Specialized Industrial Designer & DFM Engineer - Innovative Elastomer/Rubber Pet Product

Project Overview: We are a premium pet gear brand looking for a specialized, top-tier Industrial Designer/Mechanical Engineer to take a conceptually frozen, patent-pending mechanical product from text blueprint to production-ready parametric 3D CAD files. This is a proprietary, patent-pending design, and a signed NDA will be required before full technical briefs are shared. The product is a high-performance canine shoe utilizing a custom recycled rubber/TPU composite unibody with a unique, bistable mechanical closure mechanism. Scope of Work: 1. Creative industrial design and aesthetic silhouette creation from scratch based on our functional target parameters. 2. Complete 3D CAD modeling with strict Design for Manufacturability (DFM) for injection/compression molding. 3. Precise engineering for material shrinkage, draft angles, custom living hinges, and internal wall thicknesses. 4. Delivery of native parametric source files (SolidWorks or Rhino), STEP files, and detailed 2D factory toolroom layouts with standard tolerance callouts. 5. Delivery of one master mechanical assembly file alongside two specific sole geometry variations (one wide front-paw profile and one narrow hind-paw profile) engineered to fit a standard interchangeable MUD insert system. Requirements: • Proven portfolio showing physical, manufactured consumer products made from flexible elastomers (TPU, rubber, or silicone)—no digital-render-only designers. • Expert understanding of moldflow simulation, shrinkage variances, and injection tool creation. • To be considered, you must start your proposal with the exact phrase: "Steel-Safe Active". All automated, AI-generated, or generic applications will be instantly disqualified. *Note: Experience with pet gear design or firsthand knowledge of canine anatomy/ownership is a major plus.