Sr. Manufacturing Solutions Engineer

Instrumental, Inc.•Palo Alto, CA

1d•$188,000 - $240,000

About The Position

This role is for a Senior Manufacturing Solutions Engineer who will combine mechanical design, electronics manufacturing expertise, and direct customer collaboration to build custom hardware and software solutions that go straight into real production lines. The position offers a unique opportunity for experienced mechanical engineers to work on diverse customer applications across various industries, moving beyond repetitive tasks. It also provides a path for those considering an MBA or a strategic technical track, allowing them to own solutions end-to-end, manage technical tradeoffs, and influence business stakeholders, similar to running a technical consulting practice with strong team support.

Requirements

10+ years in mechanical design, manufacturing engineering, product design, automation, test equipment, or related disciplines
Excellent communication skills and genuine enthusiasm for working directly with customers
Experience on high-volume electronics or NPI manufacturing floors, understanding production workflows, line constraints, and challenges in transitioning from NPI to mass production
Strong CAD skills (SolidWorks, Creo, NX, or similar)
Real fluency in DFM, tolerance analysis, and mechanical design tradeoffs
A builder's mindset; preference for solving ambiguous problems over waiting for perfectly-scoped ones

Nice To Haves

Startup experience or a track record of driving initiatives independently
Willingness to travel occasionally to customer sites
Experience in high-volume consumer electronics
Experience in robotics or automation
Experience with AI server or networking hardware
Experience with optical systems or machine vision

Responsibilities

Architect customer manufacturing solutions by partnering directly with engineering, manufacturing, and operations teams to understand their production processes, technical requirements, and constraints.
Translate customer needs into end-to-end inspection solutions, determining optimal placement of Instrumental stations to maximize coverage, throughput, and business impact.
Lead technical customer engagements, acting as the technical voice throughout the customer lifecycle and balancing cycle time, manufacturability, ergonomics, cost, and inspection coverage.
Collaborate closely with Sales, Product, Hardware, Software, and Customer Success teams.
Design production-ready hardware, defining the technical solution for each deployment, including station placement, imaging strategy, mechanical fixtures, optics, and lighting.
Ensure seamless integration of solutions into high-volume production lines.
Turn manufacturing data into decisions by understanding how customers use their data (images, test results, BOMs, production records) and building solutions that improve visibility and speed up decision-making on the floor.