# Mechanical Design Engineer, Plastics

**Company:** [Mind Robotics](https://zerogtalent.com/frontier-companies/mind-robotics)
**Location:** Palo Alto
**Work mode:** On-site
**Seniority:** Mid
**Employment type:** Full Time
**Category:** Engineering
**Department:** Hardware Engineering
**Listed:** 2026-09-29

[View and apply on Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com/frontier-jobs/mind-robotics/mechanical-design-engineer-plastics-ab9a9fe3-ada1-4621-b762-f8cae0be39b0)

## What you'll do

- Own mechanical design of A-surface plastic components from ID to production tooling
- Develop Class-A surfaces, translate ID surfacing to manufacturable parts
- Select polymers and processes balancing appearance, mechanical properties, cost
- Define GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, datum schemes for multi-part assemblies
- Drive DFM/DFA for injection molding, insert/overmolding, secondary operations

## What you need

- 5+ yrs injection-molded plastic parts high-volume production
- Deep polymer materials science knowledge (resins, fillers, additives)
- Fluent GD&T (ASME Y14.5/ISO GPS) and tolerance analysis
- Proven cosmetic A-surface ownership and vendor appearance standards
- Strong surfacing skills in SolidWorks/CATIA/NX/Creo; mold flow reading

## Job description

### **About Mind:**

Mind Robotics is building Physical AI for real-world industrial deployment, starting with the factory floor. We believe the hardest problems in AI are solved when researchers and engineers are hands-on with the physical world every day - and we're looking for people who are passionate about robotics, value ownership, and are excited to tackle difficult problems.

  

### **Responsibilities**

-   Own the mechanical design of A-surface plastic components for the robot — covers, skins, shrouds, bezels, and cosmetic enclosures — from industrial design intent through production tooling.
    
-   Develop Class-A surfaces and translate ID surfacing into manufacturable parts, holding gap-and-flush, parting line, draft, and aesthetic intent across the full assembly.
    
-   Select polymers and processes across the cosmetic stack: ABS, PC, PC/ABS, PA and glass-filled grades, TPU/TPE, and specialty resins — balancing appearance, impact and creep behavior, chemical and UV resistance, flammability, and cost.
    
-   Define and own GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, and datum schemes across multi-part plastic assemblies and their interfaces to structures, actuators, and electronics.
    
-   Drive DFM and DFA for injection molding, insert molding, overmolding, and secondary operations — gate and ejector strategy, wall thickness, ribbing and boss design, warp and sink mitigation, and shutoff design.
    
-   Own cosmetic specification: textures, gloss levels, color matching, painting, plating, laser etching, and in-mold decoration, plus the defect standards and limit samples that go with them.
    
-   Work directly with tool shops, molders, and CMs through tool kickoff, T0/T1 sampling, tuning, and PPAP — reviewing mold flow, tool design, and first-shot parts, and driving corrective action.
    
-   Build and test prototypes using 3D printing, urethane casting, CNC, and soft tooling, then validate with drop, structural, and environmental testing.
    
      
    

### Qualifications

-   Exceptional mechanical intuition. You understand how polymers flow, shrink, warp, and fail — and you can predict it before the tool is cut.
    
-   5+ years designing injection-molded plastic parts for high-volume consumer, automotive, or robotics products, with parts you took from CAD through production tooling.
    
-   Deep, hands-on knowledge of polymer materials science: resin families, fillers and additives, anisotropy, moisture sensitivity, and how process conditions change part behavior.
    
-   Fluent in GD&T (ASME Y14.5 or ISO GPS) and tolerance analysis, including worst-case and statistical stack-ups on compliant plastic parts.
    
-   Proven experience owning cosmetic A-surface parts and defending appearance standards with vendors.
    
-   Strong surfacing skills in SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, Creo, or similar; comfort reading mold flow results and tool drawings.
    
-   Comfortable with ambiguity, moves fast, and curious about how the whole system works.

## Other open roles at Mind Robotics

- [Head of Robotics Data Acquisition & Strategy](https://zerogtalent.com/frontier-jobs/mind-robotics/head-of-robotics-data-acquisition-strategy-fdd6389a-cf43-449c-8ebf-a2279449d6ab) — Palo Alto
- [Systems Engineer](https://zerogtalent.com/frontier-jobs/mind-robotics/systems-engineer-f81d85b6-36f3-41f3-b383-d05cfa997017) — Palo Alto
- [Tech Lead Manager](https://zerogtalent.com/frontier-jobs/mind-robotics/engineering-manager-5ed7f0f6-fb88-4523-b406-9bcf96407a15) — Normal, IL
- [QA Reviewer, Data Annotation](https://zerogtalent.com/frontier-jobs/mind-robotics/qa-reviewer-data-annotation-fedfb4f0-42b7-43e1-a83a-01f2c53eda75) — Palo Alto
- [Tools and PLM Engineer](https://zerogtalent.com/frontier-jobs/mind-robotics/tools-and-plm-engineer-9ef82514-902b-4700-8490-51b08048c26b) — Palo Alto

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*Source: [Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com), the job board for space, defense, AI, robotics and frontier-tech companies.*