Mechanical Engineer

Merge Labs • San Francisco, CA

50d • $225,000 - $260,000

About The Position

Merge Labs is a frontier research lab focused on bridging biological and artificial intelligence to enhance human ability, agency, and experience through advanced brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). We are developing high-bandwidth, AI-integrated, safe, and accessible BCIs. The Mechanical Engineer will be responsible for the physical architecture and packaging of our BCI systems, from early-stage R&D prototypes to product-ready hardware. This role also involves building instrumentation and tooling to accelerate scientific research and improve reproducibility. The engineer will balance electrical performance, mechanical constraints, manufacturing realities, and experimental workflows, driving integrated hardware from concept to manufacturable reality. A key aspect of the role is collaborating with scientists to replace temporary setups with robust, repeatable, and accurate fixtures, alignment systems, calibration tools, and instrument subsystems. The ultimate goal is to reduce setup time, improve experimental quality, and own the full mechanical lifecycle, including vendor management and setting mechanical engineering standards.

Requirements

• Deep experience designing complex mechanical hardware and a track record of personally taking designs through build, test, failure analysis, and multiple product turns.
• Strong fundamentals in tolerance analysis, materials/process selection, thermal design, mechanical architecture, and design verification.
• Experience delivering manufacturable designs and working directly with vendors through tooling, production release, and yield/reliability issues.
• A builder’s instinct for rapid prototyping: you know when a rough fixture is enough to learn, when precision matters, and how to instrument the result so the next decision is obvious.
• A systems mindset toward experimental tooling: you care about datums, calibration, repeatability, error budgets, ergonomics, documentation, and whether the next scientist can reproduce the setup without you.
• Empathy for scientists and other technical users; recurring support requests make you want to build a durable tool or platform rather than become the permanent human workaround.
• A rigorous, analytical approach to problem-solving and a willingness to challenge assumptions in a fast-moving R&D environment.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with scientific instrumentation
• Experience with precision motion/alignment
• Experience with medical devices
• Experience with implantables
• Experience with lab automation
• Experience with lightweight test automation/data analysis

Responsibilities

• Drive the mechanical architecture and packaging of high-density PCBAs, sensors, mixed-signal components, cables/flexes, thermal interfaces, and user-facing structures, selecting materials and processes that balance performance, durability, manufacturability, and biocompatibility.
• Execute tight iteration loops using 3D printing, CNC, sheet metal, soft goods, quick-turn tooling, and other rapid fabrication methods to validate form, fit, function, and key engineering risks.
• Own thermal modeling and validation of compact integrated electronic systems, ensuring high-performance ICs operate within strict temperature and form-factor constraints.
• Design scientist-facing instrumentation and mechanical tooling—fixtures, jigs, mounts, sample holders, alignment/calibration mechanisms, environmental interfaces, and test stands—that turn manual or expert-dependent setups into repeatable workflows.
• Define quantitative performance and acceptance criteria for setups, including tolerance, accuracy, repeatability, drift, calibration, environmental stability, and measurement uncertainty; validate them with data and document procedures for reproducibility.
• Own the transition from prototype to production through EVT/DVT/PVT or equivalent, applying DFM/DFA and working directly with vendors to develop tooling, establish inspection/acceptance criteria, and resolve yield or reliability issues.
• Work intimately with Electrical Engineering, Software/Platform, Industrial Design, Clinical, and scientists to ensure physical systems meet device-performance, measurement-quality, usability, and experimental requirements.
• Establish rigorous testing protocols for mechanical reliability and repeatability, including drop, ingress, fatigue, wear, thermal cycling, calibration drift, and other application-specific failure modes.
• Manage critical vendor relationships for fabrication and tooling.

Benefits

• We are hiring for complementary strengths to form a high-impact team.
• We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed