Elections are the foundation of democracy, and democracy depends on elections that are broadly trusted. VotingWorks is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that is building the technology to power elections everyone can trust.
We use open-source software, certifiable product engineering, and advanced security to build:
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.
We are seeking a Lead Design Engineer with a proven track record in design for manufacturability and assembly (DFM/A) that is an expert in the field.
Reporting to the Head of Hardware, your primary responsibility will be taking designs from prototype to product, ensuring every mechanical detail is finalized for production and manufacturing. Your extensive expertise in CAD (SolidWorks), CAM, and GD&T will be critical in ensuring designs are manufacturable, cost effective, and compliant with federal certification standards.
This is a foundational role to our organization and you will be defining the best-practices for mechanical design that the rest of the hardware team will follow.
You will collaborate daily with key members of the hardware team including the Lead Test Engineer to validate your designs; the Lead Manufacturing Engineer to ensure a seamless handoff from design to manufacturing and the Head of Hardware who you’ll be sharing design responsibility with. While you won't initially have direct reports, you'll be expected to take ownership of the design-ecosystem and ethos, guiding others on the team to follow your direction and leadership as it relates to mechanical design.
Get Acquainted with the Organization:
Assess Current Projects:
Build Relationships:
Support the transition from contract firms:
Co-lead our next production run:
Establish Best Practices:
Get to know your team and your product:
Own hardware design:
Implement Best Practices:
We’re a mostly distributed organization, with team members working from home in nine different states. For many of our roles, you can live anywhere you want. For some of our roles, we need you in specific geographies. If there’s a geographical requirement, it’s never “just to be in the same room as the rest of the team,” it’s for very clear reasons like customer need or working on physical hardware together.
There is a preference for this position to be located in one of our geographic hubs: New York City, San Francisco, Austin, or Bellingham, WA. Please indicate your willingness (or not) to relocate and it will be considered as part of your application.
We offer a flexible work schedule and we're on board with schedule flexibility: many team members have kids, pets, family members they care for, extensive hobbies, and other personal commitments that don’t always conform to a 9-5 schedule. We get that, and we think we’re a better organization if we adapt to that. We work hard, we just don’t work hard on a strict schedule. With flexibility comes responsibility: you should be comfortable with significant autonomous work.
We’re a non-profit, so we compensate in cash and benefits exclusively. We won’t pay you as much as a big for-profit, but we’ll still pay you a very fair salary and competitive benefits.
This position is compensated at $165,000 - $190,000, based on a San Francisco cost of living. We adjust compensation depending on cost of living for an employee's location, up to 20% below the San Francisco base.
We never discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, background, ability/disability or really anything that isn’t about your skills.
We strive to go beyond that: we want to build a diverse organization that truly represents the people of the United States of America. We especially want to encourage women and members of under-represented groups to apply. You’ll always be judged on your skills and contributions, and we know that a more diverse team in all dimensions is a better team.