Senior R&D Engineer (Mechanical)

Unity Partners; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Unity Partners is seeking a Senior Product Development Engineer to take ownership of mechanical design for plug and socket connector development. You will lead the early stages of product development, guiding the direction of multidisciplinary projects and coordinating with external partners to ensure feasibility and precision.

We value hands-on experience with plastic and metal parts, tight tolerances, and a strong ownership mindset.

Qualifications

• Senior-level experience in mechanical design for physical products, from concept through prototype and validation toward manufacturing.
• Strong experience with design for manufacturing (DFM), particularly in challenging, tight-tolerance environments.
• Hands-on experience designing physical hardware involving both plastic and metal parts, ideally including miniature or precision components.

Responsibilities

• Lead the mechanical design of plug and socket connector development within the system development team.
• Own full designs and guide engineering direction on projects.
• Collaborate with external partners to challenge feasibility, tolerances, and process capabilities in tight-tolerance environments.
• Work in multidisciplinary project teams and independently handle complex assignments.
• Develop multiple concepts and lead feasibility studies with models, simulations, and prototypes.

Skills

Mechanical design

Supplier management

Prototype development

Design for manufacturing

Education

MSc Mechanical Eng

Tools

Acoustics

Job description

Exclusively on behalf of our partner, we are looking for a Senior Product Development Engineer. Our client develops and manufactures highly complex, miniaturized electromechanical solutions, where size and reliability are critical. As a technology leader in its niche, the company constantly pushes the boundaries of what's physically possible in small-scale product design. With facilities across multiple countries, colleagues work together across all locations in an international setting.

As a Senior Product Development Engineer, you take the lead on mechanical design within the system development team. The current focus is on plug and socket connector development, combining plastic, metal, and small PCB elements. This is a lead engineering role: you own full designs, guide engineering direction within your projects, and are expected to grow toward more senior scope over time.

Your tasks and responsibilities

You work in project teams on the development of products and are mostly involved in the early stages of the product development process. As you work with industry leading experts and consistently apply Lean tools in your projects, you catch on and learn fast. Responsibilities will include:

• Generate multiple concepts for which you do or lead a team to do feasibility studies, developing relevant measurement setups using theoretical models, simulations, and prototype build verification
• Perform research, analyses, and benchmarks on competing technologies and products
• Guide the development of specific technology blocks in cooperation with external partners
• Work independently on complex assignments within multidisciplinary project teams
• Based on an idea or desire, generate and evaluate multiple concepts
• Challenge external manufacturing partners on feasibility, tolerances, and process capability, particularly in tight-tolerance environments

Your profile

You are a senior mechanical engineer with a strong ownership mentality, comfortable taking the lead on a full design rather than just executing predefined requirements. You thrive in the ambiguity of early-stage development, where you set goals, requirements, and risk-based approaches independently. Other qualities we ask for are:

• M.Sc in Mechanical Engineering (or equivalent, e.g. Applied Physics with proven industrial mechanical design experience)
• Senior-level experience in mechanical design for physical products, from concept through prototype and validation toward manufacturing
• Strong experience with design for manufacturing (DFM), particularly in challenging, tight-tolerance environments
• Hands-on experience designing physical hardware involving both plastic and metal parts, ideally including miniature or precision components
• Knowledge of plastic part design and molding processes
• Comfortable working directly with external manufacturing suppliers, challenging them on feasibility, tolerances, and process capability
• Real industrial product development experience, not primarily academic, protocol-driven, or validation/verification work
• A plus: mechanical modeling/simulation experience, and/or affinity with acoustics or vibration, adding analytical depth to your engineering base
• Communicating in a simple and effective way