Solutions Design Engineer at Instrumental in Palo Alto, CA

Manufacturing advanced electronics requires understanding millions of signals generated across complex assembly processes. Instrumental builds systems that capture and analyze those signals — images, test results, and process data — enabling engineers to discover failures, identify root causes, and deploy production controls that improve yield and product maturity. Leading companies such as NVIDIA, Cisco, and Meta rely on Instrumental to accelerate new product development and scale manufacturing across global factories. Instrumental has become mission-critical for manufacturers building and scaling the next generation of AI infrastructure hardware.

As a Solutions Design Engineer, you will work with Instrumental’s rapidly growing go-to-market team to deliver technical solutions for various applications across leading electronics brands. This is a unique role that will leverage your hardware engineering background, technical curiosity, and interpersonal skills to directly influence how our customers build their products and help Instrumental scale.

If you’ve ever considered an MBA or a more strategic role that still leverages your technical expertise, this position will give you hands-on experience in business strategy, analytics, and customer-facing problem-solving. You'll gain exposure to AI applications in manufacturing while working closely with customers and our internal teams to implement high-impact solutions.

You will additionally be a key player in ensuring that our solutions not only meet immediate technical requirements but align seamlessly with customer business goals. Our team doesn’t wait for things to happen, we make them happen. Successful team members are problem solvers and adaptable – when it’s not in the playbook, they create the next play. When there is no playbook, they start one. Most of our go-to-market team is comprised of experienced engineers who understand how much time and manual effort goes into manufacturing – and have come to the business to increase their impact on our industry.

What You'll Do:

• Technical Validation: Work with sales to validate the technical scope of opportunities for new and existing customers, considering their business goals and current line constraints.
• Cross Functional Depth: Work in depth across engineering, operations, and quality to drive solutions within a diverse set of issues.
• Station Requirements & Design: Scope and design Instrumental stations, including optics and mechanical nest designs to suit customer applications.
• Oversee Implementation: Guide and mentor the project team through specification, design, development, and deployment to ensure customer requirements are met.

Who You Are:

• B.S. or equivalent experience required; STEM degree preferred
• 3+ years experience as a product design, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, quality, or operations engineer Industry-specific experience in one or more of: consumer electronics, measurement and testing, heavy industry/manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, defense, etc.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, information systems, change management, system implementation, and best practices during development, new product introduction (NPI), and mass production
• A desire to be customer-facing, with a customer-success mindset
• Demonstrated ability to be successful in a startup environment or as an intrapreneur in a larger organization.

We’re a growing team that consistently works collaboratively, is supportive of each other, and is highly energized by the opportunity for large impact. We actively work to promote an inclusive environment, valuing passion and the ability to learn.

You’re encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn’t precisely match the job description!

The following is a representative annual base salary range for this position within the Bay Area: $134,000-175,000. In addition, job level & salary opportunity is evaluated through our interview process – we review experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of each applicant.

Instrumental is very proud to offer a highly-rated variety of benefits including: Health, Vision, Dental, Public Transit/Commuter Plans, and Maternity/Paternity Leave.

At Instrumental, protecting company and customer information is a shared responsibility. All employees are expected to comply with company security and privacy policies and promptly report suspected security incidents or policy violations.