Clera

Senior Mechanical Engineer

Detroit
Salary
$165,000 - $210,000 annually
Level
Senior
Work type
On-site · Detroit
Visa
Not offered

Open. First seen 7 November 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

About the Role

Own major mechanical subsystems for ruggedized, field-deployable directed-energy systems, from early architecture through production handoff. You will work across a lean engineering team to help ensure systems perform reliably in demanding field conditions.

What You'll Do

  • Design and validate mechanical subsystems, including enclosures, beam director structures, gimbals, and precision mounts.
  • Perform static, modal, random vibration, and shock response spectrum FEA, then correlate results with bench and field testing.
  • Develop thermal management solutions for high-power laser and electronics packaging across thermal cycles.
  • Build, instrument, and operate test rigs to characterize system behavior before field deployment.
  • Design for MIL-STD-810 shock and vibration requirements and other austere environments.
  • Take designs from concept through prototyping, validation, field testing, and manufacturing handoff.
  • Lead design reviews, collaborate with senior engineers, and mentor junior mechanical engineers.
  • Travel to field test events and range days to validate performance and iterate on designs.

What We're Looking For

  • At least 5 years of mechanical engineering experience with ruggedized, field-deployable, or high-performance systems, including taking a subsystem from prototype to production.
  • Strong hands-on FEA experience with ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus, or equivalent, including test correlation.
  • Experience designing to MIL-STD-810 or equivalent shock and vibration standards, and packaging precision optomechanical systems.
  • Experience designing thermal management for high-power systems, building test rigs, and supporting manufacturing handoff.
  • A BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
  • Laser, directed-energy, optical bench ruggedization, or vehicle-mounted systems experience is a plus.
  • U.S. citizenship is required. The role requires on-site work in Detroit and travel for field testing.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary is $165,000 to $210,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

On-site in Detroit, Michigan, with travel for field test events and range validation.

What this role asks for

Particular to this role

ANSYS · FEA

Rare in Clera's other 299 open postings.

Compared with Clera's other open jobs.

The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 349 open in Engineering. 217 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in March: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

LLM (169 of 349), TypeScript (163 of 349), React (137 of 349), Python (134 of 349), Supabase (69 of 349), PostgreSQL (68 of 349), Machine Learning (64 of 349)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Clera's own job board.

Posting history

Reposted 2 times since 22 October 2026: a posting for this role in Detroit was taken down and the role was posted again.

Salary context

86 other open postings titled Senior Mechanical Engineer state a salary: median USD 138,650 to USD 188,524 a year.

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SKILLSANSYS 1,642FEA 1,626
PLACESDetroit 92United States 78,226
COMPANYJobs at Clera 352

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