Senior Mechanical Engineer

About Fortell

Fortell is designing better hearing aids for life as it’s meant to be heard. Traditional hearing aids make everything louder, but they don’t do enough to help the brain separate conversation from noise. Fortell uses a custom AI chip to separate speech from noise in real time, amplifying the important speech and attenuating the noise.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to join our hardware team. Reporting to our Head of Hardware, you will own mechanical design from early prototypes through high-volume production, covering the hearing aid itself and everything it takes to build and test it.

You’ve designed and launched small, tightly packaged electromechanical products built from high-precision molded and machined parts with cosmetic finishes. You’ve spent time on the factory floor at overseas vendors, you know how to work with suppliers in Asia to get parts right, and you’ve shipped products at volume. You’re as comfortable 3D printing a prototype overnight as you are working through a tolerance stack-up for a production tool. You also move fast. We need mechanical engineers who are creative problem-solvers committed to making sure mechanical is never the long pole in the schedule.

We’re a lean team, so this role goes beyond design. You’ll act as a process engineer, vendor manager, and project manager as the situation demands, and you’ll jump in wherever the product needs you.

What You’ll Do

• Drive mechanical design and development of Fortell’s hearing aid products, from concept and prototyping through validation and mass production.

• Design extremely small, tightly packaged electromechanical assemblies, working closely with electrical, RF, and acoustic engineers to integrate PCBAs, batteries, antennas, and flex circuits into a tiny ear-worn form factor.

• Design high-precision parts for injection molding, micro-injection molding, and metal injection molding (MIM), including painted and cosmetically finished parts.

• Perform tolerance analysis and stack-ups to make sure designs are robust and manufacturable at volume.

• Design the fixtures, jigs, assembly tooling, and test equipment that go into making a hearing aid, not just the hearing aid itself.

• Rapidly prototype using 3D printing, machining, and quick-turn processes to answer questions fast and prove out ideas.

• Define and run mechanical testing and reliability validation for small devices, including drop, environmental, ingress, and durability testing.

• Manage overseas suppliers and contract manufacturers: drive DFM reviews, tooling kickoffs, T1/T2 trials, first article inspections, and process qualification, on-site when needed.

• Act as process engineer during builds by troubleshooting yield issues, refining assembly processes, and closing the loop between design and the production line.

• Own project timelines for mechanical workstreams and keep vendors, tooling, and builds on schedule.
  

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of mechanical engineering experience, with products designed and launched into volume production.

• Experience designing small, high-precision electromechanical assemblies. Hearing aids, earbuds, wearables, or similarly miniaturized consumer or medical devices are strongly preferred.

• Deep expertise in injection molding and micro-injection molding, plus hands-on experience with MIM, cosmetic finishes, and painted parts.

• Strong tolerance analysis and GD&T skills.

• Proven experience working directly with overseas vendors and contract manufacturers in Asia, including on-site factory work, tooling trials, and supplier management.

• Experience designing fixtures, jigs, and test equipment for assembly and validation.

• Hands-on prototyping skills: 3D printing, rapid iteration, and comfort at the bench.

• Proficiency in 3D CAD and drawing creation (NX and SolidWorks preferred).

Nice to Have

• Experience with medical device development and design controls (ISO 13485, FDA).

• Familiarity with acoustic design for hearing aids, wearables, or audio products.

Location

• This role is on-site at Fortell’s office in NYC (at least 3 days a week).

Travel Requirements

• Up to 20% travel overall.

• Participation in hardware on-sites in Minneapolis (Tuesday–Thursday every six weeks).

• Occasional overseas travel to visit our vendors and partners.
  
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