Mechanical Engineer, Consumer Electronics
About The Position
DoorDash Labs is DoorDash’s innovation hub, developing automation and robotics solutions for last-mile logistics. The Mechanical Engineer will design and build connected consumer and enterprise devices, including SmartScale, lockers, POS systems, and hardware for emerging automation and robotics applications. The role covers mechanical development from ambiguous user or business needs through product architecture, rapid prototyping, and field pilots. This is a build-heavy position on a small, senior, multidisciplinary team. The engineer will work directly with suppliers, collaborate hands-on around prototypes and lab work, and provide mechanical leadership during new product introduction (NPI), with support from an NPI/program partner. Specialist reliability expertise may be brought in as programs mature. San Francisco-based candidates are preferred; hybrid arrangements are acceptable.
Requirements
- Hands-on experience taking a physical product or subsystem from incomplete requirements through mechanical design, prototyping, debugging, and testing, with evidence of learning from users or real operating conditions.
- Strong mechanical design fundamentals, including materials and process selection, fit and tolerances, assembly, and practical reliability considerations.
- Proficiency with a mechanical CAD package such as SolidWorks, Creo, NX, or equivalent, and ability to create supplier-usable drawings and specifications.
- Product judgment: ability to question requirements, understand customer problems, and explain technical choices in terms of cost, usability, performance, and business value.
- Ability to work independently through ambiguity, prioritize work, and communicate decisions and risks clearly.
- Experience collaborating with suppliers or manufacturing partners and engineers from other disciplines.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Comfort regularly exercising discretion and independent judgment, including evaluating options, making informed decisions, and determining appropriate courses of action within assigned responsibilities.
Nice To Haves
- Experience bringing products into production, supporting NPI, or resolving manufacturing defects, ideally in mass production; relevant experience may include design for manufacturing and assembly, tooling, reliability testing, or field failure analysis. Personally leading a high-volume ramp is not required.
- Experience in a startup, small hardware team, or another setting where the candidate helped define the problem and owned work across disciplinary boundaries.
- Basic electrical engineering, firmware, or programming capability that helps build and debug integrated prototypes.
- Experience with electromechanical products, mechanisms, enclosures, sensors, or merchant-facing hardware.
Responsibilities
- Help define product requirements and features from customer needs and business priorities, and explain trade-offs among user experience, performance, cost, reliability, and development time.
- Build prototypes for new product ideas, partner on pilot design, and translate real-use findings into requirements and designs for larger pilots.
- Communicate what was learned from pilots and recommend next steps.
- Create CAD, drawings, and physical prototypes; select materials, components, and fabrication methods suited to the development stage.
- Apply mechanical fundamentals, tolerance analysis, and targeted calculations or simulation to important risks, and design and conduct physical tests to check assumptions.
- Integrate mechanical designs with electronics, sensors, and firmware, and debug issues across those interfaces with teammates.
- Lead mechanical engineering work with manufacturing partners during NPI by investigating mechanical and build-quality issues, assessing proposed changes, and helping define and verify corrective actions.
- Work directly with suppliers on prototype parts, design feedback, build issues, and readiness for larger pilots.
- Bring in specialist support for safety, reliability, tooling, or production questions as needed.
Benefits
- 401(k) plan with employer matching
- 16 weeks of paid parental leave
- Wellness benefits
- Commuter benefits match
- Paid time off and paid sick leave
- Medical, dental, and vision benefits
- 11 paid holidays
- Disability and basic life insurance
- Family-forming assistance
- Mental health program
- Equity grants
- For salaried roles: flexible paid time off/vacation and 80 hours of paid sick time per year
- For hourly roles: accrued vacation and paid sick time
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
