Mechanical Engineer, Election Hardware

Level: Mid-career

Team: Hardware Engineering

Location: Bellingham, WA preferred, with a strong preference for onsite work

Remote: Open to remote candidates for the right fit, but a remote role would require frequent travel to Bellingham, especially at the start of builds, during production ramps, and any time significant production issues arise. We estimate someone in this role working remotely would need to travel approximately 30% of the year.

Travel (for both Bellingham and remote candidates): Occasional travel to vendors and other sites as needed.

Compensation: $132,000 - $200,000 is the full range, accounting for all geographic areas and leveling. We adjust salaries depending on location. The full range for this role in Whatcom County, WA is $157,750 - $190,000.

A Bit About Us

Elections are the foundation of democracy, and democracy depends on elections that are broadly trusted. VotingWorks is a non-partisan, non-profit that is building technology that powers elections everyone can trust.

We use open-source software, modern product engineering, and advanced security to build:

• Auditing technology that increases trust in legacy voting systems
• Modern voting systems that are much more broadly trusted

Our auditing system is used by 9 states, including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Texas, Nevada, and Washington. Our voting system is deployed in 2 states, Mississippi and New Hampshire. Most notably, we are the first new voting system in New Hampshire in more than 30 years.

The Opportunity

We are building voting technology. We believe in voting machines that can be trusted by the public, by election officials, and by security experts. We also believe in supporting robust and transparent post-election audits, to provide confidence in election results. If you’re like us, you’ve been thinking about the myriad problems and rough edges of our democracy for a while. We’ve decided that talking about it isn’t enough – we must do something. If you feel the same way, we hope you’ll consider joining our team.

The Team

The VotingWorks hardware team is a small group of engineers and specialists responsible for the full lifecycle of our voting system hardware — from mechanical design and BOM management to manufacturing coordination, procurement, and regulatory certification. We work across disciplines: mechanical design in SolidWorks, electrical and EMC/ESD testing, supply chain, and hands-on assembly and build validation. No one owns a narrow slice; everyone engages with the broader system.

We work closely with contract manufacturers, external test labs, and internal software and operations teams, so clear communication and strong documentation are as important as technical skill. Our products are deployed in real elections, which means the bar for rigor is high and the consequences of errors are real — we take that seriously without losing the pragmatism needed to ship.

The team is flat in the way that matters: good ideas and hard questions are welcome from everyone, regardless of title. We've grown through a period of transition and taken on more shared ownership as a result. We're looking for people who are self-directed, comfortable with ambiguity, and invested in doing careful work that holds up in the field.

The Role

Our hardware team is small, and it is a bottleneck to shipping product. We have more design work, more builds, more vendor coordination, and more production support than the current team can absorb. We need to grow.

We currently need a mechanical engineer who can take work from rough problem statement to a released drawing package, and then stay with it through quote, build, fallout, and revision.

This role is especially important during production. Outside of active build phases, the engineer's primary focus is on optimizing our intake and assembly processes. This includes designing intake fixtures and updating any assemblies that are proving difficult.

When builds are active, this engineer will serve as the main owner for all mechanical issues and manufacturing problems that arise. They will work directly with the production team to manage containment, determine the root cause, implement corrective action, and ensure follow-through.

What you’ll own

• Design and release mechanical parts and assemblies in SolidWorks
• Create complete manufacturing drawings for sheet metal, CNC machined, 3D printed, injection molded, thermoformed, and laser-cut parts
• Support and participate in collaborative brainstorms, design reviews, and drawing redlines
• Drive root cause analysis for mechanical failures seen in receiving, assembly, and field use
• Work directly with contract manufacturers and suppliers on RFQs, DFM feedback, first articles, corrective actions, and production issues
• Serve as a primary issue owner during builds and production events, especially for mechanical problems affecting throughput, quality, or schedule
• Be onsite with the production team when needed to triage issues in real time and help drive them to closure
• Improve assembly reliability through better part design, tolerance strategy, fixtures, and jigs
• Design incoming inspection tools and processes to catch critical issues prior to production.
• Help clean up BOM structure, revision control, and part/configuration management as we mature PLM and ERP workflows
• Support mechanical aspects of EMI and ESD mitigation, including grounding, shielding, cable routing, and bracketry

What this looks like in practice

You might:

• Rework a drawing package so a vendor can build to spec without back-and-forth
• Investigate product hardware failures, (why a part is cracking, why a fastener is failing in assembly, or why a tolerance stack-up is creating fallout on the floor)
• Be physically present at the start of a production build to support the team, answer questions, and unblock issues quickly
• Step in when a production problem appears, coordinate the relevant people, and own the issue until containment and corrective actions are in place
• Design simple go/no-go fixtures to verify critical dimensions in seconds.
• Review first articles to decide whether the issue is the part, the print, or the process
• Translate a test finding into a practical mechanical fix such as a new grounding strap, shielding feature, or cable routing change

What success looks like

In your first 3 to 6 months, you will:

• Take ownership of meaningful mechanical subsystems with minimal guidance
• Improve the quality and clarity of released drawing packages
• Reduce time lost to ambiguous prints and avoidable vendor confusion
• Show up effectively during builds and become a trusted issue owner when production problems arise
• Close root cause loops faster when assembly problems show up
• Put simple, durable inspection and assembly aids in place for high-risk parts
• Help us move toward a cleaner source of truth for parts, revisions, and BOMs

Must-haves

• Strong SolidWorks skills across parts, assemblies, and manufacturing drawings
• Experience creating complete, unambiguous drawing packages with GD&T where appropriate
• Practical mechanical design experience across several common fabrication methods, especially sheet metal and injection molding
• Comfort designing for low-to-mid volume production, not just prototypes
• Good judgment around fasteners, joining methods, materials, finishes, and tolerance stack-ups
• Strong root cause instincts: you measure, compare to print, isolate variables, and write clear findings
• Confidence working directly with outside vendors, contract manufacturers, and production teams
• Willingness to stay close to production reality, including travel and onsite issue ownership during builds

Strongly preferred

• Based in or near Bellingham, WA, and able to work onsite regularly
• Experience supporting active builds in person
• Experience acting as a primary owner for production issues, not just a background design resource
• Experience with 3D printing for both prototyping and low-volume production
• Experience designing fixtures, jigs, gauges, or incoming inspection tools
• Familiarity with BOM control, revision control, and PLM/PDM systems such as SolidWorks PDM, Arena, Odoo, or similar
• Experience managing first article inspections and corrective actions
• Mechanical awareness of EMI and ESD design considerations

This role is likely a good fit if you

• Like owning problems all the way through, beyond handing off CAD
• Are comfortable being pulled into live production issues and making practical decisions under pressure
• Care about the difference between a part that looks finished and one that is truly ready for production
• Can switch between design work, vendor management, and factory-floor problem solving
• Want your work used in real elections by real voters

This role is hard because

• Election deadlines are immutable
• Multiple builds can be active at once
• You will need to switch between forward-looking design work and immediate production support
• Some process infrastructure is still being built in parallel with active production
• When production issues happen, this role is expected to lean in directly, often onsite

We value potential as much as experience. If your background doesn’t include every qualification listed but you’re eager to learn and contribute, we encourage you to apply.