Principal Mechanical Engineer

About the Role

Join a small defense technology team developing autonomous, field-deployed directed energy systems. You will provide senior mechanical engineering judgment across the full system, guiding hardware from architecture and integration through production readiness and field use.

What You'll Do

• Own mechanical architecture across the system and lead integration with electrical, power, embedded, and optics disciplines.
• Make technical decisions on complex hardware problems from concept through production readiness.
• Guide hardware release and production processes in partnership with manufacturing.
• Review designs, analysis, and documentation to identify risks early and maintain strong engineering standards.
• Perform hands-on engineering work where your experience can resolve challenging problems quickly.
• Make design and manufacturing tradeoffs across cost, mass, reliability, schedule, and field performance.
• Share technical expertise through hands-on mentorship and design collaboration.

What We're Looking For

• At least 10 years of experience designing and shipping complex hardware systems.
• Mechanical engineering is your primary discipline, with recent hands-on experience in CAD, structures, mechanisms, and packaging.
• Repeated experience taking hardware from prototype through manufacturing and field deployment.
• Experience leading full-system integration across mechanical and multiple engineering disciplines, with meaningful judgment in electrical, power electronics, or embedded systems.
• Experience with ruggedized hardware, real-world operating environments, and analysis such as FEA or hand calculations correlated against test data.
• A senior individual contributor or technical lead background at a hardware company that shipped products.
• Defense, aerospace, robotics, high-performance automotive, maritime, or directed energy experience is relevant. Experience with high-power thermal management, beam-directing mechanisms, manufacturing scale-up, or military-grade qualification is valuable.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $235,000 to $305,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

On-site in San Francisco, California, United States.