Mechanical Product Development Engineer – Consumer Product / CAD / DFM / Prototyping

Mechanical Product Development Engineer – Consumer Product / CAD / DFM / Prototyping I’m developing a modular children’s feeding system and am looking for an experienced mechanical/product development engineer to help take the product from an established concept and specification stage through prototype-ready engineering. The product is a multi-component system centered around a stainless-steel cup with interchangeable components. It incorporates injection-molded plastic parts, silicone/LSR components, threaded interfaces, seals, and removable accessories. The system needs to be stackable, leak-resistant, durable, easy to clean and designed from the beginning for practical manufacturing and assembly. Current Project Stage A significant amount of product-development work has already been completed. I have: • Detailed product specifications and requirements • Defined component architecture and functionality • Preliminary dimensions and geometry direction • Material preferences • Visual references and approved concepts • Packaging and product-use requirements • Manufacturer discussions already underway I am not looking for someone simply to convert a sketch into a 3D CAD model. I need an engineer who can evaluate and develop the mechanical aspects of the system and help ensure the design is functional, manufacturable and ready for physical prototyping. Scope of Work The ideal engineer would be able to assist with: • Mechanical/product engineering • Parametric 3D CAD and complete assemblies • Component interface development • Threads, fits and tolerance development • Seal and leak-management considerations • Injection-molded plastic part design • Stainless-steel component manufacturability • Silicone/elastomer component integration • Design for Manufacturing (DFM) • Prototype-ready STEP/STL files • Engineering drawings where appropriate • Functional prototype review • CAD revisions following prototype testing • Manufacturer/tooling handoff support The product contains multiple components that must work together as a system, so experience designing assemblies and managing tolerance stack-up is important. Experience I'm Looking For Strong preference for someone with demonstrated experience in several of the following: • Consumer product development • Injection-molded product design • Multi-component mechanical assemblies • Food/beverage or liquid-containing products • Seals, gaskets or elastomer components • Threaded plastic components • Stainless-steel consumer products • Design for Manufacturing • Functional prototyping • Product development from concept through manufacturing Experience working with startups, inventors and overseas manufacturers is a plus. Project Structure I would prefer to structure the engagement as a fixed-price project divided into milestones rather than an open-ended hourly engagement. Potential phases may include: Engineering review and product architecture Detailed engineering and CAD development DFM and design refinement Prototype-ready engineering package Prototype evaluation and revisions Final manufacturing/tooling handoff The exact scope and milestones can be established together after reviewing the project. When Applying Please briefly tell me: About a similar multi-component consumer product you have personally engineered. Whether you have taken products from CAD through functional prototyping and manufacturing. Your experience with injection-molded plastics, seals/elastomers and DFM. What CAD software you primarily use. Whether you would be comfortable providing a milestone-based project estimate after reviewing the product requirements. Please include examples of relevant work where possible. I am currently evaluating a small number of engineers and am particularly interested in finding someone who can remain involved through prototype testing and manufacturer handoff.