Senior Mechanical Engineer

Senior Mechanical Engineer Location: Kitchener, ON Team: Engineering — Automotive Business Unit Type: Full-time, on-site $100K to $120K CAD annually + equity About Alchemy Alchemy is a nanotechnology company building breakthrough solutions for the automotive and defence industries. We're transforming legacy sectors by vertically integrating our proprietary nanocoatings into category-defining, ready-to-use products. Our flagship technologies: ExoShield: the world's leading windshield protection film for the automotive aftermarket Crypsis Class: a multispectral camouflage coating platform for defence applications We are at the growth-stage of our journey and are focused on sustainable top-line growth across both our automotive and defence business units. Alchemy is backed by leading investors and incubators in Canada, USA, and France such as Y-Combinator, Stanford-StartX, Pathfinder, Pembroke, NameSilo, and more. Our team is a diverse, tight knit group of engineers, scientists, and business professionals that likes to spend time together in and out of the office, whether that is weekly badminton nights or team lunches. We are a team passionate about cars, cool technology, and working together to dominate the market segments we operate in. You can learn more about Alchemy at: www.alchemynano.com The Role We're hiring a Senior Mechanical Engineer to take our automotive products from design intent to repeatable production. Our products are precision-fit: each one is engineered to a specific vehicle, which means complex freeform geometry, custom tooling, and tightly controlled manufacturing processes that have to hit both dimensional and optical quality targets. This role owns that engineering chain end to end — digitizing and modelling geometry, designing and sourcing the tooling required to make it, developing and qualifying the process, validating the result, and handing a documented, repeatable process to Manufacturing. This is a deliberately broad, hands-on senior individual-contributor role. You will be the technical authority on design and process decisions and the person who sets the standards the rest of the team works to. You'll mentor one to two mechanical engineers and co-op students and help raise the technical bar of the team, but your value comes from your own judgment, CAD, and time on the floor rather than from managing headcount. You'll report to the Head of Automotive Technology and work daily with Product, Operations, and Manufacturing. Key Responsibilities Design and CAD Model complex freeform geometry and reverse-engineer parts from 3D measurement data Own the design standards that drive fit, manufacturability and quality — tolerances, surface treatment, design rules, and part categorization Lead design reviews and act as the technical approver before designs are committed to tooling Improve the design pipeline itself: better methods, templates, and automation to remove repetitive work Tooling Specify, design and source custom tooling and fixtures, including materials, construction, service conditions, tolerances and inspection criteria Own tooling through its lifecycle — commissioning, durability, rework and replacement Balance tooling cost against performance and life, and make the tradeoff explicit rather than implicit Process development and production handoff Develop and qualify manufacturing processes for polymer and film-based products, including thermal and pressure-driven forming and finishing operations Establish robust process windows and understand how the key variables interact, rather than tuning by feel Diagnose defects to root cause, using structured experimentation and retained evidence Release processes only when quality, repeatability and durability requirements are all met Hand processes to Manufacturing with complete work instructions, setup requirements and QC criteria so production can run them without engineering intervention Support production troubleshooting, equipment tooling, consumable specification and maintenance requirements Suppliers and cost Manage tooling, machining and fabrication suppliers: specifications, quoting, purchase orders, quality expectations and technical escalations Drive cost and cycle-time reduction by evaluating alternative materials, manufacturing routes and sourcing options — with a clear view of the risk each option carries Build the business case for capital and tooling investment alongside Product and Operations Testing, validation and engineering data Define and run test plans: dimensional and optical inspection, functional fit, and accelerated durability and environmental testing Use DOE and root-cause analysis to answer real product questions rather than settling for one-off trials Own the engineering record — specifications, SOPs, part and process libraries, and the reporting leadership uses to see program status Leave the team better documented than you found it: knowledge that lives only in one person's head is a defect in this role's eyes Team and cross-functional Mentor one to two mechanical engineers and co-op students — design reviews, CAD coaching and process discipline — without formal people-management responsibility Partner with Product on requirements and prioritization; with Operations and Manufacturing on scalability, yield and QC; and with our formulation and testing teams on material behaviour Qualifications Required: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field 5+ years of hands-on mechanical design and process engineering experience in a manufacturing or product development environment Expert-level 3D CAD, with real strength in surfacing — modelling and reverse engineering complex freeform geometry, not just prismatic parts (SolidWorks preferred) Experience working with 3D measurement or scan data: point clouds, mesh processing, alignment and deviation analysis, and building manufacturable surfaces from imperfect data Demonstrated ownership of tooling, mold, die or fixture design through to a working production process Practical process development experience — you have taken a process from "it worked once" to "production runs it every day without you" Strong grasp of how materials behave under heat, load and time: thermal expansion, springback and relaxation, and why a part that looks right at the machine can fail later Structured problem solving: DOE, root-cause analysis, and the discipline to change one variable at a time and record what happened Comfortable spending real time on the shop floor with machines, tooling and vehicles — this is not a desk-only role Clear technical writing: SOPs, specifications, design records and test reports that other people can follow Experience mentoring junior engineers or co-op students Must be authorized to work in Canada and able to commute to our headquarters in Kitchener, ON Preferred: Experience with one or more forming processes for polymer sheet or film — thermoforming, vacuum forming, hot or compression forming, or similar Tooling experience beyond machined metal: composite, cast or additive-manufactured tooling, and the material and service-temperature tradeoffs involved Experience with optical or coated films, multilayer laminates, or pressure-sensitive adhesives GD&T, metrology and inspection methods for freeform surfaces Scripting or CAD automation (Python, macros, API work) to remove repetitive engineering work Supplier and vendor management, including offshore sourcing of tooling Automotive aftermarket, glass or trim experience, or genuine enthusiasm for cars Previous experience in a startup or fast-paced technical environment where breadth is an asset What We Offer Competitive salary and equity package Comprehensive benefits plan A high-impact senior technical role with genuine ownership across design, tooling, process and production Deep breadth — you will touch CAD, tooling, process, testing, suppliers and production rather than one narrow slice Cross-functional exposure to product, operations and strategy A collaborative, mission-driven culture with lots of room to grow Alchemy is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and experiences. Use of Artificial Intelligence: TKC Recruitment & HR and/or the hiring organization may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment process, including screening, assessing, or selecting applicants. AI-generated information will be considered alongside human review and will not be the sole basis for hiring decisions.

The role involves taking automotive products from design intent to repeatable production by owning the end-to-end engineering chain of geometry, tooling, and process qualification. The engineer will act as the technical authority for design decisions and mentor junior staff while managing suppliers and validating product durability.

Requires a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical or Manufacturing Engineering with over 5 years of hands-on experience in product development. Candidates must possess expert-level 3D CAD surfacing skills and demonstrated experience in tooling and manufacturing process development.

• Competitive Salary • Equity Package • Comprehensive Benefits Plan

Identified from the job description. Confirm important requirements above.

• 3D CAD
• Surfacing
• Reverse Engineering
• Tooling Design
• Process Development
• DOE
• Root-Cause Analysis
• GD&T
• Metrology
• SolidWorks
• Technical Writing
• Supplier Management
• Polymer Forming
• 3D Measurement
• Mentoring
• Manufacturing Engineering

• Engineering
• Manufacturing
• Science & Research
• Technology
• Transportation

Minimum education

Bachelor’s degree

Minimum experience

5+ years

Apply by

Sep 22, 2026

Posting language

English

Working hours

40 hours per week

Seniority

Mid-Senior level

Application method

Direct apply is available