Mechanical Engineer, Consumer Electronics

DoorDash USA; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 139,000 - 205,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Comprehensive benefits

Paid parental leave

401(k)

Job summary

DoorDash Labs seeks a Mechanical Engineer to design and build connected consumer devices (SmartScale, lockers, POS systems) and hardware for automation initiatives. You will define what to build and own the mechanical development from ambiguous needs through architecture, prototyping, and field pilots.

This build-heavy role sits on a small, senior team, collaborating with suppliers and an NPI program partner, and offering mechanical leadership during new product introductions.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience taking a physical product from incomplete requirements through design, prototyping, debugging, and testing.
• Strong design fundamentals including materials, tolerances, assembly, and reliability.
• Proficiency with CAD tools (SolidWorks/Creo/NX) to create drawings and specs for suppliers.
• Ability to question requirements and explain trade-offs in cost, usability, and performance.
• Experience collaborating with suppliers or manufacturing partners and engineers from other disciplines.
• Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Define product requirements and features from customer needs and business priorities. Explain trade-offs among UX, performance, cost, reliability, and development time.
• Build prototypes for new ideas, pilot design, and translate learnings into larger pilot requirements.
• Create CAD drawings and select materials and fabrication methods for each development stage.
• Apply tolerance analysis and testing to validate assumptions.
• Integrate mechanical designs with electronics, sensors, and firmware, debugging across interfaces.
• Lead mechanical engineering with manufacturing partners during NPI and verify corrective actions.
• Collaborate with suppliers on prototype parts and build issues for larger pilots.

Skills

Mechanical design fundamentals

CAD proficiency

Independent work

Supplier collaboration

Design for manufacturing

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

SolidWorks

Creo

NX

Job description

Mechanical Engineer, Consumer Electronics

About Us

DoorDash Labs, established in 2018, serves as the innovation hub for DoorDash, focusing on developing automation and robotics solutions to enhance last-mile logistics.

The team's mission is to create technologies that support and augment human networks, aiming to improve efficiency for Dashers, merchants, and consumers alike. We’re ruthlessly focused on business impact. We are a highly senior team composed of former pioneers from a variety of different robotics industries. As of 2025, DoorDash has completed 10B lifetime deliveries. We’re focused on how to do the next 10B even better.

Role Overview

We’re looking for a mechanical engineer who designs and builds connected consumer and enterprise devices, including SmartScale, lockers, POS systems, and hardware for emerging automation and robotics applications. In this role, you will help define what to build and own mechanical development from ambiguous user or business needs through architecture, rapid prototyping, and field pilots.

This is a build-heavy role on a small, senior, multidisciplinary team. You'll work directly with suppliers, supported by an NPI/program partner, and provide mechanical leadership during new product introduction (NPI). Specialist reliability expertise can support deeper validation as programs mature.

San Francisco-based candidates are preferred; hybrid arrangements are acceptable. The role includes hands-on collaboration around prototypes and lab work.

Key Responsibilities

• Help define product requirements and features from customer needs and business priorities. Explain trade-offs among user experience, performance, cost, reliability, and development time.
• Build prototypes for new product ideas, partner on pilot design, and turn findings from real use into requirements and designs for larger pilots. Communicate what was learned and what should happen next.
• Create CAD, drawings, and physical prototypes; choose materials, components, and fabrication methods appropriate to the development stage.
• Apply mechanical fundamentals, tolerance analysis, and targeted calculations or simulation to the risks that matter. Design and run physical tests to check assumptions.
• Integrate mechanical designs with electronics, sensors, and firmware, and debug problems across those interfaces with teammates.
• Serve as the mechanical engineering lead with manufacturing partners during NPI: investigate mechanical and build-quality issues, assess proposed changes, and help define and verify corrective actions.
• Work directly with suppliers on prototype parts, design feedback, build issues, and readiness for larger pilots. Bring in specialist support for safety, reliability, tooling, or production questions as needed.

