What are the responsibilities and job description for the Mechanical Engineer II position at Tombot?
Tombot
Mechanical Engineer II Position
About us
Tombot is a robotics startup company based in the greater Los Angeles area. Named Best Product of CES 2025 by the Tech Podcast Network, Jennie, our robotic puppy, was designed to support over 50 million seniors with dementia worldwide. We're building a passionate team to help deliver these life-changing robotic companions to the people who need them most.
Job Overview
We’re looking for a hands-on, detail-oriented Mechanical Engineer (Level 2) to help build our next generation of robotic companion products. This role is ideal for someone with experience designing consumer toys or toy-adjacent products, with a strong understanding of toy safety requirements, mechanical design for mass production, and working with vendors to bring high-volume plastic and soft-goods parts to life.
In this position, you’ll contribute across the full mechanical development cycle: prototyping, refining designs, reviewing mechanisms, and working with vendors to bring parts into production. You’ll troubleshoot issues, improve reliability, and help ensure everything we build is safe, durable, and ready for high-volume manufacturing.
You’ll collaborate closely with senior engineers and cross-functional teams to define requirements, communicate design intent, and keep development moving efficiently. We’re looking for someone with solid mechanical fundamentals, curiosity, and a practical approach to problem-solving.
Responsibilities
- Prepare parts for mass production, including basic tolerance analysis and injection-molding DFM updates.
- Support toy safety compliance testing (small parts, sharp edges, drops/impact, battery enclosure checks, stress/fatigue).
- Review vendor DFM feedback and tooling notes with guidance from senior engineers.
- Assist with mechanical debugging and root-cause investigations during prototype and build issues.
- Build and iterate hand-fabricated prototypes, 3D prints, and quick-turn parts.
- Maintain documentation such as drawings, BOM updates, test notes, and simple verification checklists.
- Update CAD models and assemblies to support design changes, pilot builds, and manufacturing handoff.
- Help ensure designs meet safety, reliability, and compliance requirements.
Skills and Qualifications
- BS in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline.
- 2–5 years of mechanical engineering experience (toy, consumer electronics, or small electromechanical systems preferred).
- Strong CAD proficiency (SolidWorks or similar) with good modeling discipline and drawing practices.
- Hands-on prototyping capability: 3D printing, basic machining, hand tools, quick-turn models.
- Experience designing injection-molded parts and understanding of DFM/DFA principles.
- Familiarity with designing for toy safety or consumer-product safety requirements.
- Ability to collaborate in fast, iterative development cycles with frequent builds.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to take open-ended problems and drive them to closure.
Preferred Qualifications
- Previous experience working on toy, animatronic, pet, or consumer robotics products.
- Familiarity with toy safety standards (ASTM F963, EN71, ISO 8124) or consumer-product safety requirements.
- Experience with soft-goods integration (textiles, plush, foam, silicone).
- Knowledge of basic kinematics, actuators, gearing, and motion mechanisms.
- Exposure to reliability testing or mechanical life-testing setups.
- Experience interacting with overseas manufacturers (DFM reviews, tooling discussions, tolerance updates).
- Basic familiarity with electronics, connector selection, sensors, or firmware interactions.