Staff Mechanical Engineer
Copper
Overview
As a Mechanical Engineer at Copper, you’ll play a central role in bringing our products to life, from early concepts to hardware that ships into real homes. You’ll own mechanical design across the full development cycle, including CAD and detailed drawings, prototyping, manufacturing support, reliability, and testing.
You’ll work closely with a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary product team spanning electrical, firmware, industrial design, operations, quality, and service. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, you’ll take on complex, ambiguous problems and help turn them into manufacturable, reliable, real-world products.
As a senior member of a growing hardware team, this role offers a rare opportunity to have outsized impact, shaping not just individual designs, but how we build, test, and scale products as a company. You’ll help raise the technical bar, mentor other engineers, and directly influence the systems and standards that enable Copper to grow.
We value diversity and are committed to building a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. We’re especially focused on fostering an inclusive workplace where everyone can contribute to our shared mission.
This is a full-time position expected to be in-office 4 days per week with 1 day flexible for in-office or remote work. Our office is located in Berkeley, CA.
What you'll do
- Own major mechanical systems and subsystems from early concept through production, ramp, and real-world use (including the messy parts in between).
- Take on ambiguous, high-impact problems and turn loose goals into clear technical direction, concrete plans, and shipped hardware.
- Act as a technical leader on cross-functional projects, working closely with electrical, firmware, industrial design, operations, quality, and service to deliver integrated, real-world solutions.
- Make strong engineering tradeoffs using first-principles thinking, balancing performance, reliability, manufacturability, cost, schedule, and customer experience.
- Stay hands-on: design parts, build prototypes, review drawings, debug issues on the bench, and support builds on the factory floor.
- Drive designs toward manufacturable, scalable solutions, partnering with suppliers and operations through pilot builds, production readiness, and iteration.
- Identify where our tools, processes, documentation, or testing break down — and help fix them. Create structure where none exists.
- Mentor engineers across the team through design reviews, technical problem solving, and day-to-day coaching, raising the bar for engineering judgment and execution.
- Step in as a project or subsystem lead when needed, helping align contributors, keep momentum, and unblock progress.
- Investigate tough production and field issues, dig into root causes, and drive fixes all the way through validation.
- Contribute beyond your immediate projects by helping shape how we design, build, test, and ship hardware as the company scales.
What you'll bring
- B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.
- 10+ years of progressive, hands-on experience in product development, with a proven track record of executing and successfully shipping complex hardware products from initial concept to production.
- Good command of engineering fundamentals, design concepts, and detailed drawing creation, with the ability to break down problems to first principles.
- Experience in a diverse range of manufacturing processes (e.g., injection molding, die casting, stamping, machining, extrusion) and their associated design constraints and cost drivers.
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, and ability to communicate technical concepts to cross functional teams.
- Experience with rapid prototyping tools (waterjet, laser cutter, 3D printer), as well as quick turn manufacturing in order to rapidly evaluate designs.
- Ability to prioritize work, and operate independently, knowing how to ask for help when needed.
- Excellent organizational skills, creating structure and documentation as you work.
- Proven ability to work well with vendors.
Location
This is an in-office role that is on site four days per week minimum. Our office is located in Berkeley, CA.
Compensation & Benefits
The salary range for this role is $173,000 - $186,000. We are committed to equitable compensation, and we offer a generous benefits package to make sure you have the support you need. We cover 100% of the premiums for our employees and 50% of the premiums for their dependents on our base plans for medical, dental, and vision insurance. We offer a 401(k) plan for employees to contribute to, in addition to many other benefits. Every employee, regardless of gender identity or expression, is eligible for 16 weeks of paid parental leave after three months of employment (eight weeks through Channing Copper and eight weeks CA Paid Family Leave).
Equal Employment Opportunity
We are committed to creating an equitable and inclusive environment for all our employees and are seeking to build a team that reflects the diversity of the people we hope to serve with our products. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.
About Us
Channing Copper's vision is a future where every home is electrified with abundant clean energy. Our mission is to make decarbonization accessible to everyone by selling electric home appliances that enrich their daily lives. We're reducing the cost of electrification by integrating batteries into household appliances, starting with the stove. Our work has been funded by the Department of Energy, in an effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and increase energy resilience with products that are high-performance, safe, intuitive, and robust. As we build our team and pursue our mission, we do it with a strong sense of our core values because it's not just what you do, it's how you do it. You'll see this in high-level decisions, how we run meetings, our day-to-day work, hiring, and our interactions with customers and the broader community. We intend to have a massive impact on our team, our neighborhood, and the world.