Required Qualifications

• Hands-on experience taking a physical product or subsystem from incomplete requirements through mechanical design, prototyping, debugging, and testing, with evidence of learning from users or real operating conditions.
• Strong mechanical design fundamentals, including materials and process selection, fit and tolerances, assembly, and practical reliability considerations.
• Proficiency with a mechanical CAD package such as SolidWorks, Creo, NX, or equivalent, and the ability to create drawings and specifications suppliers can use.
• Product judgment: you can question requirements, understand the customer problem, and explain technical choices in terms of cost, usability, performance, and business value.
• Ability to operate independently through ambiguity, prioritize work, and communicate decisions and risks clearly.
• Experience collaborating with suppliers or manufacturing partners and with engineers from other disciplines.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Must be comfortable regularly exercising discretion and independent judgment in performing job duties, including evaluating options, making informed decisions, and determining appropriate courses of action within the scope of assigned responsibilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strongly preferred: experience bringing products into production, supporting NPI, or resolving manufacturing defects, ideally in mass production. This may include design for manufacturing and assembly, tooling, reliability testing, or field failure analysis. Personally leading a high-volume ramp is not required.
• Experience in a startup, a small hardware team, or another setting where you helped define the problem and owned work across disciplinary boundaries.
• Basic electrical engineering, firmware, or programming capability that helps you build and debug integrated prototypes.
• Experience with electromechanical products, mechanisms, enclosures, sensors, or merchant-facing hardware.

Compensation

The successful candidate’s starting pay will fall within the pay range listed below and is determined based on job-related factors including, but not limited to, skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. Base salary is localized according to an employee’s work location. Ranges are market-dependent and may be modified in the future.

In addition to base salary, the compensation for this role includes opportunities for equity grants. Talk to your recruiter for more information.

DoorDash cares about you and your overall well-being. That’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits package to all regular employees, which includes a 401(k) plan with employer matching, 16 weeks of paid parental leave, wellness benefits, commuter benefits match, paid time off and paid sick leave in compliance with applicable laws (e.g. Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act). DoorDash also offers medical, dental, and vision benefits, 11 paid holidays, disability and basic life insurance, family-forming assistance, and a mental health program, among others.

To learn more about our benefits, visit our careers page here .

See below for paid time off details:

• For salaried roles: flexible paid time off/vacation, plus 80 hours of paid sick time per year.
• For hourly roles: vacation accrued at about 1 hour for every 25.97 hours worked (e.g. about 6.7 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 3.4 hours/month if working 20 hours/week), and paid sick time accrued at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked (e.g. about 5.8 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 2.9 hours/month if working 20 hours/week).

The national base pay range for this position within the United States, including Illinois and Colorado.

$139,400 - $205,000 USD

About DoorDash

At DoorDash, our mission to empower local economies shapes how our team members move quickly, learn, and reiterate in order to make impactful decisions that display empathy for our range of users—from Dashers to merchant partners to consumers.
DoorDash is growing rapidly and changing constantly, which gives our team members the opportunity to share their unique perspectives, solve new challenges, and own their careers. We're committed to supporting employees’ happiness, healthiness, and overall well-being by providing comprehensive benefits and perks including premium healthcare, wellness expense reimbursement, paid parental leave and more.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We’re committed to growing and empowering a more inclusive community within our company, industry, and cities. That’s why we hire and cultivate diverse teams of people from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that true innovation happens when everyone has room at the table and the tools, resources, and opportunity to excel.

Statement of Non-Discrimination: In keeping with our beliefs and goals, no employee or applicant will face discrimination or harassment based on: race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, gender, marital/domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, or veteran status. Above and beyond discrimination and harassment based on “protected categories,” we also strive to prevent other subtler forms of inappropriate behavior (i.e., stereotyping) from ever gaining a foothold in our office. Whether blatant or hidden, barriers to success have no place at DoorDash. We value a diverse workforce – people who identify as women, non-binary or gender non-conforming, LGBTQIA+, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, differently-abled, caretakers and parents, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Thank you to the Level Playing Field Institute for this statement of non-discrimination.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and any other state or local hiring regulations, we will consider for employment any qualified applicant, including those with arrest and conviction records, in a manner consistent with the applicable regulation.

If you need any accommodations, please inform your recruiting contact upon initial connection.

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Voluntary Self-Identification

As described in our Applicant Privacy Notice, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in DoorDash’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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