Mechanical Engineer

Buddy.ninja is looking for a founding mechanical engineer to own the physical design of our smart pet tech devices end to end.

This is not a “draw parts from a spec” role. You will be the person who decides how our devices are built, how they hold up with real dogs and cats, and how they go from prototype to mass production.

We’re building in the rapidly growing pet tech market across APAC, and this is a ground-floor opportunity to join a founding team with real input into company direction.

About BuddyBuddy is revolutionizing pet care through technology — a smart collar, a companion app, and an AI assistant that helps owners actually understand their pets. Learn more: https://www.buddy.ninja/

The RoleYou own everything a pet wears, touches, or lives with. The smart collar comes first, but the role covers our whole hardware lineup:

• Product mechanical design (core): Enclosure architecture, materials, sealing, and structural strength for a growing family of connected pet devices. That starts with wearables and extends to home devices such as feeders, fountains, cameras, and base stations. Everyone must handle water, food, fur, chewing, scratching, and daily use.
• Industrial design craft: Turn concepts into products that look and feel premium – both in the home and on a pet. Balance aesthetics, weight, comfort, and safety across different pet sizes and breeds. Sweat the details, from visible parting lines and surface finishes to fit and assembly. Push back on designs that look good on screen but cannot be implemented in production.
• Electronics integration: Work closely with the electronics and firmware team on PCB packaging, battery and power design, charging contacts, antenna clearance (BLE/Wi-Fi/GNSS/cellular), sensors, motors and moving parts, and heat management. Own the mechanical constraints around component packaging, thermal management, and RF performance.
• Prototyping & validation: Build fast iterations (3D printing, CNC, urethane casting) and run the tests that prove the design: IP rating, drop resistance, bite and pull strength, mechanism fatigue, food and water contact, UV exposure and temperature extremes.
• Manufacturing ownership: Take products from engineering prototypes to scalable production. Own DFM/DFA, tooling kick-off, supplier and contract manufacturer coordination, and EVT/DVT/PVT builds. Work directly with manufacturing partners to resolve issues, validate tooling, review first articles, and ensure the final product matches the design intent.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain the mechanical architecture of Buddy’s smart pet devices and their accessories, starting with the collar and expanding across the product roadmap.
• Set the mechanical engineering standards: CAD structure, drawing and GD&T practices, tolerance analysis, revision control, and design reviews.
• Build reusable mechanical platforms and shared parts (charging, mounting, sealing, fasteners) across products to cut cost and speed up development.
• Select appropriate materials and processes (injection molding, overmolding, TPU/silicone, food-safe plastics, metal parts) to meet durability, pet-safety, cost, and visual targets.
• Lead an integrated design that accounts for electronic components and ensures that parts fit together perfectly and radio modules, batteries, and sensors all function as intended.
• Plan and run mechanical validation and reliability testing for each product, and feed the results back into design changes.
• Manage the move to mass production with contract manufacturers: DFM reviews, tooling, BOM costing, and quality control plans.
• Use field feedback and return data from real pets and owners to decide what gets improved and built next.
• Work directly with the founding team to shape the hardware roadmap and product decisions, not just execute them.

QualificationsRequired

• Proven experience in mechanical engineering, product development, or mechanical design for physical consumer products, including taking products from prototype to successful mass production.
• Strong 3D CAD skills in SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Creo, or an equivalent professional CAD system. Capable of creating complex parts, assemblies, parametric models, and production-ready 2D blueprint drawings and STEP files.
• A strong eye for industrial design, ergonomics, and product finish, with a portfolio you can show.
• Strong understanding of materials and mechanical performance, including plastics, elastomers, metals, structural integrity, wear, impact resistance, and environmental durability.
• Solid knowledge of plastic part design for injection molding (draft, wall thickness, ribs, snap fits, overmolding).
• Experience designing for water and dust ingress protection (IP-rated enclosures) and running the related tests.
• Experience integrating mechanical and electronic systems, including PCB packaging, battery mounting, connectors, charging interfaces, sensors, and antenna clearances.
• Hands-on experience with rapid prototyping and mechanical test setups.
• Comfortable working on several products in parallel at different stages of development.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously and make design decisions without close supervision.
• Proficient in English (written and spoken).

Bonus points

• Experience with pet products, wearables, or small rugged devices.
• Experience with mechanisms such as motors, gears, dispensers, or pumps in consumer products.
• Food-contact material design and compliance (e.g. FDA/LFGB-grade plastics).
• Experience packaging batteries, wireless charging or pogo-pin contacts, and antennas in small enclosures.
• FEA, tolerance stack-up, or thermal simulation experience.
• Knowledge of product safety and certification requirements (e.g. RoHS/REACH, drop, electrical and battery standards).
• Experience working with contract manufacturers and tooling suppliers, ideally in Asia.
• Mandarin or Cantonese for supplier communication.
• You own a pet, or you’d like to.

Work Arrangements

• Employment Type: Part-time
• Position: Remote position with flexibility to work as a side commitment.
• Meetings: Weekly online meetings during weekdays (evening time).
• Events/Travel: Occasional in-person weekend events & business trips.
• Growth: Opportunity to grow with the company as we scale.

What We Offer

• Compensation: Equity compensation (2%, commensurate with experience and role scope); 4-year vesting with 1-year cliff.
• Flexibility: Flexible work arrangements — option to work part-time until formal employment is established.
• Ownership: Full technical ownership of the mobile product — architecture, stack, and release decisions are yours to make.
• Impact: Opportunity to be part of a founding team with significant input into company direction and work directly with pet owners to build products that make a real difference in their lives.
• Market: Ground-floor opportunity in the rapidly growing pet tech market in APAC.

Our Culture

We're building a company culture that values innovation, work-life balance, and passion for improving the lives of pets. We offer:

• Flexible work arrangements to support work-life balance.
• Recognition for contributions to our mission and values.
• Opportunities to participate in animal welfare initiatives.
• Regular feedback sessions where your ideas can shape our future.