods

Experience with product validation (Shock/Drop, Cycle, and Environmental Testing)

Experience collaborating with Asian manufacturing facilities in high-volume mass production, including working through DFM challenges with external suppliers

Just so you know: The hired candidate will be required to complete a background check.