Mechanical Engineer / Senior Mechanical Engineer (Actuation)

About Us

HireHawk connects skilled professionals around the world with meaningful remote opportunities at U.S. and Canadian companies, including roles across legal, operations, administration, and client support. We believe great talent can come from anywhere and focus on creating opportunities where remote professionals can take real ownership of their work and contribute directly to the teams they support.

About the Role

We are looking for a Mechanical Engineer / Senior Mechanical Engineer (Actuation) to lead the design and development of high-performance rotary and linear actuators, gear-reduction mechanisms, and precision drive systems. You will own meaningful portions of the development cycle, from architecture and engineering analysis through CAD, prototyping, validation, and production readiness.

You will work closely with materials and processing engineers to take advantage of proprietary materials technology rather than simply designing around conventional constraints. You will also collaborate directly with customer engineering teams to ensure your designs integrate successfully with their mechanical, electrical, and control systems.

This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who wants both technical depth and significant ownership over hardware that will directly influence how advanced robotic systems move.

Responsibilities

• Design compact, high-performance rotary and linear actuators using harmonic or strain-wave, planetary, cycloidal, and novel drive architectures.
• Own actuator and precision-drive designs from early concept development through prototype, validation, production readiness, and customer integration.
• Use first-principles engineering, kinematics, statics, dynamics, and materials knowledge to make informed architecture and design decisions.
• Evaluate competing concepts through analytical calculations, engineering trade studies, simulation, and physical testing.
• Build and refine prototypes to improve torque density, efficiency, durability, manufacturability, packaging, and overall system performance.
• Partner with materials and manufacturing engineers to incorporate advanced materials and fabrication processes into practical mechanical designs.
• Work directly with customer engineering teams to ensure drive systems meet mechanical, electrical, packaging, and control-interface requirements.
• Produce detailed CAD models, engineering drawings, bills of materials, assembly documentation, and other information required to manufacture and integrate your designs.
• Develop and execute verification tests, interpret test data, identify root causes, and iterate designs based on real-world performance.
• Participate in technical design reviews and support design verification and integration activities through successful deployment.

Requirements

Must-Have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a closely related engineering discipline.
• 3+ years of professional experience designing electromechanical actuators, gear systems, precision drive mechanisms, or closely related mechanical systems.
• Strong understanding of mechanical design fundamentals, including kinematics, statics, dynamics, and materials behavior.
• Demonstrated understanding of precision actuators, gearing, or mechanical power-transmission systems.
• Proficiency with modern 3D CAD tools and commonly used mechanical simulation or engineering analysis tools.
• Hands-on experience building, machining, assembling, and testing mechanical or electromechanical prototypes.
• Ability to take a mechanical design beyond CAD and contribute through physical validation and design iteration.

Nice to Have:

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline with a focus on machine design, dynamics, robotics, or mechatronics.
• 5+ years of experience designing electromechanical actuators, gear systems, or precision drive mechanisms.
• Experience with harmonic or strain-wave drives, planetary gearing, cycloidal drives, or other high-ratio transmission architectures.
• Track record of taking mechanical hardware from initial concept through production.
• Experience working directly with customers or external engineering teams during hardware integration.