Mechanical Design Engineer, Manufacturing Fixtures

Instrumental, Inc.•Palo Alto, CA

7h•$130,000 - $155,000

About The Position

Instrumental technology is used by the world’s most admired electronics brands, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, and Meta, to accelerate new product development and improve production yields. Our technology leverages AI to process data generated on the manufacturing floor, automating failure identification and resolution and improving yield, quality, and time-to-market. Instrumental is looking for a Mechanical Design Engineer, Manufacturing Fixtures to design the custom fixtures, nests, test setups, and station hardware that make our technology work inside real electronics manufacturing environments. This is not a generic product design role. We are looking for someone who has repeatedly built production-ready fixtures for electronics manufacturing and understands what happens when a design leaves CAD and enters a factory. You should have strong opinions about datums, repeatability, part protection, tolerancing, operator usability, quick-turn fabrication, and how to design fixtures that survive real line conditions. In this role, you will work with Instrumental’s Hardware Design & Solutions team to support some of the world’s leading electronics companies. You will design solutions for products ranging from small wearables and consumer devices to industrial systems and high-performance compute hardware. Every customer and product is different, which means this role requires strong mechanical fundamentals, manufacturing judgment, and the ability to move quickly without sacrificing quality. You will be joining a team that sits at the intersection of hardware, manufacturing, computer vision, and AI. Your work will directly affect how quickly customers can deploy Instrumental, capture useful data, and improve manufacturing outcomes.

Requirements

Has 3+ years of mechanical design experience, with experience designing fixtures, nests, test setups, or manufacturing aids for electronics production environments.
Has designed hardware that was actually built, deployed, and used in manufacturing environments — not just modeled in CAD.
Understands datum strategy, tolerancing, repeatability, operator usability, part protection, ESD, manufacturability, and quick-turn fabrication.
Has experience working with electronics products such as consumer devices, wearables, PCBs, server hardware, industrial electronics, or other high-volume hardware products.
Can anticipate fixture and production risks before they happen, including alignment drift, product damage, cosmetic issues, tolerance stackups, operator misuse, and throughput constraints.
Is highly fluent in CAD and comfortable spending significant time designing, reviewing, and improving mechanical systems.
Communicates design tradeoffs clearly to internal teammates, customers, and manufacturing partners.
Thrives in fast-moving environments where timelines are compressed, requirements are imperfect, and the design still needs to work the first time.

Nice To Haves

3+ years of mechanical design experience, ideally in electronics manufacturing, fixture design, test hardware, automation, manufacturing engineering, or related roles.
Deep experience designing fixtures, nests, test hardware, or production tooling for electronics products.
CAD fluency in at least one professional 3D modeling tool; NX experience is a plus.
Strong understanding of CNC machining and other quick-turn fabrication methods.
Practical knowledge of GD&T, tolerance stackups, datum selection, material selection, and design for assembly.
Experience designing for factory environments, including operator usability, robustness, ESD considerations, product protection, and throughput.
Strong written and spoken English communication skills.
Ability to travel occasionally to support customer deployments or manufacturing partners.
Experience with optics, vision systems, AOI, camera stations, or inspection systems is a plus.

Responsibilities

Design production-ready fixtures, nests, test setups, and station hardware for electronics manufacturing environments.
Own mechanical design from requirements gathering through CAD, prototype, fabrication, review, iteration, and deployment support.
Develop fixture concepts that control product position repeatably while protecting sensitive electronics, cosmetic surfaces, buttons, flexes, connectors, and other high-risk features.
Apply strong datum strategy, tolerance analysis, material selection, and design-for-manufacturing judgment to ensure fixtures work reliably in production.
Partner with Solutions Architects, Hardware Engineering, Operations, customers, and manufacturing partners to understand product requirements and factory constraints.
Communicate design tradeoffs, risks, assumptions, and schedule implications clearly and proactively.
Support quick-turn fabrication using processes such as CNC machining, 3D printing, laser cutting, sheet metal, and other appropriate manufacturing methods.
Review and improve existing designs, identifying risks related to manufacturability, assembly, robustness, usability, and long-term line performance.
Help Instrumental deliver high-quality deployments for customers building some of the world’s most complex electronics products.