Mechanical Engineer, Hardware Systems

Normal Computing Corporation • Palo Alto, CA

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About The Position

Normal Computing is seeking a founding mechanical engineer for its hardware team to define the physical design of AI inference hardware built on its Thermo In-Memory Computing architecture. The role spans multiple levels of integration, from accelerator through server to rack, and covers the transition from engineering configuration to deployable product. The mechanical design decisions made in this role will shape the systems Normal ships and its customers operate.

The engineer will define hardware form factors, thermal solutions, airflow, mounting, serviceability, assembly structures, bills of materials, and component envelopes. They will integrate compute, host platforms, networking, and power in server chassis and racks; assess supplier platforms; and identify assembly, cooling, and serviceability issues before builds. The role also owns drawing and BOM releases, manufacturability, supplier engineering reviews, build issue resolution, mechanical and thermal qualification, and failure root-cause analysis. The engineer will coordinate safety, EMC, and environmental compliance with the electrical team and test lab.

This role reports to the head of the hardware systems organization and partners with silicon, systems, and deployment engineers, as well as external design and manufacturing partners. Candidates with experience on OEM or ODM server teams, hyperscaler infrastructure teams, or at early-stage hardware companies may be well qualified.

Requirements

• Six or more years of experience, or equivalent shipped work, owning accelerator or server hardware.
• Experience taking a relevant design from prototype through qualification and production, and ability to explain the design, failures, and resulting changes.
• Strong mechanical design skills using SolidWorks, Creo, NX, or similar, including FEA, tolerance analysis, and design for manufacturing.
• Ability to release manufacturing drawings that a manufacturing partner can build from.
• Hands-on thermal design and validation for server or accelerator hardware, with strong first-principles reasoning and practical lab experience.
• Experience integrating server hardware into standard chassis and racks, including understanding mechanical interfaces and serviceability.
• Electrical fluency to read schematics and work with electrical engineers on power and interconnect integration.
• Experience directing external design or manufacturing partners, including reviewing designs, releasing build documentation, and resolving issues during builds.

Nice To Haves

• Direct experience turning industrial design concepts and appearance models into production mechanical designs.
• Experience shipping hardware to external customers, including certification, documentation, and service obligations.
• Experience with soft and hard tooling decisions and fixture and test setup design with an ODM or contract manufacturer.
• Experience integrating liquid cooling into server or rack systems.
• Experience designing to Open Compute Project or other open modular server and rack architectures.

Responsibilities

• Own the electromechanical design of inference hardware as it moves from engineering configuration to deployable product, including form factor, thermal solution and airflow, connectors and cabling, and power and thermal envelopes.
• Define the mechanical configuration of shipped systems, including assembly structure, BOM, and space envelopes for boards and components; identify assembly, cooling, and serviceability problems before parts are ordered.
• Define mechanical integration of compute, host platform, networking, and power in the chassis; validate airflow and thermal performance with the system fully populated; and design for technician service in a live rack.
• Set rack configuration, power distribution layout, cabling, weight and blanking plan, and mounting approach across standard and open-rack formats.
• Own drawing and BOM releases, manufacturability, supplier engineering reviews, and resolution of build failures.
• Evaluate cost and lead-time consequences of design and supplier choices, and conduct hardware bring-up and validation in the lab.
• Own mechanical and thermal qualification, write test specifications and procedures, conduct shock, vibration, and thermal cycling tests, and take lab and field failures to root cause.
• Coordinate safety and EMC certification and environmental compliance with the electrical team and test lab.
• Direct external design and manufacturing partners, including design reviews, build documentation releases, and build issue resolution.

What This Job Offers

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