Senior Mechanical Engineer

Gatik; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Gatik is seeking a Senior/Staff Mechanical Engineer to join the Hardware Integration team in Santa Clara, CA. You will design and integrate mechanical structures for the sensor stack, create production-ready processes for low-to-medium volume builds, and work with cross-functional teams to scale toward high-volume manufacturing.

The role involves hands-on design work, CAD drafting, and collaboration with validation, procurement, and manufacturing to deliver reliable vehicle builds in a

Qualifications

• 5+ years designing and analyzing complex mechanical structures.
• Engineering degree in Mechanical, Mechatronics or equivalent.
• Delivered multiple parts or subsystems to production.
• Experience in automotive or transportation sector.
• Excellent 3D CAD design and 2D drafting per ASME Y14.5.
• FE analysis experience.
• Experience with PDM/PLM, ECOs, BOMs, and CM.
• Aluminum and steel designs, sheet metal fabrication, welded design, extrusions & machined design.
• Experience in tolerance stacking.
• Knowledge of ISO 26262 & its relevance to E&E components.
• Component selection and specification (seals, fasteners, materials, coatings).
• Hands-on use of hand tools if required.

Responsibilities

• Lead mechanical design and analysis from ideation to drawing release.
• Own subsystems or complex component assemblies on and off the vehicles.
• Perform FE analyses to validate against the use case (static, natural frequency).
• Champion DFM, DFA & DFS during the design cycle.
• Collaborate with validation to create and execute the test plan.
• Calculate joints, seals, and related components with detail.
• Do tolerance stack-up analysis with GD&T.
• Develop cooling solutions for sensors and electronics.
• Own the BOM and coordinate with procurement & manufacturing.
• Build and bring-up prototype vehicles following standards.
• Lead and mentor the mechanical engineering discipline by creating standards.

Skills

Mechanical design

3D CAD

FE analysis

ISO 26262

PDM/PLM

BOM management

Hands-on engineering

Sheet metal design

Education

Engineering degree in Mechanical/Mechatronics or equivalent

Job description

Who We Are

Gatik is in the business of autonomous freight, and that business is already on the road. Every day, Gatik's autonomous trucks move freight for Fortune 50 retailers, grocers and consumer brands across Texas, Arizona, Arkansas and Canada, connecting distribution centers and stores and keeping goods moving. At the heart of it all is the Gatik Driver™, our proprietary Level 4 autonomous driving system, powered by scalable, interpretable AI and engineered to deliver safe, reliable, high-frequency freight operations. Gatik's momentum is real. With more than $600 million in contracted revenue and $200 million raised in our August 2026 Series D round, Gatik has taken one of the toughest challenges in autonomous technology and turned it into a proven commercial business. And the market is paying attention. In 2026, Gatik earned a place on Forbes' America's Best Startup Employers list, and the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies. The Gatik Driver™ won an Edison Award for Advancements in Autonomous Driving, and Inc. named our Co-founder and Chief Engineer, Apeksha Kumavat, to its Female Founders 500 list. There's a lot more road ahead, and some of the brightest, most driven minds in autonomous technology are building the next chapter at Gatik. We're taking on hard engineering problems, pushing the limits of what's possible and building on a commercial foundation that's already proven itself in the real world with some of the biggest companies in the world, like PepsiCo and Loblaw. If you're ambitious, love solving problems that matter and want to see your work make a real difference, you'll find plenty to get excited about here.

About the role

As a Senior or Staff Mechanical Engineer in our Hardware Integration team you will be responsible for engineering support structures for the sensor stack, aesthetic covers, and establishing the processes needed to do this at a low & medium volume production scale today and prepare for high volume production in the future. You will work as part of a multidisciplinary team delivering high quality vehicle builds following best engineering practices & standards. Your area of expertise is design of mechanical structural assemblies & integration of electronic components, preferably in the automotive industry. You are excited about generating new design ideas in CAD and are comfortable with hand-tools and rapid prototyping fabrication to test out your design.

This role requires working onsite 5 days a week from our Santa Clara, CA headquarters.

