Senior Mechanical Engineer

Sofar Ocean•San Francisco, CA

43d•$135,000 - $170,000

About The Position

As a Mechanical Engineer at Sofar, you’ll be a key contributor to the design, development, and manufacturing of the hardware that powers our ocean sensing networks. You’ll work across the full product lifecycle—from early system architecture and prototyping through testing, deployment, and transition to manufacturing. You’ll own mechanical designs and make thoughtful tradeoffs across performance, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and schedule. You’ll work closely with electrical, firmware, software, and manufacturing engineers to solve challenging multidisciplinary problems, and you won’t hesitate to jump in when the root cause isn’t obviously mechanical.

Requirements

5+ years of professional mechanical engineering experience designing hardware for marine, robotics, aerospace, automotive, or other demanding environments.
Strong proficiency in 3D CAD (Onshape or SolidWorks preferred) and experience owning mechanical designs from concept through production.
Strong mechanical fundamentals, including materials and process selection, structural analysis, fatigue, tolerancing, GD&T, and engineering drawings.
Experience building, testing, debugging, and iterating on physical hardware
Strong engineering judgment and the ability to work effectively with team members from different fields such as electrical, firmware, manufacturing, and external vendors.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing hardware for marine or subsea environments, including sealing, corrosion, and long-duration environmental exposure.
Experience with FEA and designing for static, cyclic, impact, or thermal loads.
Experience with sensor integration into larger systems
Hands-on machining or fabrication experience.
Previous start-up experience
A passion for or connection to the ocean

Responsibilities

Own mechanical designs and subassemblies from early concepts and CAD through prototyping, validation, and production.
Design reliable hardware for harsh marine environments, balancing performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule.
Build, test, and debug prototypes and production hardware, using testing and failure analysis to drive design improvements.
Lead mechanical design reviews and collaborate closely with electrical, firmware, software, and manufacturing engineers on integrated systems.
Work directly with suppliers, machine shops, vendors, and contract manufacturers to develop and scale parts and assemblies.
Collaborate across Sofar, and occasionally directly with customers, to develop new marine sensing applications and participate in field testing and ocean deployments.