Senior Equipment Engineer - Mechanical

Divergent • Long Beach, CA

1d

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 technical challenges, collaborate across Equipment Engineering, Service, Operations, Quality, and Development Engineering, and mentor technicians and peers.

The role contributes to Service and Operations support, fleet reliability and problem resolution, and change and configuration management. You will improve work instructions and preventive maintenance, provide technical support to operators and Service, investigate equipment issues using machine and downstream part data, lead root-cause and corrective-action work, recommend reliability improvements, and help manage equipment changes. You will also support equipment installation, commissioning, FAT/SAT, qualification, production readiness, quality compliance, and design-for-manufacturability and design-for-reliability efforts for future machines.

Requirements

• Ability to lawfully access information and technology subject to US 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 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.
• Ability to lead root-cause investigations using structured methodologies such as RCCA, 5 Whys, Fishbone, or Fault Tree, and verify corrective actions are effective.
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills, including identifying problems in large datasets rather than only responding to reported failures.
• Ability to work and influence across engineering, operations, quality, maintenance, and service teams without direct authority, and communicate clearly with people at different levels of technical depth.
• Experience mentoring or training other 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 a fleet-level reliability, trending, or performance program, 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, such as SQL or Python.
• 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 write new instructions to enable greater Service team autonomy.
• Provide technical support to operators and Service, including support for novel issues and as part of the Service Level Agreement.
• Support preventive maintenance improvements based on observed equipment performance.
• Mentor technicians and operators and ensure investigation knowledge is captured and standardized.
• Take technical ownership of assigned equipment after qualification and track performance against safety, quality, delivery, and cost baselines.
• Troubleshoot mechanical issues involving recoater and build-platform performance, motion and alignment, wear and tolerance stack-up, gas flow and filtration, cooling, and powder handling; collaborate with electrical and controls engineers when needed.
• Analyze machine process data and downstream printed-part data to identify issues and causes.
• Contribute to fleet-level 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, and support investigations led by others.
• Provide Development Engineering with input on machine reliability and targeted fixes, contributing domain expertise to team priorities.
• Drive cost reduction through equipment optimization.
• Help determine when and where 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 the technical approach for assigned projects and provide management with clear, data-backed recommendations on tradeoffs.
• Support installation, commissioning, FAT/SAT, qualification, and production readiness for new equipment and factory expansion.
• Support quality compliance, including AS9100, AMS, and PPAP, and analyze equipment-related quality issues.
• Provide input on Design for Manufacturability and Design for Reliability 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, including HMO and Premium PPO options.
• Company-sponsored life insurance.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Reimbursement opportunities for learning and development initiatives.

What This Job Offers

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