Lead Mechanical Engineer

IT Motives; Bingen (WA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) plan with match

Medical insurance

Dental/Vision insurance

Life and disability insurance

EAP

HSA with employer contribution

Paid time off

Job summary

IT Motives's client seeks a Lead Mechanical Engineer in Hood River, OR on a hybrid schedule. You will bridge avionics concepts to flight-ready hardware, mentoring a junior engineer while leading design work.

You will apply DFMEA/PFMEA, GD&T, and robust DOE/FEA analyses, ensuring manufacturability and quality across complex electro-mechanical packaging for aerospace applications. Onsite work is preferred with hybrid flexibility.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering required.
• 8+ years in aerospace, defense, unmanned systems, or ruggedized electro-mechanical hardware.
• 2–3+ years in technical leadership or mentoring roles.

Responsibilities

• Define best practices for CAD, GD&T, tolerance stack-ups and drawing release.
• Provide daily technical guidance, peer reviews, and mentoring.
• Manage mechanical requirements for complex avionics and flight hardware.
• Apply DFM/DFA to ensure manufacturability and buildability.
• Lead DFMEA/PFMEA and perform FEA validation for hardware.
• Oversee BOMs, ECO/ECN, CAPA, and change control boards.

Skills

SolidWorks

3D modeling

GD&T

FEA

DFMEA/PFMEA

BOM management

CCB/MRB leadership

Technical leadership

Design reviews

Aerospace experience

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering

Bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering

Tools

PDM/PLM systems

Job description

Our client is a global supplier of precision approach guidance and area surveillance solutions aimed at improving the safety and capacity of civil and military aviation for their customers on all seven continents. They are a team of extraordinary professionals working together to perform an important mission to uniquely serve airports with terrain, obstacles and other challenges that no other business can provide. They’re looking for a Lead Mechanical Engineer and please read on if this piques your interest. We value diversity in the workplace and encourage women, minorities, and veterans to apply. Thank you!

Type: Direct Hire

Location: Hood River, OR hybrid

Note: Due to the sensitive nature of the information and projects handled at this facility, this position requires U.S. citizenship. Candidates must be U.S. citizens to be considered for this role.

Job Summary

As our Lead Mechanical Engineer, you will be the technical cornerstone of our mechanical design team—bridging the gap between complex avionics concepts and physical, flight-ready reality.

This is a true "Player-Coach" role: you will lead by example by maintaining your own advanced design work statement while mentoring another Mechanical Engineer. You are as comfortable at a high-end 3D workstation conducting structural analysis as you are on the production floor guiding technicians through complex assembly integrations.

The worksite is in Hood River, OR, we prefer onsite, but will consider hybrid (3 days a week in office) for the right candidate.

Essential Job Functions

• Serve as the benchmark for engineering quality across the team. Define best practices for CAD modeling, GD&T application, tolerance stack-ups, and drawing release workflows.
• Provide daily technical guidance, conduct peer design reviews, and lead knowledge transfer to onboard and level up junior and mid-level engineers as the team grows.
• Establish, maintain, and control allocated and derived mechanical requirements for complex avionics, electro-mechanical packaging, and flight hardware.
• Act as the technical bridge between design concepts and the shop floor. Apply advanced Design for Manufacturability (DFM/DFA) principles to eliminate assembly bottlenecks and ensure practical buildability.
• Lead Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (DFMEA/PFMEA) and perform hand calculations and FEA to validate structural, dynamic, and thermal performance prior to physical qualification testing.
• Lead engineering representation on Configuration Control Boards (CCB) and Material Review Boards (MRB). Manage indented Bills of Materials (BOMs), change orders (ECO/ECN), and root-cause corrective actions (CAPA).
• Oversee prototype testing and environmental qualification campaigns (shock, vibration, thermal) to validate hardware against airborne environmental standards.

Education and Work Experience Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or aerospace engineering.
• 8+ years of progressive mechanical engineering experience in aerospace, defense, unmanned systems, or ruggedized electro-mechanical hardware.
• 2–3+ years of formal or informal technical leadership (e.g., Technical Lead, IPT Lead, or Engineering Mentor).

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other Characteristics

• Experience with a highly regulated industry tracking to best industry practices in aerospace mechanical, automotive or defense.
• Knowledge of environmental qualification standards such as DO-160.
• Expert command of ASME Y14.5 Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing and 3D statistical tolerance stack-up analysis.
• Familiarity with FAA design assurance processes, airworthiness principles, or military qualification pathways.
• Expert proficiency in SolidWorks, or other 3D modeling software, and PDM/PLM systems.
• Outstanding written, visual, and verbal communication skills; comfortable presenting technical trade-offs to leadership and customers.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job in an office environment. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Essential functions may require maintaining the physical condition necessary for sitting, walking or standing for periods of time; operating a computer and keyboard; talk and hear at normal room levels; using hands to finger, grasp, and feel; repetitive motion; close visual acuity to prepare and analyze data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; lift, push, carry, or pull up to 20 pounds.

In addition to base pay, our competitive total rewards package consists of:

• 401(k) plan with match with immediate vesting.
• Comprehensive suite of insurance benefits for employees (and their families) to include a variety of medical plan options (including an HSA with employer contribution), dental, vision, life and disability insurance, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Legal/Identity support plans, pet insurance.
• Access to Flexible Spending Accounts (Medical and Dependent Care).
• Generous paid time off including 4 weeks of vacation per year, 11 paid company holidays, which includes a winter company shutdown from Christmas to New Year’s