Mechanical Engineer, Freeform

$75-200k

+ Stock options

Entry, Junior and Mid level
Los Angeles

Relocation assistance provided

Office located in Hawthorne, CA

Freeform

Metal 3D printing factories

Be an early applicant

Freeform

Metal 3D printing factories

21-100 employees

B2BManufacturingPrinting

Be an early applicant

$75-200k

+ Stock options

Entry, Junior and Mid level
Los Angeles

Relocation assistance provided

Office located in Hawthorne, CA

21-100 employees

B2BManufacturingPrinting

Company mission

To make the transformative power of 3D printing available to all industries at scale and unlock the future of innovation.

Role

Who you are

  • The ideal candidate is capable of running projects with little oversight and has the ability work effectively with other engineering disciplines
  • 3D printing experience is not required to be successful here - rather we look for smart, motivated, collaborative engineers who love solving hard problems and creating amazing technology
  • Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or similar engineering discipline
  • 1+ years of professional post-graduate experience designing and delivering complex mechanical hardware, OR a Master's degree and internship experience in lieu of professional experience
  • CAD experience, including GD&T and drawing documentation
  • Well-versed in mechanical engineering fundamentals and comfortable taking a first-principles approach to solving problems

Desirable

  • Advanced degree (Master's, PhD) in mechanical engineering
  • 4+ years of experience designing complex mechanical systems for semiconductor, machining, automation, materials processing, or other related industrial manufacturing or capital equipment applications (e.g. additive manufacturing, semiconductor, robotics, CNC, or biomedical manufacturing equipment design engineering experience)
  • Knowledge of motion control and kinematics
  • Experience with design of fluid or thermal systems
  • Working knowledge of electromechanical systems
  • Passion for improving the state of metal 3D printing
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills

What the job involves

  • As a Mechanical Engineer at Freeform, you will own projects cradle to grave as a responsible engineer, taking designs from concept through design, fabrication, testing, and implementation
  • You will contribute to overall machine system architecture, and will also work cross functionally with electrical and software engineering teams to integrate interdisciplinary systems
  • Act as a responsible engineer in bringing hardware from concept to production
  • Work with senior engineers to research, develop, design, and test complex mechanical components, subassemblies, equipment, and systems
  • Perform tolerance analysis of designs at the system and subsystem level
  • Plan and perform tests to analyze the feasibility, design, operation and performance of equipment, components, and systems
  • Work hands-on to build, integrate, and validate designs and newly developed systems and/or subsystems
  • Strategize continuous improvement plans to enhance system performance, reliability, and manufacturability

Our take

There is a huge amount of demand for precision metal fabrication in future-focused industries such as rocketry and vehicle manufacturing, but legacy production techniques are too slow and inflexible to meet the requirements of rapidly changing designs in the most innovative firms. Enter Freeform Future, a company which builds metal 3D printing factories to allow manufacturers to swiftly and efficiently go from idea to mass production.

Founded by engineers with extensive experience at SpaceX, Freeform seeks to replace existing metal fabrication works - typified with heavy reliance on manual labour and legacy processes - with 3D printers and automated software technologies. Rather than needing to train a large workforce on production techniques, Freeform will be able to print almost any metal item at production scale on demand, with a turnaround time of days rather than weeks.

Though having only emerged from stealth in 2023, Freeform has some large-scale customers including autonomous trucking firm Embark and rocket part manufacturer, Ursa Major. After raising significant funding in early 2023, the company is moving from prototype to production, scaling up its operations to meet the growing demand for rapidly produced, high-quality metal components.

Steph headshot

Steph

Company Specialist

Insights

Top investors

Many candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

57% employee growth in 12 months

Company

Funding (1 round)

Feb 2023

$45m

EARLY VC

Total funding: $45m

Company benefits

  • Significant stock option packages
  • 100% employer-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance (premium PPO and HMO options)
  • Life insurance
  • Traditional and Roth 401(k)
  • Relocation assistance provided
  • Paid vacation, sick leave, and company holidays
  • Generous Paid Parental Leave and extended transition back to work for the birthing parent
  • Free daily catered lunch and dinner, and fully stocked kitchenette
  • Casual dress, flexible work hours, and regular catered team building events

Company HQ

Hawthorne, CA

Leadership

Previously was Propulsion Development Manager at SpaceX. Before that was a Solid Propulsion Systems Engineer for NASA.

Thomas Ronacher

(President)

Before co-founding Freeform, was VP Hardware Engineering at Hyperloop One and Thermal System Lead for Virgin Galactic. Prior to that was Principal Design Engineer with Seal Science and Senior Propulsion Analyst at SpaceX.

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