Instrumental technology is used by the world’s most admired electronics brands, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, and Meta, to accelerate new product development and improve production yields. Our technology leverages AI to process data generated on the manufacturing floor, automating failure identification and resolution and improving yield, quality, and time-to-market.

Instrumental is looking for a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, Manufacturing Fixtures to design the custom fixtures, nests, test setups, and station hardware that make our technology work inside real electronics manufacturing environments.

This is not a generic product design role. We are looking for someone who has repeatedly built production-ready fixtures for electronics manufacturing and understands what happens when a design leaves CAD and enters a factory. You should have strong opinions about datums, repeatability, part protection, tolerancing, operator usability, quick-turn fabrication, and how to design fixtures that survive real line conditions.

In this role, you will work with Instrumental’s Hardware Design & Solutions team to support some of the world’s leading electronics companies. You will design solutions for products ranging from small wearables and consumer devices to industrial systems and high-performance compute hardware. Every customer and product is different, which means this role requires strong mechanical fundamentals, manufacturing judgment, and the ability to move quickly without sacrificing quality.

You will be joining a team that sits at the intersection of hardware, manufacturing, computer vision, and AI. Your work will directly affect how quickly customers can deploy Instrumental, capture useful data, and improve manufacturing outcomes.

We’re Looking For Someone Who

• Has 8–12+ years of mechanical design experience, with significant experience designing fixtures, nests, test setups, or manufacturing aids for electronics production environments.
• Has designed hardware that was actually built, deployed, and used in manufacturing environments — not just modeled in CAD.
• Understands datum strategy, tolerancing, repeatability, operator usability, part protection, ESD, manufacturability, and quick-turn fabrication.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Design production-ready fixtures, nests, test setups, and station hardware for electronics manufacturing environments.
• Own mechanical design from requirements gathering through CAD, prototype, fabrication, review, iteration, and deployment support.

Suggested Requirements

• 8–12+ years of mechanical design experience, ideally in electronics manufacturing, fixture design, test hardware, automation, manufacturing engineering, or related roles.
• Deep experience designing fixtures, nests, test hardware, or production tooling for electronics products.
• CAD fluency in at least one professional 3D modeling tool; NX experience is a plus.
• Strong understanding of CNC machining and other quick-turn fabrication methods.

Instrumental offers competitive, location-based compensation. The following is a representative annual base salary range for the Bay Area: $158,000-$174,000.

Job leveling and salary opportunity are evaluated through our interview process—we review each applicant's experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. Instrumental’s benefits include: Health, Vision, Dental, Public Transit/Commuter Plans, and Parental Leave.

At Instrumental, protecting company and customer information is a shared responsibility. All employees are expected to comply with company security and privacy policies and promptly report suspected security incidents or policy violations.