Senior Equipment Engineer - Mechanical

Divergent • Long Beach, CA

17h • $111,300 - $176,720

About The Position

As Senior Equipment Engineer–Mechanical, you will serve as a subject matter expert on the mechanical systems of production L-PBF equipment, including motion, recoating and build platform systems, inert gas flow and filtration, cooling and thermal management, and powder handling. You will own technical issues and projects for assigned equipment, establish approaches and standards for recurring challenges, work across Equipment Engineering, Service, Operations, Quality, and Development Engineering, and mentor technicians and peers.

The role supports Service and Operations by improving and creating work instructions, advising operators and Service on both routine and novel issues, improving preventative maintenance, and transferring investigation knowledge into standardized practices. You will own equipment reliability after qualification, monitor performance against safety, quality, delivery, and cost baselines, troubleshoot mechanical problems, analyze machine and downstream part data, contribute to fleet reliability trends, and lead root-cause and corrective-action work. You will also provide reliability input to Development Engineering and drive equipment cost reductions.

You will support asset change and configuration management, standardize lessons learned across the fleet and future factories, set technical approaches for assigned projects, and provide data-backed recommendations to management. Additional work includes supporting equipment installation, commissioning, FAT/SAT, qualification, production readiness, factory expansion, quality compliance and equipment-related quality analysis, and providing input on DFM and DFR for next-generation machines.

Requirements

• Ability to lawfully access information and technology subject to U.S. export controls.
• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related discipline.
• At least 6 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, equipment engineering, reliability engineering, or advanced production environments.
• Experience owning the sustaining performance of production equipment and supporting it through launch or ramp.
• Strong mechanical troubleshooting skills on production equipment, such as motion, fluid, gas, or thermal systems, and working knowledge of electrical and controls systems sufficient to troubleshoot alongside specialists.
• Demonstrated ability to lead root-cause investigations using structured methods such as RCCA, 5 Whys, Fishbone, or Fault Tree, and verify corrective actions hold.
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills, including identifying problems in large datasets rather than responding only to reported failures.
• Ability to work across and influence engineering, operations, quality, maintenance, and service teams without direct authority, and communicate clearly with people at varying technical levels.
• Experience mentoring or training engineers or technicians.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) or other metal additive manufacturing technologies.
• Experience with mechanical subsystems common to L-PBF and similar equipment, such as recoating or powder handling, precision motion and alignment, inert gas flow and filtration, chillers and thermal management, or vacuum and pressure systems.
• Experience with GD&T, tolerance analysis, CAD (such as SolidWorks), and reading mechanical drawings and P&IDs.
• Experience contributing to fleet-level reliability, trending, or performance programs, such as OEE, MTBF/MTTR, or failure-mode tracking, across multiple machines or sites.
• Experience writing or standardizing work instructions that enable Service or Operations teams to work more independently.
• Experience with configuration management or engineering change processes.
• Experience working with machine sensor data or manufacturing analytics using SQL, Python, or similar tools.
• Experience with controls systems, PLCs, industrial automation, or machine integration.
• Experience supporting capital equipment installation, commissioning, or factory expansion.
• Knowledge of AS9100, AMS, PPAP, APQP, or equivalent quality systems.

Responsibilities

• Improve existing work instructions and create new ones to help Service resolve day-to-day issues autonomously.
• Provide technical support to operators and Service, including support for novel issues and as part of the Service Level Agreement.
• Support preventative maintenance improvements based on equipment performance.
• Mentor technicians and operators and standardize knowledge gained from difficult investigations.
• Take technical ownership of assigned equipment after qualification and track performance against safety, quality, delivery, and cost baselines.
• Troubleshoot mechanical issues on L-PBF equipment, including recoater and build platform performance, motion and alignment, wear and tolerance stack-up, gas flow and filtration, cooling, and powder handling.
• Work with electrical and controls engineers when equipment failures cross disciplinary boundaries.
• Analyze machine process data and downstream printed-part data to identify causes of issues.
• Contribute to fleet-wide trend and reliability data and use it to prioritize work.
• Lead root-cause and corrective-action investigations from issue identification and containment through long-term corrective action; support cross-functional investigations led by others.
• Provide regular reliability input to Development Engineering and contribute domain expertise to prioritized development requests.
• Drive cost reduction through equipment optimization.
• Help determine where and when asset changes are made and apply guidance on formal change control.
• Support improvements to change approval and configuration control processes.
• Document lessons learned for standardization across the fleet and future factories.
• Set technical approaches for assigned projects and provide management with clear, data-backed recommendations on tradeoffs.
• Support installation, commissioning, FAT/SAT, qualification, production readiness, and factory expansion for new equipment.
• Support quality compliance (AS9100, AMS, PPAP) and analysis of equipment-related quality issues.
• Provide input on Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Reliability (DFR) for next-generation machines.

Benefits

• Competitive salary, equity plan, and discretionary results-based incentive bonus opportunities.
• Paid vacation, sick time, and company holidays, including a year-end shutdown.
• Paid parental leave.
• Health and wellness benefits with HMO and Premium PPO options.
• Company-sponsored life insurance and short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Reimbursement opportunities for learning and development initiatives.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior