Senior Mechanical Engineer – Product Design & Manufacturing
Location: Richmond Hill, Ontario
Employment Type: Full-time
Work Arrangement: Hybrid, with regular in-person work in/around Richmond Hill
Salary: CAD $105,000–$135,000 per year, depending on experience
Tamno is developing high-performance computer peripherals with a focus on thoughtful engineering, low weight, mechanical precision, and user experience.
We are looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer – Product Design & Manufacturing to lead the mechanical development and optimization of our computer mouse. This role will work closely with our electrical, firmware, industrial design, and manufacturing partners to take the product from a functional design through manufacturing and mass production.
This is a full-time hybrid role based around Richmond Hill, Ontario. The position requires regular in-person work for prototype evaluation, mechanical testing, assembly, design iteration, and review of production samples, while allowing flexibility for remote work when hands-on access is not required.
The ideal candidate has experience designing small, tightly integrated consumer electronics, such as computer mice, keyboards, handheld devices, controllers, wearables, or similar products, and understands how mechanical design decisions affect weight, stiffness, tolerances, feel, reliability, assembly, and manufacturability.
ResponsibilitiesMechanical Design & Weight Optimization
- Optimize the mouse structure for minimum weight while maintaining sufficient rigidity, durability, and structural strength.
- Evaluate wall thicknesses, ribs, support structures, fasteners, interfaces, and material distribution to remove unnecessary mass without compromising the product.
- Design and optimize components made from engineering plastics, metals, and composite materials such as carbon fiber.
- Evaluate material and manufacturing-process trade-offs based on weight, stiffness, impact resistance, cost, surface finish, tolerance, and production feasibility.
- Use CAD, engineering analysis, prototyping, and physical testing to validate design changes.
- Perform finite element analysis (FEA) to evaluate structural stiffness, stress, deformation, and opportunities for weight reduction.
Mechanical Feel & Internal Architecture
- Optimize the internal mechanical architecture of the mouse, including switches, buttons, scroll wheel, encoder, PCB interfaces, and structural supports.
- Engineer mouse-button mechanisms for consistent and precise actuation, including minimizing or eliminating pre-travel, post-travel, unwanted flex, wobble, and inconsistent click feel.
- Establish appropriate tolerances and tolerance stack-ups for mechanically sensitive assemblies.
- Investigate mechanical variation between prototypes and production units and develop solutions to improve consistency.
- Balance mechanical performance with serviceability, assembly requirements, and manufacturability.
Prototyping & Validation
- Develop and evaluate prototypes through iterative design cycles.
- Build, assemble, modify, and inspect prototypes and engineering samples as required.
- Create test methods for structural strength, mechanical feel, dimensional accuracy, fatigue, and long-term durability.
- Diagnose mechanical failures and identify their root causes.
- Translate subjective product requirements, such as button feel or shell rigidity, into measurable engineering specifications where possible.
- Review prototype and pilot-production units and recommend design changes before mass production.
- Work hands-on with physical samples in our Richmond Hill area workspace as part of the product-development process.
Manufacturing & DFM
- Work directly with our manufacturing partners in China throughout tooling, validation, pilot production, and mass production.
- Review designs with manufacturers for design for manufacturing and assembly (DFM/DFA).
- Review injection-mold tooling proposals, parting lines, gate locations, ejector locations, draft angles, shrinkage assumptions, tolerances, and other tooling considerations.
- Review mold-trial samples and identify dimensional, cosmetic, structural, or assembly issues.
- Evaluate tooling and manufacturing feedback without compromising critical product requirements.
- Review engineering drawings, tolerance specifications, inspection reports, and manufacturing documentation.
- Support first-article inspection, engineering validation, design validation, pilot production, and production ramp.
- Work with suppliers to resolve manufacturing defects, tolerance issues, assembly problems, and quality concerns.
- Communicate clearly with overseas manufacturers through written documentation, drawings, annotated CAD, meetings, and structured engineering feedback.
Required Qualifications
- Degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
- Professional experience designing small consumer electronics or other compact mechanical assemblies.
- Strong 3D CAD skills and experience producing manufacturing-ready mechanical designs.
- Practical experience with finite element analysis (FEA) for structural evaluation, including stress, stiffness, deformation, and design optimization.
- Strong understanding of:
- injection-molded plastic design;
- tolerance analysis and tolerance stack-ups;
- DFM/DFA;
- material selection;
- structural design;
- fasteners and mechanical interfaces;
- prototype and production validation.
- Experience taking a physical product from prototype through tooling and manufacturing.
- Ability to diagnose subtle mechanical problems involving fit, movement, deformation, tolerance, or mechanical feel.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate technical requirements effectively with suppliers.
- Ability to work in a hybrid environment in the Richmond Hill, Ontario area, including regular hands-on work with prototypes and engineering samples.
Preferred Qualifications
- Direct experience designing computer mice, keyboards, game controllers, or other gaming peripherals.
- Experience designing products where extremely low weight is a major engineering requirement.
- Experience with carbon fiber, fiber-reinforced polymers, magnesium, aluminum, or other lightweight structural materials.
- Experience designing tactile mechanisms involving microswitches, buttons, springs, flexures, or similar components.
- Experience working directly with manufacturers and tooling vendors in China.
- Experience reviewing and troubleshooting injection molds and molded components.
- Familiarity with CNC machining, additive manufacturing, composite manufacturing, and rapid prototyping.
- Experience establishing production tolerances and quality-control criteria for high-volume consumer products.
What Success Looks Like
The successful candidate will be able to take ownership of the mechanical performance of the mouse and systematically improve it across weight, rigidity, durability, mechanical feel, manufacturability, and production consistency.
Examples of problems this role may be responsible for solving include:
- reducing shell and structural weight without creating noticeable flex;
- using FEA and physical testing to identify where material can be removed safely;
- determining where carbon fiber or another lightweight material provides a meaningful advantage;
- eliminating unwanted mouse-button pre-travel;
- improving click consistency across different production units;
- resolving tolerance stack-up problems between the shell, switches, PCB, and internal frame;
- evaluating whether a manufacturer's proposed DFM change is acceptable;
- reviewing injection-mold samples and identifying why a part is warping or assembling incorrectly;
- working with the manufacturer to correct a production issue without unnecessarily redesigning the product.
- This is a hands-on product engineering role for someone who is comfortable moving between CAD, simulation, prototypes, physical testing, detailed mechanical problem solving, and manufacturing.
