Position Summary
The Mechanical Engineering Manager leads Daedalus Industrial's mechanical engineering team in the design and development of custom automation equipment, robotic systems, and industrial machinery. This role provides technical oversight, manages engineering resources, and ensures designs meet requirements for functionality, manufacturability, safety, and reliability.
With a focus on redefining efficiency through innovation and standardization, this position advances modular design, engineering productivity, and collaboration across controls, electrical, fabrication, and project teams.
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership & Personnel Management
- Manage Mechanical Engineers, including workload assignments, resource planning, time approvals, performance reviews, and professional development.
- Provide technical guidance and mentorship; coordinate engineering priorities with Project Managers to meet budgets and schedules.
- Support recruiting, onboarding, and team development.
Mechanical Design & Technical Oversight
- Oversee design of custom automation equipment, robotic cells, material handling systems, and integrated production lines.
- Review and approve concepts, 3D models, fabrication drawings, assemblies, and bills of materials.
- Guide integration of 6-axis industrial robots, including robot reach, tooling, payload, access, guarding, and coordination with surrounding equipment.
- Oversee design of pneumatic, hydraulic, and other fluid power systems, including component selection, circuit development, and creation and interpretation of associated schematics.
- Ensure designs satisfy functional requirements, cycle time targets, safety standards, and customer specifications.
- Promote FEA, kinematic analysis, robot/line simulation, and digital twins where appropriate.
Design Efficiency & Standardization
- Maintain mechanical design standards, reusable assemblies, component libraries, and documentation practices.
- Improve CAD workflows, automate repetitive design tasks, and promote modular, maintainable equipment designs.
- Establish effective design reviews to improve quality and reduce fabrication rework.
Fabrication & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Coordinate with fabrication and assembly teams to improve manufacturability, cost, and build efficiency.
- Collaborate with the Project Engineer (Fabrication & Commissioning) to resolve assembly issues and support testing and startup.
- Work with Electrical, Controls, and Motion Engineers on integrated equipment designs, robot applications, and fluid power controls.
- Support technical concepts and estimating; incorporate fabrication and commissioning feedback into future designs.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
- 7+ years of mechanical engineering experience, preferably in custom automation or industrial machinery; 3+ years of engineering leadership preferred.
- Advanced proficiency with SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, or similar 3D CAD software.
- Demonstrated experience integrating 6-axis industrial robots into custom automation equipment; robot simulation or offline programming experience is a plus.
- Experience designing pneumatic and hydraulic systems, selecting fluid power components, and creating and interpreting pneumatic and hydraulic schematics.
- Strong knowledge of machine design, GD&T, manufacturing processes, motion mechanisms, and equipment integration.
- Familiarity with applicable machine safety standards, including ISO 12100, ISO 13849, and relevant ANSI standards.
- Experience with mechanical analysis, design standardization, and engineering process improvement; strong leadership and communication skills.
Working Conditions
- Primarily office and fabrication environments, with periodic customer-site visits.
- Hands-on support during equipment assembly, testing, and commissioning as needed.
- Occasional travel; PPE required in fabrication and field environments.