Mechanical Engineer
Designs and develops mechanical systems and products, from concept and calculation through to manufacture and test.
What the role involves
- Design mechanical components, assemblies and systems against requirements
- Create technical drawings, models and specifications for manufacture
- Perform calculations, simulations and tolerance and stress analysis
- Run and interpret design verification, testing and validation
- Work with manufacturing, suppliers and other engineers to resolve issues
Core skills
- Mechanical Design & CAD (level 4/5)
- Engineering Calculations & Mechanics (level 4/5)
- Technical Drawing & Documentation (level 4/5)
- Materials & Manufacturing Processes (level 4/5)
- FEA & Simulation (level 3/5)
- Design for Manufacture & Assembly (level 3/5)
Preferred skills
- Product Lifecycle Management
- Lean / Six Sigma
- Automation & Robotics
Tools
Experience expected
1-4 years of mechanical engineering experience
Projects that prove the role
- Product design taken from concept to production with measurable cost reduction
- Test programme that caught a failure mode before launch
- Design simplification that improved manufacturability
Evidence to collect
- A design portfolio with drawings, models and rationale
- A test report or FEA study you can walk through
- A manufactured part you took through to production
What the interview covers
- A design trade-off between cost, weight and performance
- How you chose material and manufacturing process
- Reading a technical drawing and spotting an error
- A design failure and what you changed in the process
How the role progresses
- Graduate Mechanical Engineer
- Mechanical Engineer
- Senior Mechanical Engineer
- Principal Engineer
- Chief Engineer
Certifications that carry weight
- EIT / PE (Professional Engineer)
- SolidWorks Certified Professional
- Autodesk Certified Professional
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
Related roles
- manufacturing-process-engineer
- quality-engineer
- civil-engineer
- electrical-engineer
Turn this into a plan
Inside CareerDev4AI, choosing this role generates a roadmap of the skills, projects and milestones that move you towards it.