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Principal Mechanical Engineer

CleraSan Francisco, CA

$235K – $305Kfrom listing textEngineeringPrincipalFull time10+ yrs
Source-verified: read directly from this employer's own ashby job board, not a repost.On-sitePosted (2 days ago)Last verified (today)

At a glance

Location
San Francisco, CA
Workplace
On-site
Pay
$235K – $305K (from listing text)
Employment type
Full time
Experience
10+ years
Education
No degree requirement stated
Job family
Engineering
Seniority
Principal
Posted by employer
21 October 2026
Last verified open
23 October 2026
Region and country
CA, US
Team
Engineering
Listed via
Ashby

What the employer wrote

ABOUT THE ROLE

Join a small defense technology engineering team developing autonomous, field-deployed directed energy systems. As Principal Mechanical Engineer, you will own system-level mechanical architecture and help take complex hardware from prototype through production and deployment.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Lead mechanical architecture across the system and integrate it with electrical, power, embedded, and optics disciplines.

- Make technical decisions on challenging engineering problems from concept through production readiness.

- Guide hardware release and production processes in close collaboration with the manufacturing team.

- Identify technical risks early and review designs, analyses, documentation, and release standards.

- Perform hands-on design and analysis when your experience can resolve difficult problems quickly.

- Balance cost, mass, reliability, schedule, and field performance in design and manufacturing decisions.

- Share technical judgment and mentor engineers through direct collaboration and example.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

- At least 10 years of experience designing and shipping complex hardware systems.

- Mechanical design as your primary discipline, including recent personal CAD and engineering analysis work.

- Repeated experience taking hardware from prototype through manufacturing and field deployment.

- Experience designing ruggedized systems for real-world conditions and correlating FEA or hand calculations with test data.

- Strong mechanical expertise, with sound technical judgment in electrical engineering, power electronics, or embedded systems.

- Experience owning mechanical architecture and integrating multiple engineering disciplines.

- A senior individual contributor or technical lead background at a hardware company that has shipped products.

- Relevant backgrounds may include defense, aerospace, high-performance automotive, maritime, robotics, or directed energy.

- Experience with lasers or high-power systems, thermal management, gimbals or beam directors, military qualification standards, or production line development is useful.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Base salary is $235,000 to $305,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available. Equity and benefits details were not provided.

LOCATION

This is an on-site role in San Francisco, California, United States.

Where this record came from

Read from Clera's own Ashby job board on , and last confirmed still open on . The employer published it on 21 October 2026. Jobsearch.ing did not write, edit or rank this posting, and does not vet the employer. View the original posting.

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