Caladan is looking for a Head of Mechanical Engineering to lead in the development of our next generation of products. You will develop critical bioreactor subsystems as well as lead full system integration and testing. You will be full-stack - project conceptualization, CAD, prototyping, DFM, drawings, CM relationship management, performance and reliability testing, etc. This is a great opportunity for someone wanting to establish our mechanical engineering department and practices and help grow our hardware team over time.
Caladan is a startup based in Brooklyn NY that is building next generation benchtop bioreactors. Caladan is backed by venture firms Twelve Below, Lerer Hippeau, Collaborative Fund and Wireframe. Caladan s mission is to help enable synthetic biology companies to scale up biomade products by arming them with high-throughput bioreactors, designed to lower costs and increase data output of fermentation experiments.
What You ll Do
- Serve as Head of Mechanical Engineering on cross-functional project teams to develop world-class bioreactor systems.
- Leverage your strong understanding of customer needs, balance system-level requirements, resolve complex mechanical design issues, and commit to the highest product quality.
- Create intellectual property by brainstorming novel concepts, writing invention disclosures, and creating rapid prototypes.
- Create product functional and design specifications and drawings; analyze and test product designs + components.
- Help develop initial fixtures and assembly processes in collaboration with contract manufacturing team(s); develop and collaborate on verification testing.
- Provide mechanical engineering support for resolution of manufacturing and field issues.
- Support production of final product by troubleshooting process and component problems.
- Investigate and determine the root cause of quality, manufacturing, or material defects.
What You ll Bring
- Ability to work onsite in our NYC headquarters.
- 6+ years hands-on mechanical design engineering experience for electromechanical devices.
- BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent experience.
- Expert in managing large CAD assemblies in Solidworks, knowledge of PDM and PLM systems
- Familiarity with all phases of the product development lifecycle including design, implementation, debugging, verification, qualification, and manufacturing.
- Demonstrated knowledge of component manufacturing processes such as CNC, injection molding, sheet metal, surface finishing. Ability to optimize for low and high volume manufacturing.
- Strong understanding of component selection criteria, and design for reliability and manufacturability.
- Strong written and verbal skills, you re a strong storyteller who uses inclusive language to ensure understanding explaining technical concepts to non-technical partners.
- Collaboration skills, you easily communicate effectively with diverse audiences in geographically distributed locations.
- A driven self-starter who thrives in sometimes ambiguous situations.
Nice to have, but not required
- Familiarity with biology, lab automation or fermentation
What s in it for you
- Opportunity to become a founding member of our core engineering team and establish processes within Caladan.
- Become leader and manager of our hardware team as we grow
- Chance to work on cutting edge technology in a very dynamic industry
- Medical, vision and dental
- Competitive compensation: the salary range for this position is $140,000 to $200,000 plus equity