Mechatronics/Machine Design Engineer

ELECTRONINKS INCORPORATED•Austin, TX

About The Position

Electroninks is quickly expanding and is seeking a full-time Mechatronics/Machine Design Engineer to joining the CircuitJet Team. You should be able to design a machine gantry, spec the sheet metal enclosure, pick the right motor, wire it up, and know when a problem calls for a clever mechanism versus an electrical solution. You’ll work hand‑in‑hand with experienced electrical engineers the whole way. The work is significantly mechanical engineering, but not exclusively: you’ll think across domains because that’s what building a real machine requires. You’ll own the structural and motion architecture of a complex, multi‑process machine: precision gantries, sheet metal enclosures, CNC‑machined stages, tool changers, fixturing, and board handling, all to micron‑level accuracy and production‑ready reliability. Beyond the mechanical design, you’ll build reliable processes across pick‑and‑place, laser ablation, inkjet printing, solder paste dispensing, alignment, and calibration. And as we move from hand‑built prototypes toward contract‑manufactured production, you’ll help scale the machine itself. You’ll work on a very small team of industry experts who live, eat, and breathe PCBA production. People obsessed with crafting the perfect machine, the perfect process, and the opportunities they unleash. If you’ve built your own 3D printer or robots, get excited about manufacturing machines, and love the idea of a single platform that does the full PCBA stack locally (bare substrate to finished, assembled board), this is your role.

Requirements

BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or equivalent practical experience.
3+ years building robots, machines, or mechatronics systems professionally.
Strong experience designing precision motion systems, gantries, CNC machines, robotics, or automation equipment.
Hands‑on machine building, whether professionally (CNC routers, pick‑and‑place, production equipment) or through personal projects (custom 3D printers, robots, laser cutters).
Deep CAD proficiency is non‑negotiable.
Solid mechanics fundamentals: stiffness, tolerances, bearings, drivetrains, vibration, thermal effects. Comfortable with fabrication (3D printing, machining, laser cutting, sheet metal).
Hands‑on electrical integration (wiring motors, sensors, drives) working alongside experienced EEs.

Nice To Haves

Experience with high‑precision linear stages, micron‑scale positioning, servo systems, or closed‑loop motion.
Familiarity with machine vision‑driven alignment and mechanical design to support optical calibration.
Background in industrial automation, semiconductor tools, PCB equipment, or lab instrumentation.
Experience designing for DFM and low‑volume production scaling to contract manufacturing.
Excited about using AI in your engineering workflow to speed up calculations, select components, and get design critiques, while maintaining your own judgment. You use AI to move faster, not to think for you. When colleagues ask your opinion, you have real thoughts, not a regurgitated ChatGPT answer.
Personal projects that show genuine passion for machines (a custom 3D printer, a robot, a home CNC) speak louder than credentials.

Responsibilities

Design and detail the machine. Architect multi‑axis gantry systems, structural frames, sheet metal enclosures, and CNC‑machined stages. Select linear guides, ball screws, motors, bearings, and drives to hit accuracy, stiffness, and throughput targets. Design toolhead mounts, board handling, fixturing, and transfer mechanisms.
Integrate across domains. Spec and wire motors, encoders, sensors, drivers, and cabling into mechanical assemblies, working hand‑in‑hand with experienced EEs. Know when to solve a problem with a mechanism and when to reach for a sensor and a cable.
Own the processes. Develop reliable, repeatable processes for pick‑and‑place, laser ablation, conductive inkjet printing, solder paste dispensing, board handling, alignment, and calibration. Characterize process windows and iterate until each station performs to spec.
Build, test, iterate. Assemble prototype gantries and subsystems hands‑on. Debug, align, and test for repeatability. Work with materials scientists to translate ink and paste properties into machine parameters that produce consistent results.
Scale it. Help take production from a handful of hand‑built units to working with contract manufacturers for volume. Design for manufacturability, serviceability, and cost‑reduction.
Document everything. Produce detailed CAD assemblies, drawings, BOMs, tolerance stacks, and interface documentation.