Mechanical Design Engineer

WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE

A mechanical/design engineer with true end-to-end hardware ownership — someone who has taken a requirement, designed it, gotten it manufactured, and seen it through test or deployment, at high volume, at a vertically integrated, fast-iterating hardware company (SpaceX, Tesla-adjacent, Relativity, Anduril, Castelion, or comparable). This is a generalist profile prized for ownership, first-principles thinking, and speed of learning over narrow specialization — though this specific req (per the new JD) may call for someone with additional depth in rotating machinery, thermal/structural analysis, and high-temp alloy manufacturing. Low ego, comfortable with ambiguity and thin documentation, able to self-direct by asking questions until they understand the system, then picking up open items and executing.

MUST-HAVES

• 5+ years of mechanical design engineering experience with strong ownership work experience.
• Expert-level parametric CAD (NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, or Creo)
• Strong grounding in thermal stress, rotordynamics, and mechanics of materials
• GD&T/DFM fluency for high-temperature alloy machining, casting, or additive manufacturing (Inconel, Titanium)
• A startup operator's comfort with ambiguity, shifting requirements, and moving fast without a lot of scaffolding
• Has shipped a high volume of parts and owned hardware end-to-end: requirements → design → manufacturing → test/deployment
• Background at a high-velocity, vertically integrated hardware company (SpaceX, Tesla-adjacent, Relativity, Anduril, Castelion, or comparable) — NOT primarily traditional defense primes (Lockheed, Boeing) or similar slow-cycle, siloed environments
• Comfortable operating with limited documentation and high ambiguity
• Expert-level parametric CAD (NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, or Creo) — per new JD only, not raised on the call

NICE-TO-HAVES

• Direct turbopump or high-performance turbomachinery/engine program background (e.g., SpaceX Raptor) [Supplemented — verify with client, per new JD]
• 3D metal printing / additive manufacturing background
• Experience with test rigs and stands
• Aeroderivative/micro-turbine experience, bearing/seal architecture work, hot-fire or spin-pit test stand experience, Python/MATLAB for trade studies (per new JD)

AUTO-DISQUALIFIERS

• Career primarily at traditional defense primes with slow, non-iterative product cycles — client specifically named Lockheed and Boeing as examples of what NOT to source from
• Job-hopping — less than 2–3 years average tenure per company is a hard minimum concern
• Candidates who tie their identity to their work / high-ego profiles who won't operate as peers regardless of seniority — this was raised as a strong cultural disqualifier on the call, though it is not a formal named auto-DQ in either JD

TARGET PROFILE

• Target companies: SpaceX, Tesla/Tesla-adjacent, Relativity, Anduril, Castelion, and comparable vertically integrated, fast-iteration hardware startups
• Target titles: Mechanical Engineer, Design Engineer, Hardware Engineer (generalist bias); [Supplemented — verify with client] Turbomachinery/Propulsion Engineer for this specific req if the new JD's scope is confirmed
• Target backgrounds and career paths: Engineers who've owned complex hardware programs with significant part volume and full lifecycle responsibility, not narrow specialists
• Experience range (years): 6.5–15 years per the call (with a documented example as young as ~4–4.5 years); new JD states 5+; old JD states ~4–15. Flagged above for client confirmation.

HOW TO EVALUATE QUICKLY

• Ask them to walk through one hardware project end-to-end — requirements, design decisions, manufacturing constraints, and what happened when it hit test. Depth and specificity of the answer is the single best signal cited by the client.
• Ask what they'd do on day one with poor/no documentation and an ambiguous scope — are they proactive about tracking down the right people and information?
• Ask what questions they're asking you. The client explicitly said the strongest predictor of a good hire is the quality of questions the candidate asks in the first interview.

CULTURE FIT

• Looking for: Low ego, first-principles thinkers who treat "best idea wins" as real regardless of seniority; comfortable failing and getting back up quickly; self-driven, high-velocity operators who don't need a big support structure.
• Avoid: Candidates who tie identity to their work or expect deference based on tenure/pedigree; anyone expecting mature documentation, process, or slow, deliberate design cycles.