R&D Mechanical Engineer I

Reports To: Head of Innovation

Location: On-site – Vancouver (Burnaby), BC

Compensation: $80,000 – $88,000 CAD

Start Date: Oct 1, 2026 (or earlier)

Who We Are

Velocity Bolting designs engineered products that solve the most complex bolting problems in the world. Our patented Velocity Washer technology is used globally by the largest industrial players, helping them work more safely, efficiently, and reliably in demanding environments. We’re in the process of launching our next product.

We have lots of a gritty startup energy, but we’re past the “idea stage.” We have real product–market fit, customers around the world, and growing traction across multiple industries. Our work sits at the intersection of engineering, manufacturing, and real-world industrial application - where problems are hard, constraints are real, and solutions actually matter.

As we grow, we’re focused on building a team that:

• Works collaboratively to solve complex problems

• Cares about building a sustainable, long-term business

• Takes pride in doing high-quality work

• And genuinely enjoys working together along the way

This is not a grind-for-the-sake-of-grinding culture. We believe in working hard on meaningful problems, supporting each other, and building something we’re proud of together.

The Mission

Accelerate new product development by owning the execution of our engineering and lab work. Model it, build it, test it, document it - so that design iteration is never waiting on capacity, and so the people designing new products get real data back fast enough to act on it.

tl;dr - You are a hands-on mechanical engineer who can take a concept from CAD to a test stand and tell us what actually happened.

Why Now

We're bringing multiple novel products to market over the next twelve months, and we're designing and building a new R&D lab to support them. You're joining early enough to shape how that lab works - the test stands, the fixtures, the methods, the way data gets captured - rather than inheriting someone else's setup.

The first physical test platform is yours to design and build.

What Success Looks Like

This role is measured against a hiring scorecard with specific, agreed targets. These are the outcomes - how you hit them is up to you. Directionally, in your first 12 months you would:

• Design and build a physical test platform for validating product performance - the rig and fixturing itself, not just the data and simulation side

• Experimentally validate our hydraulic design model by testing prototypes to failure on that stand

• Experimentally determine K-values for a novel product

• Establish and run the lab's inbound and outbound process for prototypes, parts, and samples

• Produce fully parameterized models and manufacturing drawings for a novel product and a Velocity Washer design revision

• Assess and optimize a novel product and all Velocity Washer variants using design automation

• Proactively pick up the engineering and lab work that frees the rest of the team to build new tools and models faster

You'll see the full scorecard with exact numbers and dates during the interview process. We want you to know what you'll be measured against before you accept any offer. This needs to be a good fit both ways.

What You'll Own

Design & Analysis

• Fully parameterized SolidWorks models and manufacturing drawings, with GD&T and tolerancing that hold up at the supplier

• Simulation work, and the validation that tells us whether the model was right

• Design automation - building the tooling that lets us evaluate a family of variants instead of one part at a time

• Analysis and reduction of test data into something a decision can be made from

Test Lab

• Test rig and fixture design, and the physical build, not just specifying

• Test setup, instrumentation, execution, and data recording

• Dimensional inspection of incoming parts and prototypes

• Receiving, shipping, and tracking of samples, prototypes, and test hardware

Documentation & Quality

• Material traceability and certification records

• Documentation to ISO 9001 requirements - we're building toward certification and you'll help hold the line

• Drawing and document revision control

• Test summaries and spec sheets clear enough for a customer or an auditor to follow

Closing the Loop

• Feed results back into design and method - including when the data contradicts the model, which is the part that actually matters

• Flag what you're seeing early rather than at the end of a test program

What We're Looking For

We care more about what you can do than how long you've been doing it.

The thing that matters most: you want to be the one who solves the problem, not the one supporting someone else solving it. This is a small engineering team, not a large department. There is more interesting work than there are people to do it, which means the ceiling on what you own is set by what you're willing to pick up. Everything else on this list can be learned.

• SolidWorks proficiency: modeling, GD&T drafting, and simulation. You can open our existing files and get productive without extensive hand-holding.

• Hands-on mechanical aptitude: you're comfortable working directly with hardware, not just modeling on screen, and you've built enough to have a feel for how a mechanism actually behaves.

• Mechanical engineering fundamentals: materials, fastening and joint mechanics, GD&T, tolerancing. You can reason about galling, seizure, and joint integrity - not just CAD mechanics.

• Test lab fluency: you understand shop and lab realities well enough to design something manufacturable and testable, not just correct on paper.

• Precision: you catch dimensional and documentation errors before they reach a customer or a test lab.

• Ownership: you work independently on defined tasks with minimal oversight and close things out without being chased.

• Written communication: you can produce technical documentation a customer or auditor can follow.

• Learning agility: controlled bolting is a niche domain with no degree program behind it. You'll need to be able to teach yourself and ramp fast.

• Collaboration: you work well across a small cross-functional team - engineering, operations, growth - without needing heavy structure.

• AI fluency: you use current tools to compress the routine work without letting rigour slip, and you're curious about what they can do that wasn't possible last year.

• Degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent.

• Legally entitled to work in Canada.

• A+: machine shop, fabrication, or instrumentation experience

Share in the Upside

We believe in sharing success. The products you help develop and validate are the products this business grows on, and we'll make sure you share in that upside. We'll define the specific structure with you before an offer is made.

How We Work

This role is primarily on-site. The lab, the hardware, and the test stands are where the work is, and there's no version of this job that runs well from a laptop. That said, we understand that people are people and things come up. We're not here to watch the clock. We trust you'll get the work done.

We offer a health spending account that's flexible in what you use it for, including extended medical and travel coverage.

Growth

This role has significant room to grow as Velocity Bolting scales internationally. Expanded responsibilities may include owning product lines end-to-end, leading test programs for naval and defence qualification, contributing to our patent and IP work, supporting customers technically in the field, and eventually building out your own team. All growth will be based on performance and business needs.

How to Apply

Send your resume and something you've actually built to careers@velocitybolting.com. What you've made matters more than where you've been. Drawings, models, a rig you fabricated, a capstone project, something out of a garage - we want to see work where you were the one doing it. If there's test data attached to any of it, include that too.