Director – Mechanical Engineering
nEye
Director – Mechanical Engineering
nEye
Programmable optical switches for data centers
Salary Range: 210000 to 290000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)
About Us:
nEye.ai, a well-funded optical switch startup, is poised to revolutionize the future of data centers. nEye’s MEMS-based silicon photonics optical circuit switches (OCS) eliminate critical bottlenecks in AI processing by enabling direct optical connections among thousands of GPUs and memory units. The company's SuperSwitch is an ultra-low power consumption, high radix, compact chip-scale design, offering hyperscale data centers enhanced performance, efficiency, and scalability.
We are seeking a highly skilled and strategic Director of Mechanical Engineering to be the primary owner and driver of all mechanical aspects of our product development. In this pivotal role, you will be the primary technical authority for mechanical design, simulation, and manufacturing, serving as the central interface between mechanical engineering and all other teams within the company. This is a unique opportunity for an accomplished individual contributor who is also ready to lead a small team of engineers, or a prior manager that enjoys leading a small, focused team. Your impact in this role will be measured by your team's accomplishments.
You will be responsible for building and organizing the team that creates robust and reliable mechanical designs meeting the stringent requirements of the telecom and data center markets. You will own all stress/strain, modal, and thermal simulations, ensuring our products are optimized for performance and durability. This role spans the entire product lifecycle, from initial concept and vendor development to first article inspection and engineering change control. You will work closely with packaging experts on the team that specialize in particular areas of the product design.
History and ability to design precision mechanical components and assemblies supporting MEMS and silicon photonic devices
History and ability to develop enclosures, mounting structures, fiber management solutions, and thermal hardware for high-performance optical systems
Drive mechanical designs from concept through prototype, validation, and production
Build and organize the Mechanical team for scaling into multiple products and projects
Choose, Develop and work closely with third party outsourcing to supplement existing resources.
Refine and run the nEye NPD process used by the Mechanical team.
Identify critical simulation needs in the designs, including mechanical, thermal and dynamic.
Lead the structural, thermal, and vibration simulations using FEA tools
Analyze stress, strain, thermal performance, and reliability of assemblies
Drive design optimizations for manufacturability, robustness, and long-term reliability
Develop and lead design tradeoff studies through simulation and experimentation
Define and manage the build, assembly, and evaluation of engineering prototypes
Work closely with engineers and manufacturing partners to debug mechanical issues
Conduct root cause analysis on prototype and field failures
Iterate rapidly based on test data and engineering feedback
Collaborate with vendors on precision machined, sheet metal, molded, and fabricated parts
Own first article reviews, part approvals and manufacturing documentation
Support engineering change orders (ECOs)
Help transition designs from prototype into production
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.
7+ years of hands-on experience in mechanical design and analysis, with at least 3 years in a lead or management role.
Demonstrated leadership qualities specific to hiring and efficient design
Experience designing mechanical systems for the telecom or data center industry.
Expert-level proficiency with 3D-CAD software (e.g., SolidWorks, Creo, Inventor) and Finite Element Simulation software (e.g., Ansys, SolidWorks Simulation, COMSOL).
Demonstrated expertise in thermal management and simulation for electronic systems.
Proven experience in analytical mechanical design, including designing for low-stress mounting, shock, and vibration.
Strong understanding of a variety of manufacturing processes, including precision machining, extrusion, sheet metal, and a variety of molding technologies.
Direct experience managing vendors and performing first article inspections.
Knowledge of industry standards for shock, vibration, and thermal testing (e.g., Telcordia).
Experience with advanced materials and adhesives for specialized applications.
Excellent communication and technical documentation skills, with the ability to effectively present designs and simulation results to cross-functional teams.
nEye Systems designs programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that implement high-radix optical circuit switching on a silicon chip. Their main product is a programmable optical switch built on silicon photonics, enabling high-capacity, low-power data paths for AI, ML, and other data-intensive workloads. The system uses a PIC-based switch fabric that can be configured to route optical signals through many channels, reducing electrical power needs and easing network scaling in data centers. Compared with competitors, nEye focuses on integrating high-radix, programmable optical switching directly on silicon wafers to deliver scalable, energy-efficient networking for AI infrastructure, leveraging MEMS photonics and silicon photonics techniques. The company aims to make data center networks more power-efficient and scalable to meet rising demands from AI and ML workloads.
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