Mechanical Engineer at Ironsite in San Francisco, CA

About Ironsite

Construction is one of the most complex and labor-intensive industries, spending $7 trillion annually on labor, but productivity losses cost $1.6 trillion per year due to outdated management tools.

Ironsite leverages wearable cameras combined with human labeling and AI vision language models to drive on-site productivity, safety & training for crafts workers. We put cameras on construction workers' hard hats and vests, then use advanced computer vision to analyze what's actually happening on job sites.

We help teams cut labor costs, improve safety, and finish projects faster. We have captured ~20,000 hours of construction footage across 7 states and just partnered with the nation's #2 hard hat manufacturer. In addition, we have secured over $10M from 8VC, South Park Commons, and 30+ angels. Now, we're building the team to scale nationwide.

The Role

Join our team to design ruggedized wearable devices for 11 million construction workers. You won’t be iterating on consumer electronics— you’ll be building hardware that survives the toughest jobsites in America.

You’ll work directly with our hardware and firmware engineers to design ruggedized wearable cameras across multiple form factors including hard-hat and body-worn. These are cameras that construction workers will wear across 8+ hour shifts.

We're scaling production for our public launch in Q1 2026. We've assembled a team that's never existed before in construction—engineers from DeepMind, Etched, Tesla, and Nvidia working alongside construction veterans from Turner, DPR, and Cahill Construction.

What You'll Do

• Design Ruggedized Wearables: Lead mechanical design for body-worn and head-mounted camera systems that survive drops, dust, water, extreme temperatures, and 8+ hour daily use on active construction sites
• DFM & Manufacturing: Own design for manufacturing, work with suppliers and contract manufacturers to transition designs from prototype to high-volume production while optimizing for cost and reliability
• Enclosure & Mounting Systems: Design lightweight, ergonomic enclosures and mounting hardware (hard hat clips, vest mounts, chest harnesses) that workers will enjoy wearing all day
• Testing & Validation: Develop and execute reliability test plans including drop testing, vibration testing, environmental testing (IP rating, temperature cycling), and field durability validation with real users
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with electrical engineers, firmware engineers, industrial designers, and field ops to integrate cameras, batteries, sensors, and connectivity into cohesive wearable systems

Job Requirements

• Bachelors degree (B.S.) in Mechanical Engineering or related field
• 3+ years of experience in mechanical design for consumer electronics, wearables, or ruggedized hardware
• Strong CAD skills (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, or similar) with portfolio demonstrating end-to-end development from concept to contract manufacturing
• Proven experience with DFM principles, injection molding, CNC machining, and assembly processes
• Hands-on prototyping experience—comfortable building and testing physical prototypes quickly
• Experience with environmental testing standards (IP ratings, drop test standards, MIL-STD or similar)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing wearable devices, body-worn cameras, or head-mounted systems
• Background in ruggedized or industrial hardware (construction, military, oil & gas, public safety)
• Knowledge of battery integration, thermal management, and sealing/gasketing for waterproof enclosures
• Experience working with overseas contract manufacturers (Asia)
• Familiarity with FEA/CFD simulation tools for structural or thermal analysis
• Understanding of ergonomics and human factors for extended-wear devices

Location & Compensation

• San Francisco Bay Area (on-site)
• Hyper competitive salary and equity package
• Full benefits including health, dental, vision, and 401k +6% match