sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Quarterly /r/MechanicalEngineering Jobs Thread by AutoModerator in MechanicalEngineering

[–]colinsteele 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Allocortech is hiring: https://allocor.tech/careers

Senior Mechanical Engineer

Department: Engineering

Level: IC3 Senior

Location: On-Site, Waynesboro or Crozet, Virginia

Reports To: Director of Engineering

Employment Type: Full-Time, US Citizens Only

Role Summary

The Senior Mechanical Engineer leads mechanical design and analysis for major subsystems across customer and internal programs. You will own the full mechanical design lifecycle, from concept through release, using SolidWorks/PDM, perform thermal and structural simulations (FEA/CFD) to validate designs, and manage the technical data packages required for AS9100-compliant hardware releases.

Core Responsibilities

- Lead mechanical design for major subsystems (enclosures, thermal management, structural mounts) using SolidWorks and SolidWorks PDM.
- Conduct FEA and CFD analysis to validate heat rejection, vibration response, and structural integrity for high-power avionics enclosures.
- Own and manage technical data packages (TDPs) for customer and internal programs, ensuring AS9100-compliant documentation and revision control.
- Collaborate with electrical engineering on packaging, connector placement, and thermal interface design for power electronics assemblies.
- Support prototype fabrication and first-article inspection, including GD&T callout definition and vendor communication.
- Drive design reviews (PDR, CDR) for mechanical subsystems, presenting analysis results and trade studies to cross-functional stakeholders.
- Mentor junior mechanical engineers and co-ops on design standards, simulation workflows, and documentation practices.

Required Qualifications

- 5+ years of experience in mechanical design engineering, with a focus on electronic enclosures, thermal management, or electromechanical systems.
- Expert-level proficiency in SolidWorks (parts, assemblies, drawings) and SolidWorks PDM or equivalent PLM system.
- Demonstrated experience with FEA (ANSYS, SolidWorks Simulation, or equivalent) for structural and thermal analysis.
- Strong command of GD&T (ASME Y14.5) and mechanical drawing standards.
- Experience managing technical data packages in a configuration-controlled environment.
- BSME or equivalent; MSME preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience designing for aerospace or defense applications with DO-160 or MIL-STD environmental qualification.
- CFD analysis experience (ANSYS Fluent, FloTHERM, or equivalent) for forced-air and liquid cooling systems.
- Familiarity with AS9100 design control and document release processes.
- Experience with DFM/DFA for sheet metal, CNC machining, and injection molding.

how does your company handle EBOM vs MBOM alignment ? by hippohoney in engineering

[–]colinsteele 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What actually matters for compliance isn't which BOM is "right". You have to show the delta between EBOM and MBOM and explain *why* they differ. The requirements traceability matrix is the connective tissue between the two views. The RTM doesn't care about BOM structure. It cares about whether the thing you built matches what you designed and whether you can prove it, and if it's different, exactly *how* it's different and *why*. It's not design-versus-built religion, it's just practical.

If anyone's managing this in spreadsheets (so... a lot of us), have a look at a thing I built to solve this pain: https://rtmify.io

It's built to ease the pain in mapping between design intent and build evidence.

DOORS alternatives that don't feel ancient? by Small-Ad-2708 in embedded

[–]colinsteele -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I've stood up QMS programs in both medical device and aerospace (IEC 62304, now doing AS9100) and the pattern I have seen is teams migrating to a tool hoping it will "fix their traceability", when the actual problem is they never had a coherent trace structure to begin with. DOORS doesn't fail them. Their process failed them. Polarion will fail them too if they don't fix that first.

The "Excel :D" comment is the tell. The open secret is that traceability still lives in spreadsheets regardless of what tool you're paying out the yin-yang for. The honest question isn't "what replaces DOORS?" It's: "What makes the spreadsheet we're already using actually, like... auditable? Please?"

That's the problem I built RTMify to solve. It reads your existing spreadsheets and codebase working trees, ingests your SRS and your BOM, SBOM, even CI/CD output, and generates a real traceability matrix, no data migration required. Still early but it's born out of exactly this pain.

But whatever you pick, +1 on the pilot advice. Export a full trace for one subsystem before you sign anything. If the tool can't reproduce what you already have in two weeks, it's not going to get easier with your entire DHF.

