Product Engineer — Design & Engineering
Litelab Corp | Buffalo, NY
For over four decades, Litelab has been shaping how the world experiences light — our fixtures illuminate world-class museums, flagship retail stores, and residences around the globe. Now we're looking for a Product Engineer to help write the next chapter: someone who wants their fingerprints on products people will actually stand beneath, admire, and remember.
This is a rare seat at the table — you'll take ideas straight from R&D and directly from customers, and carry them all the way from first sketch to a shipping product, with real ownership of the mechanical design decisions in between. This is a full-time, on-site position based in our office in downtown Buffalo, NY, reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer.
Litelab operates across multiple locations: Research and Development and Industrial Design are based in our New York City office, while Mechanical Design, Testing & Certification, Manufacturing, and Sales are based in Buffalo, NY, where this role is located. Some travel between locations may be required, though not frequent.
Why This Role
- Process ownership, not just execution. You'll shepherd designs from concept through detailed design to production release — not just fill in someone else's spec.
- Work that gets seen. Our fixtures live in landmark museums, marquee retail spaces, and homes around the world — this isn't anonymous industrial hardware.
- A tight, seasoned team. You'll collaborate directly with Sales, Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing veterans, and report straight to the CTO — your ideas won't get lost in a big-company hierarchy.
- Room to shape process, not just parts. As gatekeeper of our CAD document system, you'll have real influence over how the whole team works, not just what gets designed.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with a seasoned team of Sales, Design, Engineering and Manufacturing professionals to bring about world-class, award-winning lighting products that meet or exceed our customers' expectations
- Develop mechanical designs for lighting fixtures and equipment, taking customer-provided or R&D-generated ideas and bringing them from concept through detailed design
- Apply design modifications, improvements, revisions, and updates to existing standard products
- Generate assembly drawings, exploded-view drawings, and detailed part drawings for manufacturing and documentation
- Serve as gatekeeper of our 3D CAD document management system, maintaining part numbering conventions and document version control
- Identify and resolve design problems throughout the product development lifecycle — materials, tolerances, manufacturability, and performance
- Coordinate new product release with factory personnel, ensuring designs translate cleanly into production; take feedback from Production and translate it into ease-of-manufacturing and cost-reducing improvements
- Collaborate with Research and Development, Manufacturing, and Testing/Certification teams to bring products from prototype to full production
- Support design revisions and engineering changes as products move through their lifecycle
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field (or equivalent experience)
- Proficiency in SolidWorks and AutoCAD for 3D modeling, assembly, and drawing generation
- Strong understanding of Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T), and Design for Manufacturability and Design for Assembly (DFM/DFA) principles, and mechanical assembly design
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced manufacturing environment
- Experience coordinating with manufacturing/production teams on new product introduction
- Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail
Pluses
- Experience with lighting equipment design
- Sheet metal design, layout, or fabrication experience
- Metal or plastic extrusion design
- Injection molded parts design
- Die casting design
What We Offer
- Salary: $70,000 - $90,000
- 401(k)
- Health Insurance with employer funded HRA
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Short Term and Long-Term Disability benefits
- Flexible Schedule
- Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Paid Time Off
- Professional Development Assistance/Tuition Reimbursement
Work Location: In Person
www.litelab.com