Design Engineer

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Formation Design Group is looking for a talented Design Engineer to join our team. We are a product development consulting firm with a focus on new product innovation and an emphasis on challenging assignments. We embrace difficult problems, becoming involved early in the development process and remaining engaged until solutions stand on their own. Since the company’s inception, we have designed products in a broad range of industries for companies ranging from design savvy start-ups to established industry leaders, such as Airbus, Collins Aerospace, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Crown Equipment, NCR, OMAX, Siemens, Xerox, and numerous others. Formation has received repeated recognition for outstanding product design from several global design organizations, including the IDSA International Design Excellence Award (IDEA), Red Dot Design Award, Industry Forum Hanover (iF) Product Design Award, and Crystal Cabin Award.

This position calls for a creative, multidisciplinary, hands-on engineer capable of contributing throughout the entire product development process. This includes conducting feasibility studies to define the problem space, researching materials and processes, mechanical configuration exploration, concept generation, low and high-fidelity prototyping, and detailed technical follow-through to create commercially viable mass-produced products and systems. The ideal candidate can demonstrate a sound understanding of engineering fundamentals and their application, as well as a strong personal commitment to creating truly innovative work both individually and in concert with a multidisciplinary team of designers and engineers. Strong candidates can exhibit experience with aspects of the design engineering process, including open-ended creative brainstorming, rapid concept generation and development, creation of descriptive 2D visualizations and geometrically accurate 3D CAD, and engineering of detailed physical mock-ups. An ability to iteratively work between use of 3D CAD and physical prototyping tools to solve problems and refine solutions is essential. A proven track record of conceptualizing novel mechanical solutions and refining them for prototype and production is a bonus.

Our Design Engineers are engaged with world class multidisciplinary teams, both internally and with our clients. We work to create elegantly engineered and thoughtfully designed solutions that introduce true innovation and impact to our clients’ products. By leveraging the latest digital tools that we have in-house, including 3D printing, CNC machining, open-source embedded electronics platforms (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc.), VR simulation, and FEA, we’re able to move quickly and efficiently from an initial concept to a well-considered solution.

This is a full-time contract-to-hire position on site at our Atlanta studio. The contract engagement is for six months, at the end of which the role may be transitioned to a full-time salary-based position upon mutual agreement by both parties.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide technical insight to internal teams for issues related to engineering feasibility, manufacturability, cost, sustainability, and material selection.
• Work with designers to translate concept sketches and exploratory models into engineered and manufacturing compliant components.
• Perform engineering studies and predictive analytics as part of design development and refinement efforts.
• Assist in the generation of client-facing presentations and documentation for engineering related topics throughout the product development process.
• Work with in-house and external prototyping specialists to design and develop high fidelity models, mechanical assemblies, and prototypes.
• Assist leadership in sustaining and growing in-house engineering and prototyping capabilities.

DESIRED SKILLS + EXPERIENCE

• Understanding of various prototype and production manufacturing processes, such as machining, injection molding, sheet metal forming, casting, and 3D printing. Working knowledge and prior experience is required.
• Understanding of individual component and assembly design in various materials and manufacturing processes.
• Proficiency in designing, modeling, and prototyping complex mechanisms.
• Experience with creating and maintaining a BOM and utilizing it to generate cost, lead time, and risk estimates.
• Familiarity with root cause analysis and DFMEA.
• Ability to use parametric 3D CAD for both exploratory development and detailed engineering. Proficiency in Siemens NX, SolidWorks, or Fusion 360 is a plus.
• Ability to use FEA and other predictive engineering methods is a plus.
• Ability to articulate engineering principles, rationale, and considerations to a multidisciplinary team within Formation and directly to clients.
• Ability to provide engineering insight from multiple perspectives, from large systems and platform strategies to detailed part and assembly designs.
• Understanding and experience with mechatronics, motion control systems, electronics, PCB design, and embedded programming is a plus.
• Understanding and experience with development tools such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or Android Studio is a plus.
• Experience with designing and optimizing for 3D printing is a plus.
• Ability to work independently and with a multidisciplinary team.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong presentation development and delivery skills.
• Familiarity with basic shop tools, including mills, lathes, and various hand tools.