Lead Mechanical CAD Engineer for a team building a noninvasive AI wearable in Palo Alto, CA

Lead Mechanical CAD Engineer

About the role

A venture-backed neurotech startup is building a noninvasive brain-computer interface wearable that decodes neural signals into text, with no surgery required. The first product is a textile beanie. It packs cameras, microphones, open-ear speakers, a high-density EEG array, a flex PCB with rigid islands, and a battery into something soft that people will want to wear in public for hours. You’ll own how it looks, how it feels on the head, and how it fits into daily life, taking it from sketch to shipped product.

What you’ll do

• Own industrial and mechanical design end-to-end: sketches, CAD, prototypes, tooling, and DfM with overseas contract manufacturers
• Package electronics into soft goods: flex PCB and rigid-island placement, textile-to-rigid transitions, weight distribution, thermal management, and serviceability
• Define and validate comfort through pressure mapping, weight balance, skin-contact thermal limits, breathability, and long-wear testing across head sizes and hair types
• Set the product’s design language and materials: fabrics, seams, transitions, and how much the device stands out or blends in
• Work with the EE, audio, and camera leads on antenna keep-outs, electrode contact pressure, acoustic ports, mic mesh, and lens windows
• Work with reliability on drop, ingress, thermal, and ergonomic robustness
• Lead the external textile, mechanical, and electronics CM teams, then build out the in-house product design function as it grows
• Must-haves10+ years in industrial design and/or mechanical engineering, with multiple shipped consumer wearables or body-worn products
• Hands-on experience integrating electronics into soft goods (headwear, apparel, garments, or fabric-heavy wearables)
• Expert CAD (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Rhino, or equivalent) and rendering (KeyShot or similar)
• Comfort engineering backed by structured wear testing: pressure points, weight, thermal, and fit across diverse users
• DfM, tooling, and quality work with overseas CMs
• Nice-to-havesDry electrode arrays or other dense sensor-to-skin interfaces
• Textile engineering and soft-goods sourcing (knit beanies, technical apparel, woven goods)
• Optical windows, acoustic ports, or sensor windows in consumer products
• Biocompatibility, skin-contact, and dermatological testing
• A clear view on what makes a wearable beautiful rather than gadget-like

Location: San Francisco, CA (hybrid; up to 5 days onsite during peak build periods)

Type: Full-time

Compensation: $150K–$180K base, plus $75K–$90K in equity and a bonus

Benefits: 401(k) with match, health insurance, flexible PTO

Reports to: Head of Hardware, with regular exposure to the CEO and CTO