This listing pays about $120,000 a year. Across 52 open mechanical design engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $98,500 to $145,000 and the median is $119,500. That is inside the middle half of those listings and at the median.

Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.

Mechanical Design Engineer salaries by state · Check your own pay

How AI is used in this kind of work

AI use among mechanical engineers is little observed so far. Measured exposure for mechanical engineers: 8% (little observed).

Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.

Check how this applies to your own job

Skills this job asks for

Say which you have and which you want to build. We use it to match you to jobs like this one.

About the job

Karman Industries

Karman Industries is a Torrance-based thermal technology company building the backbone for giga-scale AI infrastructure. Founded by a team from SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and GE, Karman is moving beyond legacy cooling with the launch of the HPU (Heat Processing Unit)—a new category of thermal architecture designed for the 100kW+ rack era.

The HPU shrinks the exterior mechanical yard by up to 80% while reducing peak energy consumption by 10%+. Unlike traditional systems, the Karman HPU provides zero-water (WUE 0) cooling that ensures high-TDP GPUs and HBM4 memory stay at optimal thermal setpoints without throttling.

Founded in 2024, we’re a fast-growing team of passionate professionals dedicated to making a tangible impact on the future of humanity. We design, build, and test real hardware, and we lead with ownership: you’ll own your work from concept to hardware and help shape how we scale. Our values are Ownership, Performance Excellence, Radical Transparency, and Customer-Centricity.

Join us in our mission to transform the industry and contribute to a more sustainable world.

Mechanical Design Engineer, Electrical Routing

Karman is looking for a Mechanical Design Engineer who lives in Siemens NX and wants to own the electrical routing on a first-of-its-kind machine. You will turn schematics into harnesses, cable runs and enclosures for the HPU that fit, build cleanly and hold up to heat, vibration and service.

The HPU packs high-power electronics, dense sensor networks and a high-speed, electrically driven turbomachinery core into a tight package. You will work with power electronics, controls and embedded engineers to route around hot surfaces and rotating hardware, then follow your harnesses from the model to the formboard to first power-on. If you are the person your team asks when NX misbehaves, we want to talk to you.

Responsibilities

- Route harnesses, cables and conduit in NX Electrical Routing across skids, power cabinets, sensor networks and test stands.

- Bring connectivity in from schematics and wire lists, and keep the 3D routing in sync as the electrical design changes.

- Build and maintain connector, terminal, backshell and clamp libraries with correct ports, mating and bend radii.

- Set wire gauge, sleeving, clamp spacing, breakouts and strain relief, and keep power and signal runs separated.

- Design brackets, trays, enclosures and panel layouts in NX, including sheet metal parts ready for fabrication.

- Flatten harnesses to formboards, and release harness drawings, wire lists and cut-and-strip tables through Teamcenter.

- Work with technicians and suppliers on fixtures, labeling and first-article builds, support integration and first power-on, and fix routing issues found on the floor.

- Coordinate packaging with the mechanical routing engineer and other disciplines in design reviews, so harnesses, fluid lines and instrumentation share space cleanly.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace Engineering or a related discipline.

- 1+ year of hands-on design or build experience with harnesses, cables or electro-mechanical hardware; internships and engineering project teams count.

- Expert-level Siemens NX: large assemblies, WAVE and interpart linking, sheet metal, parametric modeling and production drawings. Be ready to walk us through models you built.

- Hands-on 3D harness routing in NX Electrical Routing, or in a similar tool such as CATIA Electrical or SolidWorks Electrical.

- Ability to read schematics and wiring diagrams and turn them into manufacturable harness designs.

- Working knowledge of connectors, terminals, wire and cable types, and harness fabrication practices.

- Clear communication and the habit of keeping models, files and documentation organized.

Desired Skills and Experience

- Teamcenter experience: revisions, BOMs and change workflow.

- NX Open, journaling or Python to link schematics with CAD or to automate wire lists.

- Experience with Capital, Zuken E3 or similar electrical design tools.

- Experience with high-voltage or high-power cabling, or with high-temperature wire and insulation selection.

- Familiarity with wiring standards such as IPC/WHMA-A-620 and AS50881.

- Formula SAE (especially electric), Baja SAE, rocketry, Design Build Fly or similar project-team experience.

Karman Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment is based on merit, competence and qualifications, and is not influenced by race, color, religion, gender, national origin or ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.

Direct applicants only — we are not working with outside recruiters or agencies for this role.