Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Role Title: Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Role Type: Contractor (~15hrs/week)

Location: Remote

micro1 is engaging Senior Mechanical Design Engineers to contribute to a customer's project involving complex CAD assembly exploration and AI advancement. In this role, you'll apply your expertise to help train next-generation AI systems. Your work will shape how models learn, reason, and perform through high-quality, real-world input. No prior experience in AI is required — your domain knowledge is what matters.

Scope of Work

1. Analyze and dissect multi-part mechanical assemblies to identify critical design decisions, constraints, and potential failure points that challenge expert reasoning.
2. Formulate challenging, non-obvious technical questions that test real-world mechanical design judgment, ensuring relevance and difficulty beyond junior-level understanding.
3. Validate and document defensible, exact answers directly from CAD models, ensuring clear traceability and accuracy.
4. Review AI-generated outputs, pinpoint breakdowns or inaccuracies in mechanical reasoning, and suggest targeted improvements.
5. Flag ambiguous, trivial, or unanswerable questions, refining or sharpening them for clarity and precision.
6. Thoroughly document edge cases and sources of disagreement within answers to maintain strict verifiability.
7. Communicate findings and reasoning in clear, professional written and verbal form to support continuous project improvement.

Preferred Qualifications

1. 5+ years of professional experience creating and overseeing multi-part mechanical assemblies from concept, not just from existing drawings.
2. Mastery in at least one major parametric CAD tool (SolidWorks, Creo, NX, CATIA, Inventor, Fusion, Onshape, or Solid Edge).
3. Demonstrated experience in teaching, mentoring, or leading — whether through formal instruction, leading design reviews, or coaching engineering teams.
4. Expertise in design intent, assembly reasoning, mechanism and kinematic analysis, and robust GD&T/tolerance judgment.
5. Background in at least one discipline: industrial machinery and automation, robotics, automotive and heavy equipment, aerospace and defense, medical devices, consumer products, or tooling and fixture design.
6. Exceptional written English communication skills — your documentation directly influences project deliverables.
7. Bonus: Experience with FreeCAD, advanced GD&T/tolerance analysis, or formal design review leadership.