Senior Mechanical Engineer

Department: Engineering

Location: San Francisco

Compensation: $135K – $170K

Employment Type: FullTime

The Role

As a Mechanical Engineer at Sofar, you’ll be a key contributor to the design, development, and manufacturing of the hardware that powers our ocean sensing networks. You’ll work across the full product lifecycle—from early system architecture and prototyping through testing, deployment, and transition to manufacturing.

You’ll own mechanical designs and make thoughtful tradeoffs across performance, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and schedule. You’ll work closely with electrical, firmware, software, and manufacturing engineers to solve challenging multidisciplinary problems, and you won’t hesitate to jump in when the root cause isn’t obviously mechanical.

Responsibilities

• Own mechanical designs and subassemblies from early concepts and CAD through prototyping, validation, and production.

• Design reliable hardware for harsh marine environments, balancing performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule.

• Build, test, and debug prototypes and production hardware, using testing and failure analysis to drive design improvements.

• Lead mechanical design reviews and collaborate closely with electrical, firmware, software, and manufacturing engineers on integrated systems.

• Work directly with suppliers, machine shops, vendors, and contract manufacturers to develop and scale parts and assemblies.

• Collaborate across Sofar, and occasionally directly with customers, to develop new marine sensing applications and participate in field testing and ocean deployments.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional mechanical engineering experience designing hardware for marine, robotics, aerospace, automotive, or other demanding environments.

• Strong proficiency in 3D CAD (Onshape or SolidWorks preferred) and experience owning mechanical designs from concept through production.

• Strong mechanical fundamentals, including materials and process selection, structural analysis, fatigue, tolerancing, GD&T, and engineering drawings.

• Experience building, testing, debugging, and iterating on physical hardware

• Strong engineering judgment and the ability to work effectively with team members from different fields such as electrical, firmware, manufacturing, and external vendors.

Bonus Points

• Experience designing hardware for marine or subsea environments, including sealing, corrosion, and long-duration environmental exposure.

• Experience with FEA and designing for static, cyclic, impact, or thermal loads.

• Experience with sensor integration into larger systems

• Hands-on machining or fabrication experience.

• Previous start-up experience

• A passion for or connection to the ocean

Estimated Salary Range

• $135,000 - $170,000

• The range listed is what we reasonably expect to pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and may be modified in the future. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, experience, and equity package.

Our Approach to AI in the Hiring Process:

At Sofar, we use AI tools in our day-to-day work, and we don't expect our hiring process to be any different. Here's how we think about it:

Applying: Write your own first draft — we want to hear your voice and understand your real experience. AI is fine for refining and polishing, not for generating your story.

Take-home assessments: Complete these on your own unless we've explicitly said otherwise. We'll always be upfront about it when AI is allowed.

Interview prep: Go for it. Use AI to research Sofar, practice your responses, and sharpen your thinking before we meet.

During interviews: This is you. We're a small team and we move fast — live conversations are how we get to know you, and we're genuinely curious how you think in real time.

A note on transparency: We're a lean People team, and we use AI to help with things like drafting job descriptions, preparing interview questions, and candidate communications. We don't use it to make hiring decisions — those are always ours.

The through line: use AI to show more of yourself, not less :)

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas and retain an immigration lawyer to support the process. While we can't guarantee sponsorship for every role or situation, if we make you an offer, we'll make every reasonable effort to make it work.

A note on applying: We mean it when we say we want the strongest people — not the most credentialed ones. If you're excited about this work but don't check every box, please apply anyway. Research consistently shows that underrepresented candidates are more likely to self-select out, and that's a loss for everyone. Sofar operates at the intersection of ocean science, climate, and technology — the problems we're solving are consequential, and the perspectives we bring to them matter. We're actively working to build a team that reflects that.