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Kela Technologies

Mechanical Engineer- US Site

Posted 3 Days Ago
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Remote
Hiring Remotely in United States
Senior level
Remote
Hiring Remotely in United States
Senior level
Own mechanical product development from concept and CAD through prototyping, qualification, and production transfer. Design rugged, safety-critical assemblies; define mechanical safety architecture; specify materials, tolerances, finishes, and fasteners; build prototypes; create manufacturing packages; execute environmental and mechanical qualification testing; and manage BOM, weight, and center-of-gravity budgets while collaborating with hardware and software engineers.
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Description

About the role

You'll own the mechanical side of our products — from concept and CAD through prototyping, qualification, and production transfer. Our systems are safety-critical, field-deployed, and built to survive demanding environments. This is a hands-on role: you'll be in the lab as much as at your desk, and you'll work directly alongside hardware and software engineers.

What you'll do:

  • Design and own mechanical assemblies end-to-end: housing, structure, actuation mechanisms, and integration architecture.
  • Define the mechanical safety architecture in collaboration with HW and SW leads — interlocks, fail-safe geometry, retention features, and impact behavior.
  • Spec materials, tolerances, finishes, and fasteners for operating environments involving temperature, vibration, humidity, and drop loads.
  • Build and iterate prototypes in-house (3D print, CNC); hand off polished DFM packages to external machinists and mold vendors.
  • Plan and execute mechanical qualification: drop, shock, vibration, environmental, mass-properties, and integration testing.
  • Own the BOM, weight budget, and CG budget — track them as the safety-critical numbers they are.
  • Collaborate directly with HW and SW engineers on PCB envelope, connector placement, harnessing, and mechanism actuation.

Required:

  • 7+ years designing mechanical assemblies that go into the field — UAV payloads, defense, automotive, aerospace, or similar rugged/regulated domains.
  • Fluency in a parametric CAD tool (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Onshape, Creo, or NX).
  • Ability to produce manufacturing-ready drawings: GD&T, tolerance stacks, surface finishes, and fits.
  • Hands-on with prototyping: FDM/SLA printers, basic machining (mill, lathe), and in-lab build-and-break cycles.
  • Strong failure-mode intuition — you've broken things on purpose and know which question to ask next.
  • Working English, written and verbal.

Nice to have:

  • Experience with energetics, safety-critical arming or actuation mechanisms in defense, aerospace, or industrial applications.
  • Familiarity with MIL-STD-810 (environmental), MIL-STD-331, or equivalent civilian qualification standards.
  • FEA / structural simulation (Ansys, SolidWorks Simulation, Onshape FEA).
  • Injection-mold and metal-casting DFM experience.
  • UAV or payload integration experience, including mass/CG sensitivity.

How we work: Short cycles, weekly hardware iterations. You'll sit next to the HW and SW engineers and have a lab with prototyping equipment on-site. We expect you to be opinionated, design for testability from day one, and push back when constraints are wrong.

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