Freelance Mechanical Designer (SolidWorks)

Workplace type: Remote

About Company

We are a US-based, VC-backed startup helping rebuild mineral processing to unlock critical-mineral resources that are currently uneconomic. We design, build, and test our own electrochemical cells in-house.

About the Role

We design our cells by hand first — we sketch the parts, machine them locally, assemble and test, then revise. Turning those sketches into SolidWorks models and dimensioned drawings a machine shop can quote and cut without coming back with questions.

This is an execution role. We own the design intent; what we need is someone who can take a sketch and turn it into clean, manufacturable hardware fast, then iterate with us as the design changes every couple of weeks.

What You'll Do

• Turn hand sketches into clean, fully defined SolidWorks models of machined plates and housings.
• Produce dimensioned, toleranced drawings a shop can quote and cut without follow-up questions.
• Design for leak-free bolted assemblies that seal against gaskets and membranes.
• Iterate fast with the team — we change one or two things and rebuild every couple of weeks.

Required Skills

• You live in SolidWorks and have released drawings to real machine shops.
• Experience with machined plates and housings in both engineering plastics and metals — PEEK, titanium, and nickel.
• A firm grasp of tolerances, flatness, and surface finish on sealing faces: our plates bolt together with gaskets and membranes and have to run leak-free.
• A background in prototype and lab hardware more than production.

Preferred

Direct experience with flow cells, electrolyzers, fuel cells, or batteries would be ideal. Any sealed fluidic assembly counts — manifolds, valve bodies, heat exchangers, microfluidics.