About Origyn
Origyn is a consumer-product R&D consultancy that builds first-of-kind innovations for major brands, with deep expertise in vacuum cleaners and vacuum nozzle systems. We turn early concepts into validated, manufacturable products — and we need an engineer who can build the prototype and generate the data that proves it works.
About the Role
We're looking for a hands-on R&D Prototyping & Validation Engineer to own our prototype development and testing function end to end: turning early concepts into functional, instrumented prototypes, and generating the validation data that drives design decisions.
This is a high-ownership role for a self-directed engineer who's equally comfortable with mechanical design, electromechanical builds, embedded data acquisition, and structured experimentation. You'll work closely with leadership and an industrial designer out of our Boston-area office, and coordinate regularly with our manufacturing team in Suzhou, China.
What You'll Do
Prototyping & Design
- Act as technical prototyping lead for new features and major design changes — reviewing concepts, defining success metrics and expected behavior, and building the first mechanical and electromechanical prototypes.
- Run rapid iteration using in-house FDM 3D printing, hand-tool fabrication, and model refinement.
- Manage and maintain multiple FDM printers, scheduling jobs to keep prototyping throughput high.
- Work across large, complex multi-part assemblies from varied sources and completion states, validating clearances and tolerances.
Testing & Validation
- Design experiments with clearly defined variables, controls, and measured outcomes, following incremental, data-driven design principles.
- Build and maintain performance, durability, and power-consumption test fixtures and instrumentation, including rigs aligned to relevant ASTM and IEC standards.
- Build embedded data acquisition systems (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP32) integrating load cells, differential pressure transducers, and power/flow instrumentation for synchronized multi-channel capture.
- Capture qualitative test behavior using controlled slow-motion video and lighting.
Data, Documentation & Communication
- Process, analyze, and visualize experiment data; build Python and Excel tools that let interns and engineers run experiments and generate reportable results independently.
- Present validation-backed design recommendations to leadership to guide which concepts move forward.
- Author clear documentation, change logs, and test records, and keep procedures and design data in sync between the Boston and Suzhou teams.
- Interpret market research and consumer insights and translate them into design and functional requirements.
- Stay available for occasional urgent prototype repairs ahead of client demos.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
- Strong electromechanical prototyping skills — designing, fabricating, and assembling functional prototypes by hand.
- Proficiency in 3D CAD (SolidWorks preferred) for detailed part and assembly design.
- Advanced FDM 3D printing experience, including printer maintenance and print-job management.
- Hands-on experience building embedded sensor/DAQ systems with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or similar.
- Experience planning and running structured experiments using design-of-experiments (DOE) principles, plus managing and visualizing the resulting data.
- Programming ability for data pipelines and automation (Python and Excel/VBA).
- Ability to read, interpret, and apply ASTM and IEC standards to designs and test methods.
- Strong technical communication — documentation, change logs, and design-review presentations.
- Self-directed, comfortable owning a function with minimal oversight.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in consumer product development — vacuum, airflow, or fluid-handling products a plus.
- Familiarity with sealing systems and elastomeric components (directional flanges, sliding/compression configurations) under pressure differential.
- Experience with design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) and modular, design-for-disassembly methods.
- Experience sourcing prototype parts from external vendors (SLS, CNC, sheet metal, soft tooling) and handing off validated CAD/data packages to a contract manufacturer.
- Experience coordinating with overseas engineering or manufacturing teams.
- Experience mentoring or managing interns or junior engineers.
We are a small, high-trust team with direct access to leadership, broad technical ownership, and the chance to shape award-winning consumer products from early concept through validation.
Pay: $74,148.95 - $89,297.66 per year
Work Location: In person
