Subcontract Machine Design Engineer

About the work
We design and build special purpose machines that inspect automotive and aerospace components using machine vision. Our ScanLine platform covers pierced hole checking, welded nut and stud verification, profile measurement, marking and automatic reject sorting, running loose parts on a conveyor across a whole part family with changeover.
We are looking for a subcontract machine design engineer to work alongside our engineering team on live customer builds. This is real hardware for real production lines, not concept work.
What you will do
Take a customer part family and a functional brief through to a complete machine general arrangement: conveyor, frame, inspection portal, sensor mounting, reject handling, marking station and guarding.
Size drives, actuators and structure from first principles. We expect to see the arithmetic behind a motor selection, a cylinder bore, a spring rate or a beam section, not a catalogue part number with no working behind it.
Build the layout parametrically so the whole machine re-sizes from the part envelope rather than from scattered literals.
Design the safety guarding to ISO 13857 and ISO 12100, including reach distances, opening sizes, tunnel guards and interlock positions, and be able to defend those distances in a design review.
Produce the release package: SolidWorks models, STEP, drawings with GD&T and a tolerance scheme, sheet metal flat patterns as DXF, BOM with bought-in part selections, and a Pack and Go.
Work with our vision team on camera standoff, field of view, lighting geometry and sensor mounting so the optics and the mechanics agree with each other.
Sit in design reviews and take direct technical criticism well. Our reviews are detailed and we expect the same back.
What we need from you
5 or more years designing special purpose machines, assembly automation, conveying systems or inspection cells that were actually built and commissioned.
Strong SolidWorks. You author proper B-rep models with datums, tolerances and drawings that a fabricator can quote from without ringing you up.
Working command of sheet metal and weldment design for Indian fabrication: standard gauges, stocked SHS and extrusion sections, bend allowances, weld symbols.
Real familiarity with machine safety standards and the ability to apply them to a layout rather than quote them at it.
Comfortable with pneumatics and linear motion selection, and with the load path from the tooling down to the floor.
Clear written English. Much of our review traffic is written, and a design decision that cannot be explained in a paragraph usually has not been made yet.
Helpful, not essential
Experience with machine vision cells, laser profile sensors or industrial marking.
Parametric or script driven modelling (OpenSCAD, CadQuery, Onshape FeatureScript).
Exposure to automotive tier one quality expectations, PPAP or IATF 16949 context.
Aerospace or defence programme experience.
Panel layout, cable routing or working alongside a controls engineer on I/O counts.
How we work
Engagement is per project with a defined scope, milestones and fixed deliverables. Rate is negotiable and depends on scope. Tell us your expectation.
Typical projects run [X] to [Y] weeks. We have continuous work for the right person.
Remote work is fine for design. Expect to be on-site in Gurugram for design reviews, build supervision and commissioning at agreed points.
NDA before we share customer geometry. IP in the deliverables sits with us and, where the contract requires, with our customer.
We pay on milestone acceptance, on time.

Work arrangement
No