Mechanical Engineer, Freeform
$75-200k
+ Stock option packages
Relocation assistance provided
Office located in Hawthorne, CA
Metal 3D printing factories
Job no longer available
Metal 3D printing factories
21-100 employees
Job no longer available
$75-200k
+ Stock option packages
Relocation assistance provided
Office located in Hawthorne, CA
21-100 employees
Company mission
To make the transformative power of 3D printing available to all industries at scale and unlock the future of innovation.
Role
Who you are
- The ideal candidate is capable of running projects with little oversight and has the ability work effectively with other engineering disciplines
- 3D printing experience is not required to be successful here - rather we look for smart, motivated, collaborative engineers who love solving hard problems and creating amazing technology!
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering from an ABET accredited university or college
- Hands on design experience from internships or engineering clubs such as FSAE, Baja SAE, rocket club, robotics club, or similar
- Full life-cycle hardware design experience from hand calcs to CAD to fabrication and testing
- Well-versed in mechanical engineering fundamentals and comfortable taking a first-principles approach to solving problems
Desirable
- Advanced degree (Master's, PhD) in mechanical engineering
- 4+ years of experience designing complex mechanical systems for semiconductor, machining, automation, materials processing, or other related industrial manufacturing or capital equipment applications (e.g. additive manufacturing, semiconductor, robotics, CNC, or biomedical manufacturing equipment design engineering experience)
- Knowledge of motion control and kinematics
- Experience with design of fluid or thermal systems
- Working knowledge of electromechanical systems
- Passion for improving the state of metal 3D printing
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
What the job involves
- As a Mechanical Engineer at Freeform, you will own projects cradle to grave as a responsible engineer, taking designs from concept through design, fabrication, testing, and implementation
- You will contribute to overall machine system architecture, and will also work cross functionally with electrical and software engineering teams to integrate interdisciplinary systems
- Act as a responsible engineer in bringing hardware from concept to production
- Work with senior engineers to research, develop, design, and test complex mechanical components, subassemblies, equipment, and systems
- Perform tolerance analysis of designs at the system and subsystem level
- Plan and perform tests to analyze the feasibility, design, operation and performance of equipment, components, and systems
- Work hands-on to build, integrate, and validate designs and newly developed systems and/or subsystems
- Strategize continuous improvement plans to enhance system performance, reliability, and manufacturability
Our take
There is a huge amount of demand for precision metal fabrication in future-focused industries such as rocketry and vehicle manufacturing, but legacy production techniques are too slow and inflexible to meet the requirements of rapidly changing designs in the most innovative firms. Enter Freeform Future, a company which builds metal 3D printing factories to allow manufacturers to swiftly and efficiently go from idea to mass production.
Founded by engineers with extensive experience at SpaceX, Freeform seeks to replace existing metal fabrication works - typified with heavy reliance on manual labour and legacy processes - with 3D printers and automated software technologies. Rather than needing to train a large workforce on production techniques, Freeform will be able to print almost any metal item at production scale on demand, with a turnaround time of days rather than weeks.
Though having only emerged from stealth in 2023, Freeform has some large-scale customers including autonomous trucking firm Embark and rocket part manufacturer, Ursa Major. After raising significant funding in early 2023, the company is moving from prototype to production, scaling up its operations to meet the growing demand for rapidly produced, high-quality metal components.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Oct 2024
$14m
EARLY VC
Feb 2023
$45m
EARLY VC
Total funding: $59m
Company benefits
- Significant stock option packages
- 100% employer-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance (premium PPO and HMO options)
- Life insurance
- Traditional and Roth 401(k)
- Relocation assistance provided
- Paid vacation, sick leave, and company holidays
- Generous Paid Parental Leave and extended transition back to work for the birthing parent
- Free daily catered lunch and dinner, and fully stocked kitchenette
- Casual dress, flexible work hours, and regular catered team building events
Company HQ
Hawthorne, CA
Articles
Leadership
Erik Palitsch
(CEO)Previously was Propulsion Development Manager at SpaceX. Before that was a Solid Propulsion Systems Engineer for NASA.
Thomas Ronacher
(President)Before co-founding Freeform, was VP Hardware Engineering at Hyperloop One and Thermal System Lead for Virgin Galactic. Prior to that was Principal Design Engineer with Seal Science and Senior Propulsion Analyst at SpaceX.
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