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Senior Mechanical Engineer

Vital Lyfe

Vital Lyfe

Los Angeles, CA, USA
Posted on Jan 16, 2026

Location

Los Angeles - Greater Area

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

On-site

Department

Engineering

About Vital Lyfe

Vital Lyfe is a tech company redefining water autonomy through innovation — creating a new category of personal water-making technology built to scale where infrastructure can’t.

The Mission

Own and build the core mechanical systems behind our product—pumps, valves, pressure vessels, and fluid-handling assemblies—and take them from early concepts to production at scale. This is a hands-on, high-ownership role for someone who wants to design, test, break, fix, and ship hardware.

What You’ll Do

  • Own major mechanical subsystems from concept through production ramp and launch.

  • Design, prototype, and validate pumps, valves, pressure vessels, and related mechanical components.

  • Drive system-level tradeoffs across performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost.

  • Build and run test plans to validate performance across real-world environments and edge cases.

  • Work closely with electrical, firmware, industrial design, and manufacturing to turn ideas into shipped product.

  • Help design and improve manufacturing processes and production equipment, including fixtures, tooling, and automation concepts.

  • Iterate fast—identify problems, propose solutions, and implement changes without heavy process overhead.

  • Support supplier selection, part qualification, and production ramp.

  • Mentor junior engineers as the team grows (without becoming detached from hands-on work).

What We’re Looking For

  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.

  • 5+ years of experience designing and shipping mechanical or electromechanical hardware.

  • Strong CAD and FEA skills applied to real, production-intent designs.

  • Experience taking products from prototype to manufacturing.

  • Comfort working in ambiguity and making tradeoffs with incomplete information.

  • Bias toward action, ownership, and practical engineering solutions.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with consumer hardware or high-volume manufacturing.

  • Background in pumps, valves, pressure systems, or fluid mechanics.

  • Exposure to automation, manufacturing process development, or production equipment.

  • Startup or early-stage company experience.

Physical Job Requirements - Essential Functions

  • Hands on work on development hardware.

  • Long periods of standing, crouching, walking.

  • Lifting up to 50 lbs.

Why Join Vital Lyfe?

  • Work on high-impact problems with global relevance

  • Help scale breakthrough technology in water security and climate resilience

  • Early ownership in a high-growth, engineering-led startup

  • Join a tight-knit, mission-driven team in a fast-paced environment

  • Build long-term career equity as we grow

Vital Lyfe is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with VItal Lyfe is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.