Product Design Engineer (Softgoods)

Location: San Carlos, California, United States; onsite.

Salary: $175,000–$215,000 per year plus equity.

Company

hirify.global develops NEO, a humanoid home robot designed to operate safely alongside people and perform household tasks.

What you will do

• Own the full lifecycle of NEO softgoods components, including textiles, foams, and elastomers, from concept through mass production.
• Design touch-facing components that deliver a premium, soft, and welcoming tactile experience while maintaining consistent quality and low defect rates at scale.
• Own safety, durability, qualification testing, and test fixtures for softgoods before launch.
• Drive design for manufacturability, per-unit cost targets, tolerance and process decisions, and first-pass yield from prototype to mass production.
• Qualify materials and manufacturing partners, including new and exotic softgoods solutions.
• Collaborate with industrial designers, materials scientists, and manufacturing engineers to translate tactile requirements into buildable specifications.

Requirements

• Deep hands-on softgoods design expertise, including textiles, foams, elastomers, yarns, dyes, knitting, weaving, cut-and-sew, bonding, lamination, and molding.
• Experience creating premium-looking and premium-feeling parts with appropriate craft sensibility.
• Fluency in 3D CAD modeling and surface design, plus FEA for validating structural performance, durability, and fit.
• Experience translating prototypes into repeatable, high-volume production while managing tolerance, fit, and process constraints.
• Hands-on experience personally building, assembling, and prototyping designs.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with industrial design, materials science, and manufacturing engineering teams.
• 5–10 years of experience; candidates with less experience may be considered if they demonstrate exceptional capability.
• Bachelor of Science in engineering or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• A portfolio is required and must showcase professional work, personal projects, and passion projects.

Nice to have

• Experience with GD&T.

Culture & Benefits

• Builder-oriented environment emphasizing ownership, speed, high standards, honesty, and respectful collaboration.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, company holidays, and parental leave.
• 401(k) plan with company match, plus FSA and HSA options.
• Commuter benefits, disability and life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program.
• Onsite snacks and catered lunches.