What are the responsibilities and job description for the Product Design Engineer position at Dispatch Goods?
Position Summary :
Dispatch Goods is a female-founded climate-tech company. We are on a mission to eliminate waste by designing and building the circular supply chains of tomorrow. We partner with many large food companies (CookUnity, Misfits Market, Thistle, and HelloFresh), caterers, brands, and other organizations to unlock a returnable packaging program by facilitating logistics, cleaning and processing, QA, inventory tracking, and procurement. We are backed by strong investors in the climate and traditional venture space.
Position Summary :
As a high-growth start-up in the green tech space, we look for entrepreneurial minded individuals who are able to wear multiple hats while applying a mix of their expertise toward trailblazing the mission of Dispatch Goods. As we enable circular processing services for food packaging and containers, we are also designing new “reusable” products (dishware, containers, etc.) to replace single use alternates for food and cold chain distribution.
The Product Engineer will be responsible for designing and sourcing products that our customers will love. You will own the end-to-end design, development, sourcing, and manufacturing.
Responsibilities :
Build product strategy and roadmap; brainstorm design ideas; develop and implement strategy to build and deliver products quickly and as cost effectively as possible
Execute design concepts in all phases of a development cycle : concept and 3D modeling, design, testing, development, sourcing, and manufacturing
Work with Contract Manufacturers to produce prototypes and commercial products; oversee detailed engineering development and manufacturing ramp process
Partner with operations teams to test current and new products to ensure high quality product development and manufacturing.
Understand cost / feature trade offs and value engineer to deliver product that meets customers’ needs at target costs
Understand and implement material and manufacturing technology; stay up to date on latest innovations in supply chain, materials science, and manufacturing
Laser focus on customer needs; conduct customer interviews, shadow internal and external operations to understand product life cycle, and constantly capture customer input and feedback on existing and future product
Seek and evaluate innovative sourcing opportunities; evaluate domestic vs. international, vertical integration vs. outsourcing, and other ways to build the best product for the best price
Experience & Requirements :
5 years of working in mechanical engineering or equivalent experience with design for manufacturing
Experience working with overseas manufacturers, including setting up production, managing pricing and timelines, and testing and validation
Experience with prototyping and implementation
Project management skills; ability to maintain momentum on projects with excellent attention to detail from inception to completion.
Strong problem solving and creative skills; ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions based on accurate and timely analysis
This position will require domestic and international travel to visit customers and manufacturers (Up to 30%)
Ability to work both independently and collaboratively, with little supervision, with Contract Manufacturing partners both domestically and based in Asia
Ability to collaborate and work cross-functionally with a variety of teams including Operations, Sales, Supply Chain, Product, and Finance
Position based near to one of our facilities at Baltimore, MD; Los Angeles, CA; or Hayward, CA; team works onsite 2 days / week.
Preferred Skills :
Plastic part design, materials, mechanical design, analysis, and design for Manufacturing (DFM) experience
5 years experience in sourcing and cost negotiation with overseas suppliers
Experience standing up manufacturing lines
Proficiency in 3D design software
Demonstrated expertise designing products for a broad range of manufacturing processes : plastic injection molding, compression molding, cut & sew
Demonstrated expertise in materials development; knowledge of materials science and understanding of the chemical properties and behavior of materials
Design validation skills including failure analysis and prototyping and testing
About You :
You have experience working in a fast-paced environment, ideally in a venture-backed growth-stage start-up
You’re an extremely thorough communicator that helps peers and teams understand the “why” behind actions
You’re passionate about our mission to eliminate landfill waste and enable profitable and scalable circular supply chains
You have a great passion for process improvement and product design / development wanting to be an agent of change to reduce waste