Senior Mechanical Engineer - Autonomous Drones

About the role

Fotokite builds autonomous, actively tethered drones used by firefighters, police and other first responders; more than 1,000 systems are in service worldwide. It is looking for an experienced mechanical engineer who has taken complex electro-mechanical products through industrialization, production ramp-up and years of field use. You will join the engineering team in Zurich to define the mechanical architecture of the kite, the tether and the ground station, including the vehicle-mounted Rooftop Box and Transport Case.

Key responsibilities

• Lead development of mechanical systems for the kite, tether and ground station from concept through series production
• Design and improve the flight frame, tether components, enclosures and opening mechanisms, focusing on weight, robustness, serviceability and cost
• Integrate new payloads and features with external partners
• Ensure weather protection (IP55), vibration resistance on vehicle roofs, temperature resilience and durability over thousands of launch and recovery cycles
• Drive design for manufacture, assembly, serviceability and design-to-cost
• Own industrialization with production, supply chain and quality, moving designs from prototype to the production line
• Define mechanical architecture, component specifications, tolerances and critical interfaces
• Run structural, fatigue, thermal, tolerance and reliability analyses, and lead root-cause analysis of failures
• Select and qualify suppliers, run technical reviews with manufacturers, and plan validation and testing
• Mentor other engineers and set best practices for CAD, documentation and change control
• Work closely with electronics, controls, firmware, product and operations teams

Required profile

• Master's or Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or a related field
• 6+ years developing complex mechanical or mechatronic products, including at least one taken into series production
• Fluent English
• Nice to have: background in drones, aircraft, robotics or other weight-critical systems; lightweight structures and carbon fiber composite design; experience with IP-rated enclosures or vehicle-mounted equipment; FMEA, risk analysis and quality systems; experience leading a mechanical team or a major subsystem

Required skills

• SolidWorks (or equivalent), fluent GD&T, and PLM tools
• CNC machining, sheet metal, injection molding, composites and precision assemblies
• Structural mechanics, dynamics and fatigue
• Hands-on prototyping, debugging and building