Mechanical Engineering & Simulation Expert — Hephaestus

Mercor; India; Remote; INR 9,055,000 - 11,642,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor seeks a Mechanical Engineering & Simulation Expert to build and validate tasks for AI systems focused on product design, engineering analysis, and simulation. You will work with native CAD and reliable, reproducible solver workflows across CAD, FEA, and CFD domains.

The role involves creating realistic problems, analyzing stress/thermal/flow results, and ensuring numerical fidelity. Remote work is supported; weekly project delivery and standard engineering practices apply.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional mechanical engineering experience with ownership of product designs or validation.
• Hands-on depth in CAD, FEA, CFD, or thermal-analysis workflows.
• Ability to automate analysis or inspect results with scripting facilities.

Responsibilities

• Create realistic engineering problems with native geometry, assemblies, materials, loads, boundary conditions, and design requirements.
• Build and debug analysis models in areas such as stress, thermal, vibration, or fluid flow.
• For simulation, assess mesh quality, convergence, sensitivity, and physical consistency.
• Produce reference solutions and reproducible CAD/FEA/CFD workflows using tools like SolidWorks, FreeCAD, CATIA, ANSYS, CalculiX, OpenFOAM.
• Define checks for dimensions, mass properties, manufacturability, stress, displacement, temperature, pressure drop, etc.

Skills

Mechanical engineering

CAD/FEA/CFD

Python/MATLAB

Automation

Technical communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Professional engineering credential

Tools

SolidWorks

FreeCAD

CATIA

ANSYS

CalculiX

OpenFOAM

Job description

Mechanical Engineering & Simulation Expert — Hephaestus

Company: Mercor

Compensation: $70-$90 per hour

Commitment: Hourly contract

Location: Remote

Referral Reward: Earn up to $360 per successful referral.

Referral Link: https://t.mercor.com/fQEiC

Role Overview

Mercor is seeking experienced mechanical engineers to build and validate technical tasks for AI systems working on product design, engineering analysis, and simulation. The work focuses on native CAD and analysis artifacts, physically sound models, reproducible solver runs, and measurable design outcomes. Contributors develop tasks within their specialties, including CAD and assemblies, structural or thermal analysis, fluid mechanics, and manufacturing engineering. CAD evaluation, finite-element analysis, and computational fluid dynamics are distinct workflows; the modeling and verification method should fit the task.

Key Responsibilities

• Create realistic engineering problems with native geometry, assemblies, materials, loads, boundary conditions, and design requirements.
• Build and debug analysis models in relevant areas such as stress and deformation, thermal behavior, vibration, or fluid flow.
• For simulation tasks, assess mesh quality, convergence, sensitivity, and physical consistency.
• Produce reference solutions and reproducible CAD, FEA, or CFD workflows using tools appropriate to the problem, such as SolidWorks, FreeCAD, CATIA, ANSYS, CalculiX, OpenFOAM, or equivalents.
• Define checks for dimensions, assembly relationships, mass properties, manufacturability, stress, displacement, temperature, pressure drop, or other relevant outputs.
• Apply numerical checks, artifact inspection, and engineering judgment where each is appropriate.
• Package native files, solver settings, scripts, and results; document assumptions and limitations so another engineer can reproduce the work.
• Validate reference outcomes and incorrect cases, review AI-generated artifacts, and diagnose whether failures arise from the design, model setup, numerical method, or verification logic.
• Apply relevant standards and methods, including ASME or ISO, GD&T, DFM/DFA, and reliability analysis.

Ideal Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional mechanical engineering experience, with direct ownership of product designs, engineering analysis, manufacturing processes, or validation.
• Recent hands‑on depth in one or more relevant CAD, FEA, CFD, or thermal‑analysis workflows.
• Expertise across all specialties or all named packages is not required.
• Ability to automate analysis or inspect results using Python, MATLAB, shell scripts, or comparable tools, with coding‑agent assistance where useful.
• Strong judgment about model fidelity, material behavior, boundary conditions, numerical convergence, and physical plausibility.
• Clear technical communication and a disciplined approach to reproducible engineering work.
• A professional engineering credential and prior test automation, design documentation, or engineering‑training experience are a plus.

Compensation

• Writers: $70–$80/hour.
• Reviewers: $90/hour.

We consider all qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations upon request.

Contract and Payment Terms

You will be engaged as an independent contractor. This is a fully remote role that can be completed on your own schedule. Projects can be extended, shortened, or concluded early depending on needs and performance. Your work at Mercor will not involve access to confidential or proprietary information from any employer, client, or institution. Payments are weekly on Stripe or Wise based on services rendered. Please note: We are unable to support H1-B or STEM OPT candidates at this time.

About Mercor

Mercor partners with leading AI labs and enterprises to train frontier models using human expertise. You will work on projects that focus on training and enhancing AI systems. You will be paid competitively, collaborate with leading researchers, and help shape the next generation of AI systems in your area of expertise.