Mechanical Engineer - Structural Simulation (Robotics)

Location: Oakland, California, United States

Salary: $139,400–$205,000 USD annual base salary, plus potential equity grants.

Company

hirify.global Labs develops custom robotics and autonomous delivery systems for safe, efficient, and reliable operation in urban environments.

What you will do

• Own structural finite element analysis across a next-generation robotic delivery platform, including chassis systems, suspension, closures, and sensor enclosures.
• Lead structural concept validation and high-velocity trade studies with mechanical architecture engineers.
• Evaluate, select, and operationalize the primary CAE/FEA software stack, with an emphasis on ANSYS-based suites.
• Define structural load cases, fatigue histories, stiffness benchmarks, and failure criteria for dynamic ground-vehicle environments.
• Perform static, dynamic, modal, durability, and fatigue analyses on enclosures, subframes, linkages, and moving mechanisms.
• Correlate strain-gauge, modal-shaker, and field-testing data with simulation models and guide CAD decisions toward optimized strength-to-weight ratios.

Requirements

• 7+ years of hands-on structural FEA and mechanical simulation experience, or an MS/PhD with 4+ years of relevant experience, focused on structural integrity, stiffness, fatigue life, and dynamic loading.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing moving vehicle architectures such as automotive BIW, chassis frames, suspensions, structural battery enclosures, robotics, drones, or high-performance mobility platforms.
• Advanced experience with industry-standard finite-element solvers; ANSYS Mechanical/Workbench is strongly preferred, while Abaqus, OptiStruct/HyperMesh, or LS-DYNA are considered.
• Understanding of solver theory, element formulations, convergence troubleshooting, mathematical fundamentals, and classical mechanics.
• Ability to validate simulation results with hand calculations and translate stress tensors, fatigue curves, and deflection limits into actionable mechanical design guidance.
• Ability to own ambiguous, green-field product-definition work where requirements are fluid, documentation is sparse, and decisions must be made quickly.
• Clear cross-functional communication with mechanical design engineers, physical test teams, vendors, and leadership.

Nice to have

• Experience establishing or transitioning a company’s CAE software stack from scratch.
• Experience with topology optimization, lightweighting cast or extruded aluminum structures, or composite material modeling.
• Experience with durability and fatigue analysis for rough-road, curb-strike, or cyclic-vibration conditions.
• Working familiarity with NX, SolidWorks, or Creo for geometry defeaturing and design iteration.

Culture & Benefits

• Regular employee position with comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental, vision, disability, and basic life insurance.
• 401(k) with employer matching, paid parental leave, paid time off, paid sick leave, and 11 paid holidays.
• Wellness, commuter-benefit matching, family-forming assistance, and mental-health programs.
• Compensation is localized by work location and may include equity grants.
• hirify.global supports an inclusive workplace and provides accommodations upon request.

Hiring process

• hirify.global uses Metaview, an automated recruitment tool, to support evaluation of job-related qualifications; trained personnel retain final decision-making authority and human oversight.