Job Description

Company Profile

ideaForge is India’s leading unmanned aerial systems (UAS) company and a pioneer in indigenous drone technology. Founded in 2007 by IIT Bombay alumni, the company designs, develops, and manufactures high-performance UAVs for defense, homeland security, and industrial applications.

With strong in-house capabilities across R&D, engineering, software, manufacturing, and testing, ideaForge delivers mission-ready systems built for reliability, autonomy, and real-world operations. Its platforms are trusted by Indian defense forces, paramilitary units, and enterprise customers for critical missions.

Guided by its core philosophy of “creating meaningful impact—making the world safer and better,” and its engineering ethos of “Built like a bird, tested like a tank,” ideaForge continues to push the boundaries of aerial intelligence through innovation and excellence.

Job Description

The candidate will be responsible for independently developing different Payload Subsystems, performing design and analysis to support research and development of UAV Payloads. In addition, the candidate will guide and mentor junior engineers, review new designs, and provide technical direction for assigned projects.

The candidate is responsible for creating a new design from scratch or re-designing an existing product and taking it through all stages of design, development, validation, and testing until final handover to production. The role involves ownership of assigned payload projects across the product life cycle. 

Key Responsibilities

Design & Development

• Lead the mechanical and electromechanical design of assigned payload product/ subsystem (gimbals, enclosures, sensor modules, mounts, etc.).
• Own the project-level lifecycle: concept → design → prototyping → validation → production handover.
• Generate and maintain trade-off studies, mass estimates, performance matrices, and component specifications for assigned projects.
• Define selection criteria for key components and validate them through testing.
• Perform and review structural, vibration, tolerance, and basic thermal calculations and analysis.
• Design for dynamic operating environments including vibration, shock, fatigue, and transportation loads.
• Incorporate thermal management strategies  such as conduction paths, heat sinks, airflow concepts, and material selection.
• Ensure designs consider EMI/EMC constraints through grounding concepts, shielding provisions, cable routing, and enclosure design support.
• Ensure compliance with UAV payload constraints (SWaP, vibration, environmental).
• Drive DFM/DFA/DFMEA activities for assigned modules.
• Prepare and maintain design documentation, BoMs, drawings, and release packages.
• Support root cause analysis (RCA) and design improvements for field issues.

Developing Best Practices

• Work with first principles to achieve high robustness and value in engineering solutions.
• Promote standardized processes, tools, and design methodologies for reliability and predictability.
• Stay updated with new materials, manufacturing technologies, and design methodologies.
• Contribute to team-level SOPs and reusable design frameworks for high-performance, reliable, and maintainable products.

Technical Guidance & Mentorship 

• Mentor and guide junior engineers on design approach, CAD practices, and documentation.
• Review new concepts, CAD models, drawings, and test plans to ensure quality and robustness.
• Provide technical direction and support problem-solving for the team.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with electronics, software and firmware, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain teams.
• Support system integration, testing, and flight trials.
• Coordinate with vendors for component development and validation.

Skills & Qualification

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical / Mechatronics / Robotics Engineering.
• Strong mechanical design instincts with a solid understanding of complex electromechanical systems.
• 5+ years of industry experience in a hardware/product design engineering role.
• Hands-on expertise in electromechanical assembly, integration, and validation across the full product development cycle.
• Proven record of successful execution of hardware products and subsystems.
• Prior experience with gimbals, EO/IR cameras, motors, encoders or precision mechanisms is a plus.
• Experience working in high-quality product organizations (Indian or global) or at reputed academic institutions, demonstrating rigor, initiative, and problem-solving mindset.
• Strong appreciation for modern engineering practices including quality assurance, validation, configuration & release management, and defect tracking.
• Exposure to manufacturing processes such as machining, injection molding, Composite, sheet metal, and 3D printing, along with material selection.
• Good understanding and practical application of GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing), GPS standards, and tolerance stack-up analysis.
• Working knowledge of Creo Parametric for part modeling, assemblies, and surfacing.
• Experience with composite materials (carbon, aramid, glass) is good to have.
• Experience working with PLM systems (Windchill preferred) including ECR/ECN workflows, version control, and release processes.
• Exposure to structural FEA and thermal analysis is a plus. 

Technical Skills

• Creo Parametric (advanced parametric modeling and assemblies)
• Windchill PLM (part lifecycle management, configuration control, ECR/ECN processes)
• GD&T and GPS standards (ISO/ASME)
• Tolerance analysis and tolerance stack-up
• New Product Development / Introduction (NPD/NPI)
• Engineering calculations and design trade studies
• Precision mechanical assemblies
• Enclosure and housing design
• Structural design and basic analysis
• Hardware development and validation
• Mechanics of materials
• DFM/DFA and DFMEA
• Understanding of control systems (good to have)

Other Skills

• Cross Functional Collaboration
• Methodology Development
• Quality and Reliability
• Technical Documentation
• Stay Informed on New Technologies

Skills