Mechanical Engineer

Foundational Industries · Bay Area · Full-Time

About Foundational

Foundational is building a network of AI-native, autonomous factories for modern contract manufacturing — reshoring critical supply chains so companies can produce high-quality products domestically, quickly, and at competitive cost. Recent breakthroughs in robotics and physical AI have shifted autonomous manufacturing from theoretical to deployable, and we're focused on operationalizing these capabilities at scale during a decisive decade for American industrial leadership.

WHO — Who Thrives Here

At Foundational, we're building with people who want to own something — to do work that matters, in an environment where what you ship is what counts.

The people who thrive here:

• Take ownership before they're asked. They see the gap and close it.

• Operate with a high degree of judgment. We move fast, and good judgment travels farther than a playbook.

• Communicate directly — concise, clear, and candid, especially when stakes are high.

• Hold a high bar for themselves first, then for everyone around them.

• Are genuinely energized by hard problems in physical, real-world environments. Energized — not just interested.

• Stay effective when things are ambiguous, changing, or under pressure. That's the job.

This is a place for people who want to build something that has never existed before and leave a clear mark on it.

MISSION

Own the mechanical design integrity of Foundational’s products: structural performance under real-world loads, tolerance stacks that guarantee fit and function across multi-part assemblies, and fabrication-ready drawings the floor can build at rate.

OUTCOMES — What Success Looks Like in 6–12 Months

We track results. Here's what we expect this person to own and deliver:

First 90 days — Complete fabrication drawing packages — GD&T, weld callouts, finish callouts — released for the active product line from customer and reference geometry. Structural analysis baseline complete for the governing load cases — static, handling, and transport — with margins documented.

First 6 months — Tolerance stack analyses validated against first articles for the critical interfaces, with corrective design or process changes closed. Designs optimized with Manufacturing Engineering for distortion control, fixturability, and assembly at rate.

By 12 months — Products structurally qualified with customer-ready analysis and physical test reports; design-for-rate improvements — part count, weld length, setup reduction — delivering measurable cost reduction against the factory model; design impact of next-generation product variants assessed with tooling implications quantified.

SKILLS

• 5+ years of mechanical design of fabricated, welded, or precision-machined structures and assemblies with real structural requirements.

• FEA proficiency (static, buckling, basic dynamics) and the judgment to know when hand calculations suffice.

• Deep sheet metal, weldment, and machined-part DFM: process constraints, distortion, and fixturing.

• GD&T to ASME Y14.5, including stack-up analysis on multi-part assemblies.

• CAD mastery (Fusion preferred), including large-assembly management and drawing release discipline.

• Shock, vibration, or environmental qualification experience preferred.

COMPETENCIES

These are the behavioral patterns that predict success here — in practice, under pressure.

Accountability — You own outcomes. If something's off track, you say so and fix it.

Bias for action — You ship. You iterate. You move toward the hard thing.

Clarity of communication — Direct and concise, especially when it counts.

Learning agility — You get up to speed fast in unfamiliar territory.

Resilience — You stay sharp when things are hard, ambiguous, or moving fast.

High standards — You raise the bar rather than match it — and hold yourself to it first.

Building from zero — You can stand up a manufacturing engineering function from scratch — routings, fixtures, work instructions, the line itself — and run it yourself until there’s a team to hand it off to.

Why Foundational

This is a filter as much as it is an invitation.

We're turning reindustrialization from a talking point into an operating reality. The work is hard, the environment is demanding, and the stakes are real. We compensate with base, bonus, and equity to reflect impact, responsibility, and results, with meaningful upside for the people who help build and scale this company.

For those aligned with the mission and motivated by execution at scale, Foundational offers the opportunity to help define one of the most consequential industrial transformations of the next decade.

Foundational Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Foundational complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We evaluate every candidate on what they can do and who they are.