Mechanical Engineering Manager

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Description

Whisker is redefining what it means to live with cats-designing intelligent systems that remove friction, elevate the everyday, and celebrate the quiet brilliance of feline companionship. Today, Litter-Robot leads the category. Tomorrow, an entire ecosystem that expands what's possible for cats and the people who love them. We believe the future is feline. And we're imagining that future today.

We work onsite 4+ days a week, with our team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and Juneau, Wisconsin. Our team of 700+ passionate pet people thrives on collaboration, innovation, and the occasional office cameo from a four-legged friend.

What You'll Do:

Whisker is seeking a Mechanical Engineering Manager to lead the team behind our innovative pet products. In this role, you'll guide a talented group of mechanical engineers through every stage of development, from concept and prototyping to testing and production, while setting the design standards that keep our products reliable, manufacturable, and built to last. You'll partner closely with industrial design, electrical engineering, manufacturing, and product management, and invest in your team's growth through coaching and development. If you're an experienced engineering leader who thrives on solving complex challenges (and doesn't mind a friendly feline or two around the office), we'd love to meet you.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as deemed necessary.

• Leads mechanical engineering from concept and architecture through prototyping, engineering validation, design validation, production validation, and launch.
• Defines mechanical design strategies and measurable requirements; guides tradeoffs among performance, reliability, cost, schedule, and industrial design intent.
• Sets clear team goals and accountability, coaches engineers, and escalates risks with recommended actions and recovery plans.
• Partners with industrial design, electrical engineering, firmware, manufacturing, quality, and product management to resolve system interfaces and integration issues.
• Ensures robust designs for molded plastics, electronics packaging, and motor-driven mechanisms; reviews materials, processes, tolerances, and assembly methods.
• Plans mechanical engineering staffing, skills, and external support; prioritizes work across programs and communicates resource gaps and schedule impacts.
• Drives root-cause analysis of development, production, and field issues; verifies corrective actions and incorporates lessons into future designs.
• Leads technical reviews, first-principles analysis, tolerance analysis, and design failure mode and effects analysis (DFMEA) to identify and retire risks early.
• Partners with test and reliability teams to define mechanical verification plans, review results, and close issues before tooling release and production.
• Uses benchmarking, prototypes, and experiments to evaluate concepts and improve performance, cost, and customer experience.
• Partners with suppliers and manufacturing to review tooling, support development builds, and resolve assembly, yield, and production readiness issues.
• Owns mechanical part and tooling cost targets within approved budgets; evaluates cost reduction opportunities without compromising product requirements.
• Ensures CAD, drawings, bills of materials, and engineering changes are complete, reviewed, and controlled through PDM and PLM workflows.
• Performs additional responsibilities as required.

Leadership Responsibilities:

Directly supervises mechanical engineers and, where assigned, engineering leads or managers. Responsibilities include hiring, onboarding, setting expectations, assigning work, coaching, performance reviews, career development, and addressing team issues in accordance with Whisker policies. Builds a culture of technical rigor, urgency, collaboration, and accountability while upholding safety and quality expectations.

Requirements

What You'll Bring:

• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Senior Manager: 10+ years of mechanical product development experience, including 5+ years of people management and demonstrated leadership across multiple concurrent programs or teams.
• Demonstrated ownership of mechanical development for consumer electronics, smart appliances, or comparable electromechanical products from concept to mass production.
• Strong practical expertise in injection-molded plastics, electronics packaging, and motor-driven mechanisms, including material selection and production failure modes.
• Experience working directly with domestic and overseas suppliers, toolmakers, and contract manufacturers on tooling, design reviews, and production readiness.
• Proven ability to hire, develop, and retain engineers; provide candid feedback; and set clear expectations for technical quality and delivery.
• Experience establishing test plans, interpreting data, and using structured root-cause analysis to verify corrective actions.
• Working knowledge of top-down CAD methods, complex assemblies, and surface modeling sufficient to guide and review team output.
• Led mechanical engineering execution through multiple product launches, including build support, issue closure, and production ramp.
• Strong knowledge of design for manufacturing and assembly (DFM/DFA), geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), tolerance analysis, and engineering drawing practices.
• High proficiency in 3D Modeling with the ability to review CAD, drawings, and mechanical design decisions in detail.
• Maintains confidentiality of proprietary information.
• Ability to prioritize competing demands, make timely decisions with incomplete information, and communicate technical risks and tradeoffs clearly.
• Demonstrated ownership of commitments, sound engineering judgment, and a practical approach to process and continuous improvement.
• Ability to build effective working relationships and resolve disagreements constructively across functions and with suppliers.
• Comfortable working in an office environment with cats and dogs.

Not Required but Nice to Have!

• Experience integrating connected devices, sensors, cameras, seals, or thermal and acoustic requirements into consumer products.
• Experience with Creo 3D Modeling, Windchill product data management (PDM) and Arena product lifecycle management (PLM).
• Experience with design reuse, common platforms, or cost reduction across a product family.

Benefits & Purrks:

Join a tenacious, inventive company that empowers team members to chart their own path, lead by grounding decisions in the "why", and has a strong sense of empathy and openness to new perspectives. Be a part of exciting growth, work with incredible people, and create tomorrow's pet products-plus a whole lot of extras. You will also be provided with:

• Premium Medical/Dental/Vision insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Whisker Parents Program
• 1 day ''pawternity'' leave for new pet adoption
• Pet Insurance Discount
• 401K match
• Flexible spending accounts
• Company-paid short-term disability and life insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Generous paid time off
• 14 Paid Holidays
• Top of the line equipment
• Pet-friendly office
• Whisker products and swag
• Continuing education Support
• On-site gym with Peloton
• Referral program

Statement of Inclusivity:

We believe different perspectives make Whisker better and strive to create a place where everyone has equal opportunities to thrive.

While Whisker is an AI-forward organization, we will not ask you to interview with an AI agent. We lead with a human first approach for hiring. We ask that you refrain from using an AI tools during any interview.

Please ensure to regularly check your email spam folder for any communication from Whisker to avoid missing important updates regarding your application status.