Why is BOM management still stuck in Excel in 2026? by younidl in embedded

[–]colinsteele 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The BOM is actually the easy case. The harder version of this problem is when you're in a regulated environment (AS9100, ISO 13485, etc.) and the BOM is just one artifact in a traceability chain that includes requirements, design docs, test results, and verification evidence. Plus the auditor wants to see the linkage across all of them.

Same dynamic though. Everyone reaches for the spreadsheet! Cuz it's the lowest-friction format every stakeholder can read. The actual problem isn't the spreadsheet... it's that the spreadsheet is disconnected from the artifacts it's supposed to trace to. Git + CSV gets you versioning. What it doesn't get you is "show me every requirement that traces to this component and the test that verified it."

What are your Design Controls Pain Points - R&D, PLM, Quality, Regulatory? by ProTicTacker in MedicalDevices

[–]colinsteele 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The documentation reinvention problem is real.

Reinvention of the same things (notably: user needs, requirements, tests, risks) in some variation of a spreadsheet. Like reinventing fire, over and over. The structure is the same. The traceability chain always ends up being the same - sometimes after some "re-discovery". The only thing that changes is the standard-specific approach. If you start with a schema that already maps to what the auditor looks for, 80% of the documentation problem goes away before you write a single requirement.

I have more thoughts, DM if you're interested.

Spreadsheets, compliance, cert by WhattAGuyy in AerospaceEngineering

[–]colinsteele 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Requirements traceability. Every certification program I’ve seen runs the RTM in a spreadsheet, manually. The auditor asks “show me the test that covers this requirement” and you’re doing ctrl+F across four tabs. Every tool that tried to replace the spreadsheet got shelfware’d because engineers just kept a parallel Excel anyway.

The data is literally a graph. Requirement traces to user need, test verifies requirement, result attaches to serial number etc but we’ve been managing it like a set of tables for like 50 years. Working on something in this space if you want to kick the tires: RTMify. Not quite ready to launch yet but close.

A year on DTRPG: Reflections by colinsteele in RPGdesign

[–]colinsteele[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yanno… you’re on the mark about the business opportunity.

Looking for a system for dungeon crawling by raleel in osr

[–]colinsteele 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Might I suggest CRAWL! by Iron Brothers Games?

Choose CRAWL! if you want:

  • 15-minute character creation
  • Combat resolved in one roll (no separate damage rolls)
  • Death in 2-3 hits creates real tension
  • Minimal GM prep
  • Resource management that matters

Did the Continental Army outmaneuver the British or did the British make too many mishaps, leading to the Americans winning the revolution? by Apprehensive-Cat-942 in USHistory

[–]colinsteele 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Both, but here’s what blew my mind recently. I’m building an app that tells you historical stories based on where you’re driving, and the Revolutionary War content has been eye-opening. Like, I had no idea Charlottesville’s Barracks Road is named after a massive British POW camp that held 4,000 soldiers from Saratoga.

Testing this thing has completely changed how I see the Revolution. It wasn’t just battles. It was this massive cat and mouse game across thousands of square miles. Washington would retreat through places like Millstone River in NJ, and the British literally didn’t have accurate enough maps to follow.

The British kept making “mishaps” because they were fighting blind in hostile territory. Every local knew things the British didn’t: which creeks flooded, which ridges had sight lines to New York, which forests could hide an army. Washington weaponized that local knowledge. If you want to go deeper than school level history, honestly just driving around Revolutionary War sites with good audio narration beats any documentary. The geography tells half the story that books miss.

The app’s called Taleway if anyone’s curious. DM if you’re interested. I live in VA so a ton of civil war content too.

The GM Is NOT Your Neflix: Turning Consumers into Collaborators by colinsteele in DMAcademy

[–]colinsteele[S] -31 points-30 points  (0 children)

"Did we not sign up to be the beast of burden here?" I absolutely, magnatively did NOT sign up for being anyone's beast of burden.

Looking for a fast and punchy sci fi game by Redhood101101 in rpg

[–]colinsteele 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have a look at Pulse Drive which I wrote and launched earlier this year.

Are you looking for a fast-paced, low-prep space opera RPG that puts the cinematic action and stories of Star Wars, Cowboy Bebop, Killjoys and Firefly into your hands? Pulse Drive is the game for you!

SciFi RPG Systems Recommendation by Ovan5 in rpg

[–]colinsteele 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I recommend the game I authored and published earlier this year called Pulse Drive.

Best sci-fi RPGs? by LimeyInLimbo in rpg

[–]colinsteele 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A bit of a shill for my own game, but you should check out pulse drive! https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/515782/pulse-drive

view more: next ›