Lead Mechatronics Engineer, Innovation

The Nike Explore Team's (NXT) Footwear Engineering and Manufacturing group invents and develops scalable, digitally-driven methods of make that enable product innovation, simplify manufacturing and reduce carbon through robust engineering and product integration.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are seeking a curious and self-driven Lead Mechatronics Engineer to join our team and utilize skills across mechanical, electrical and software. Your hands-on experiences with machine design, troubleshooting and product integration will be the foundation for the strategies you create to build new capabilities in our R&D setting. A track-record of self-directed learning and collaborative problem-solving is essential. Creating complex systems in a rapidly changing environment will expose challenges that do not have a clear solution-path. Part of your role will be landscaping and researching new hardware, software and controls tools and becoming a subject matter expert in those areas. This is a Lead role and as such you will be expected to plan and execute strategies that leverage your expertise and develop team members both within and outside the Automation and Robotics functions.

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

You will be assigned to multiple concurrent programs and act as a mechatronics resource to those teams, clearly communicating and explaining capabilities and limitations in both technical and non-technical manners. You will actively seek to understand and interpret program objectives and you will be responsible for translating those objectives into machine requirements and a risk assessment, then developing solutions to meet those requirements through an iterative, collaborative and data-driven approach. 

A key enabler to our future capabilities is flexible and modular automation systems. So many of the solutions you identify will be electromechanical systems which include mechanical assemblies, motion-control, material handling, work holding, fixtures, sensors and datalogging, microcontrollers, and power distribution. This will be a focus-area of yours and you will be expected to bring key insights from your experience to unlock new capabilities.

In early-stage programs, you will design and build machine prototypes to test your ideas and provide a platform for Process Engineers and Material Scientists to define key process variables and interactions. As programs progress, you will continue to develop the core automation system through both hands-on creation and through external partnerships that you manage. You will lead machine landscaping activities for potential off-the-shelf components and sub-systems and partner with Business Development, Legal and Procurement functions to draft agreements with strategic parners and to purchase equipment.

After you validate and train others on the new systems, you will continue to support the teams by troubleshooting and upgrading the systems in development, in-particular the hardware and controls components and data acquisition. Throughout this journey you will leverage functional processes and best-practices and identify improvements to these tools that can enable the team to work more efficiently.

WHO YOU WILL WORK WITH

You will be working in a world-class R&D facility with a dedicated machine shop, testing lab and product creation team to assist you. You'll have support in embracing the hands-on parts of your role (fabricating, assembling, coding, testing) but approaching with a growth-mindset and a hunger to learn is essential. Alongside you in the creation of working proof-of-concept cells will be Robotics Engineers. They will partner with you to create the vision systems and motion-control that will pair with the systems you are building in order to realize a fully functional machine.

In order for this machine to create revolutionary new footwear products, you will also partner with Technical Program Managers, Process Engineers, Test Engineers, and Technicians as your project core-team members as well as Materials and Software experts where appropriate. Collaborating with these functions and standing-up new capabilities in Innovation rewards system-based thinking and interdisciplinary problem-solving. You won't have all the answers, but you'll be able to ask good questions across a variety of subject-areas. 

WHAT YOU BRING

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent combination of relevant education, experience, and training
• 7+ years’ of applied experience in mechanical design, machine design, integration of hardware solutions, robotics, or other mechatronics roles with >3 of those years spent in an R&D environment. 
• Experience as a technical lead within a multi-disciplinary team that includes vendors, integrators, and process engineers
• Hands-on fabrication, assembly, and functional verification required
• Demonstrated track-record as a self-directed learner
• Experience using parametric modeling software required
• Comfortable moving fast and working with incomplete information
• Comfortable utilizing project management tools for work
• Experience with robotics a plus

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment for all employees and job applicants. We offer a number of accommodations to complete our interview process including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single location for in-person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications as needed. If you discover, as you navigate our application process, that you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please complete the Candidate Accommodation Request Form.