Mechanical Engineering Manager

Company Overview:
Second Order Effects (SOE) is an engineering consulting firm that specializes in electrical, electromechanical, and embedded systems. Founded in 2016, SOE has grown from a 3-person operation to a team of over 40 members across offices in El Segundo, California and Redmond, Washington. Over the last nine years, we have completed over 250 projects and serviced over 100 different customers. Our designs control rocket engines, manage satellite communications, instrument fusion reactors, and are enjoyed by consumers around the world. The only thing we won’t build are weapons.

Second Order Effects practices a “first principles approach” to technical problems. We break down complex challenges to their most fundamental components. This enables us to find solutions across industries, use cases, and engineering functions.

As an engineering consulting firm, we focus on solving the right problems and building teams to take them on. Going beyond just resolving tough issues, we want to answer impactful questions.

How do we do this? We empower others, build the right thing, lead with curiosity, and own the outcome. Learn more at soeffects.com!

Team Overview:
While mechanical engineering is SOE’s youngest and least mature discipline, the team’s roots stretch back to the very beginning when SOE made a name for itself developing cutting edge products such as RF combiners that use custom copper-tungsten elements and phased-array speakers in acoustically-optimized enclosures. This close coupling of electrical and mechanical design persists, and as the scope and complexity of our projects has continued to grow so do the demands on our mechanical engineering team.

Being a part of the mechanical engineering team today is like working for a startup inside a larger company - a highly collaborative environment within the team, constant interdisciplinary interfacing, investment in developing each other and ourselves, and personal ownership and accountability for our work. We look forward to welcoming you to the team!

Job Overview:
As the Mechanical Engineering (“ME”) Manager, you will be responsible for the development and maturation of the mechanical engineering team and discipline at SOE. This will require you to work with senior leadership to develop a roadmap for how the team will grow and drive new core competencies aimed towards the long-term success of SOE, supporting not only execution of projects but also the business development and hiring/training pipelines. You will be responsible for the professional development of the team members, facilitate infrastructure creation and maintenance, and are expected to support the team as an individual contributor and subject matter expert.

What You Will Do:

• Own ME technical decisions and outcomes across projects, serving as the escalation point for critical design tradeoffs, technical risk, and delivery challenges

• Lead, mentor, and manage the ME team, setting clear performance expectations, developing engineers’ technical and leadership skills, and building a strong, accountable engineering culture

• Provide hands-on technical guidance across the mechanical engineering development lifecycle

• Partner with Business Development and project leadership to define technical scope, execution plans, and success criteria, ensuring ME commitments are achievable and well-understood

• Establish standards, processes, and best practices that improve ME design quality, consistency, and execution efficiency

What You Will Need:

• Bachelor’s degree (Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or Science, Physics, Systems Engineering, or related field)

• 7+ years in a mechanical engineering and hardware development role for aerospace, industrial automation, and/or robotics, especially for tightly coupled systems

• 5+ years of progressively impactful mechanical engineering leadership roles

• Proficiency in executing engineering projects involving end-to-end mechanical and electrical system design

• Previous experience in both a people management and engineering design leadership role

• Aptitude for cross functional community building and collaboration with software, electrical, systems and test engineers to improve the output of the ME team

• Strong communication skills; ability to synthesize and communicate technical information to non-technical stakeholders

• Ability to evaluate and manage project risk, including scope creep, remediating missing critical requirements, and ensuring that technical challenges are sufficiently addressed

What Would Be Useful:

• Master’s degree (Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or Science, Systems Engineering, Engineering Management, Physics, or related field)

• Experience in startup, tech, or consulting environments, managing multiple responsibilities simultaneously

• Experience with client interaction for a complex technical product or service

• Proficiency in mathematical hand calculation analysis, finite element analyses (FEA), and computer-aided designs (CAD)

• Experience with steady state and dynamic thermal and structural analyses (e.g., pressure loads, random vibe, shock, etc.)

• Experience with electronics packaging, custom actuators, and mechanism designs

• Experience with electrical engineering design work and knowledge of embedded systems, firmware, power electronics, analog control, and discrete logic design

• Demonstrated experience in navigating ambiguous situations and delivery of difficult information to senior leadership, employees and clients

Benefits:

• Compensation range of $159,980-$197,700 + equity incentive plan

• Flexible work hours and work from home policy

• 100% employer-paid health insurance (Medical, Dental, Vision) for employees + 50% dependent coverage

• Unlimited paid time off policy, 11x paid company holidays, 12x paid sick days

• 401(k) retirement account and employer matching (Safe Harbor 4%)

• Generous paid parental leave

• Relocation assistance available if 50+ miles away from the office

• Daily catered lunches, snacks, and accessible kitchen

Additional Requirements:

• Applicant must be willing to work 40 hours a week on-site at our El Segundo, California facility

• Applicant must be eligible to work on export controlled projects

• Job Type: Full-time (Salary)

Export Control Requirements:
To conform with U.S. Government export control regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide sponsorship at this time.

If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply!
Second Order Effects is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SOE is governed on the basis of excellence and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.