Job Title: Mechanical Engineer
Job Description
The Mechanical Engineer designs, develops, and supports aerospace safety restraint and related hardware from concept through certification and production. This role combines hands-on mechanical design using SolidWorks and AutoCAD with cross-functional collaboration to ensure products meet stringent commercial, government, and FAA requirements. The engineer serves as a technical point of contact for domestic and international customers, supports proposals and cost estimates, and helps drive projects to on-time, on-budget completion in a fast-paced, small-company environment with broad responsibilities.
Responsibilities
- Create new mechanical designs and modify existing products based on specifications coordinated with engineering, customers, and the sales team.
- Function as the primary technical point of contact for national (commercial and government) and international customers, providing clear and timely technical communication.
- Provide engineering design support for program proposals, including generating preliminary design concepts, technical descriptions, nonrecurring and recurring cost estimates, and task schedules.
- Interpret, select, and apply commercial and military specifications, FAA requirements, and customer requirements to hardware and processes to meet specific design objectives.
- Perform mechanical design activities using SolidWorks, AutoCAD, and ANSI Y14.5 drafting standards to create detailed models, drawings, and documentation.
- Develop complete drawing packages, assembly documents, and bills of materials (BOMs), including appropriate part selections and engineering change orders.
- Apply knowledge of sheet metal, injection-molded, and machined parts to develop manufacturable, cost-effective designs and support design for manufacturability (DFM).
- Contribute to packaging design for aerospace hardware, ensuring robust, space-efficient, and compliant mechanical solutions.
- Prepare technical reports, conduct structural analysis, and document engineering decisions to support design validation and certification activities.
- Supply hands-on engineering support for component fabrication and assembly of prototype, test, and production hardware to resolve design, manufacturing, assembly, quality, and performance issues.
- Investigate and resolve issues related to product function, safety, and integrity, escalating and collaborating with engineering leadership as needed.
- Advise engineering leadership of any problems that arise during execution of designs that could impair schedules, budgets, or technical quality of deliverables.
- Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including manufacturing, test, certification, and purchasing, to ensure successful product development and launch.
- Participate in weekly project meetings to provide progress updates, review milestones, and ensure on-time, on-budget delivery of development projects.
- Support efforts to achieve and maintain FAA airworthiness certification for product designs, particularly safety restraint systems.
- Manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously in a small to mid-size company environment where engineers frequently take on diverse responsibilities.
- Demonstrate proactive problem solving by identifying potential challenges early, such as testing risks or manufacturability concerns, and driving them to resolution.
- Take ownership of tasks and assignments, following through to completion and consistently meeting scheduled deadlines.
- Communicate clearly and professionally in both written and verbal formats with co-workers, suppliers, management, and customers.
- Exhibit strong time management and organizational skills to meet core hours and project schedules while maintaining high technical quality.
Essential Skills
- Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from an accredited university or college, or a technical degree with approximately 10 years of relevant experience considered on a case-by-case basis; active enrollment in a Bachelor’s program may be taken into consideration.
- Minimum of three years of related mechanical engineering work experience.
- At least three years of SolidWorks and AutoCAD experience, with solid proficiency in 3D modeling and 2D drafting.
- Proficiency with ANSI Y14.5 Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) standards, with practical application in mechanical drawings.
- Mechanical aerospace mechanism design experience, ideally a minimum of three years.
- Ability to interpret and apply commercial and military specifications and customer requirements to mechanical hardware and processes.
- Hands-on experience with sheet metal, injection-molded, and machined parts, including understanding of their design and manufacturing constraints.
- Experience creating and managing drawing packages, assembly documents, and bills of materials (BOMs).
- Experience preparing and processing engineering change orders and techni