What you'll do

• Lead the engineering efforts for the mechanical design & analysis from ideation to drawing release
• Take ownership of subsystems or complex component assemblies on and off the vehicles
• Perform FE analyses on your design to validate it against the use case (static, natural frequency,etc).
• Champion the DFM, DFA & DFS efforts during the design cycle.
• Closely collaborate with validation team in creation & execution of the test plan
• Perform detailed calculations of selected components eg. bolted/ welded/ bonded joints, seals, etc.
• Perform tolerance stack-up analysis for your design and use appropriate GD&T strategy.
• Work on cooling solutions for sensors & other electronic components.
• Own the BOM for your design & work cross functionally with procurement & manufacturing for downstream processes.
• Build and bring-up prototype vehicles following best engineering practices & standards.
• Lead, mentor and grow the mechanical engineering discipline by creating standards & processes.

What we're looking for

• 5+ years of experience designing & analyzing complex mechanical structures and integration of hardware.
• An engineering degree in Mechanical, Mechatronics or an equivalent field.
• Delivered multiple parts, subsystem(s) or system(s) to production successfully
• Experience in automotive or transportation sector, dealing with larger assemblies and parts
• Excellent skills for 3D CAD design & 2D drafting per ASME Y14.5 (NX preferred)
• Experience in FE analysis (vibration experience bonus)
• Experience working in an engineering process environment eg. using PDM & PLM, creating ECOs, generating BOMs, CM etc.
• Expertise in creating Aluminum & steel designs, with a focus on sheet metal fabrication, welded design, extrusions & machined design.
• Expertise in tolerance stacking, especially linear & simple 2D stacks.
• Working knowledge of ISO 26262 & its relevance to integration of E&E components.
• Expertise in component selection and specification (seals, fasteners, materials, coatings etc.)
• Hands-on Engineer that is able and willing to use hand tools including drills, brake presses, oscillating saws, grinders, rotary tools etc. if required

Bonus

• Experience in design of heat sinks, heat exchangers, thermal design & CFD
• Experience working with sensors like Lidars, Radars, Camera, GNSS etc
• Experience working with sensor cleaning & sensor protection solutions
• Working knowledge of a scripting language like python, go, perl, etc.
• Working knowledge of optics, have worked with cameras & lidars in the past
• Working knowledge of harness routing, have experience working with harness engineers
• Understanding of E&E basics like power draw, high data rate cables, connectors, etc.

Salary Range

- $170,000- $220,000

More about Gatik

Founded in 2017, Gatik has grown into a commercial force in autonomous freight, operating trucks daily in live customer networks across the United States and Canada. We're headquartered in Santa Clara, California, but our impact is felt on the roads and in the supply chains that keep essential goods moving for some of the biggest companies in North America. Our trucks do some of the most demanding work in freight, running high-frequency, time-sensitive routes between distribution centers and stores, where reliability matters every single day. For our customers, that means more capacity, better service and products arriving where they need to be, when they need to be there. Behind it all is AI-first technology built from the ground up for autonomous trucking, capable of navigating highways and surface streets and tackling the complexity of real-world logistics at scale.

Visit Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles.

Notable News

For the latest company news, visit the Gatik newsroom.

Recent media coverage:

• TechCrunch: Self-driving truck startup Gatik raises $200M following PepsiCo deal
• Reuters: Gatik secures $200 million in funding as autonomous freight market accelerates
• Bloomberg: Driverless Trucks Can Save Lives on America's Roads
• PepsiCo website: PepsiCo and Gatik announce multi-year agreement to deploy autonomous freight in North America
• Wall Street Journal: Driverless Trucks Are Here - and They're Delivering Bags of Doritos
• CBS News: Pepsi deploys self-driving delivery trucks
• Bloomberg: Autonomous Trucking Firm Gatik Inks Contracts Worth $600 Million
• Forbes: Hundreds' Of Gatik Robot Delivery Trucks Headed For U.S. Roads
• CNBC-TV18: No more test runs: Gatik says driverless trucks are now a real, money-making business
• Forbes: Gatik And Loblaw Announce Largest Commercial Deployment Of AV Trucks

Taking care of our team

At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment's sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.

We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.

E-Verify Notice

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