Job Description:

Here at Rakuten Kobo Inc. we offer a casual working start-up environment and a group of friendly and talented individuals. Our employees rank us highly in terms of commitment to work/life balance. We realize that for our people to be innovative, creative and passionate they need to feel valued and supported. We believe in rewarding all our employees with competitive salaries, performance based annual bonuses, stock options and training opportunities.

If you’re looking for a company that inspires passion, personal, and professional growth – join Kobo and come help us on our mission of making reading lives better.

The Role:

Join our innovative Hardware Development Team in Taiwan and play a pivotal role to lead mechanical design for next-generation portable consumer electronics. Responsibilities include: translating industrial designs into production-ready Mechanical Master CAD for tooling, owning the entire mechanical engineering lifecycle, and ensuring products meet performance, aesthetic, and reliability requirements.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the creation of innovative mechanical designs and stack-ups: Drive the development of creative and efficient mechanical solutions that seamlessly integrate with the Industrial Design vision, ensuring aesthetic appeal, ergonomic comfort, and robust functionality throughout the entire product development lifecycle, from initial concept sketches to mass production-ready designs.
• Oversee all aspects of mechanical design, development, and validation: Take full ownership of the mechanical engineering process, including Design of Experiments (DOEs) to optimize performance, selection of appropriate manufacturing processes, and rigorous validation testing. Proactively communicate project status updates, potential roadblocks, and proposed solutions to stakeholders, while meticulously maintaining comprehensive design documentation to ensure traceability and knowledge sharing.
• Lead design reviews, risk assessments, and feasibility studies: Conduct thorough and insightful design reviews to identify potential issues early in the development process. Perform comprehensive risk assessments to mitigate potential problems related to manufacturability, reliability, and cost. Conduct feasibility studies to evaluate the viability of new technologies and design approaches.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (ID, UX, EE, SW, QA, PM, Manufacturing): Foster strong and collaborative relationships with cross-functional teams, including Industrial Design, User Experience, Electrical Engineering, Software Development, Quality Assurance, Program Management, and Manufacturing. Effectively communicate mechanical design requirements and constraints to ensure seamless integration and alignment across all disciplines.
• Oversee mechanical prototyping, testing, and validation: Manage the creation of mechanical prototypes to evaluate design concepts and validate performance. Oversee rigorous testing and validation activities to ensure compliance with performance, safety, and regulatory standards.
• Proactively identify and resolve technical challenges: Anticipate potential technical challenges related to material selection, manufacturability, cost optimization, and performance. Develop and implement creative and effective solutions to overcome these challenges, ensuring project success.
• Stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends: Continuously monitor emerging technologies, new materials, and industry best practices to identify opportunities for innovation and improvement.
• Ensure compliance with relevant industry standards and regulations: Maintain a thorough understanding of all relevant industry standards, regulatory requirements, and certification processes. Ensure that all mechanical designs comply with these standards and regulations.
• Establish and implement engineering best practices: Contribute to the development and implementation of engineering best practices, processes, and documentation standards to enhance team efficiency, improve design quality, and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.
• 8+ years of mechanical engineering experience (5+ years specifically in consumer electronics).
• Proven experience in mechanical stack-up design for smartphones, tablets, laptops, and telecom devices.
• Some travel to Asian manufacturing facilities & suppliers may be required to oversee production, resolve technical issues, and ensure product quality.
• Hybrid work options combining remote work with on-site presence may be available.

The Skillset:

• Must-have: Proficiency in PTC Creo (Top-down Workflow): Expert-level proficiency in PTC Creo, with a strong understanding of top-down design methodologies and best practices.
• Knowledge of reliability testing and failure analysis: A solid understanding of reliability testing methodologies, including Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) and Ongoing Reliability Testing (ORT), as well as failure analysis techniques to identify and resolve potential design flaws.
• In-depth knowledge of manufacturing processes: injection molding, die casting, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication.
• Experience with HALT, ORT, DOE, DFM, DFA, and cost optimization: Hands-on experience with Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT), Ongoing Reliability Testing (ORT), Design of Experiments (DOE), Design for Manufacturability (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), and cost optimization techniques.

Bonus Points:

• Familiarity with finite element analysis (FEA) tools such as ANSYS or COMSOL for simulating mechanical behavior and optimizing designs.
• Experience with IPX-8 Waterproof solutions, implementing mechanical or chemical coating solutions to achieve IPX-8 Waterproof Standards for consumer electronics devices.

The Perks:

• Flexible hours and hybrid remote working environment
• Full benefits starting from your first day
• Talent and development training
• Free Kobo device + free weekly e-book or audiobook
• Weekly Kobo Tech University sessions
• Maternity/paternity leave top up
• Birthday Leave: Enjoy a paid day off during your birthday month.
• Generous Annual Leave: Annual leave that exceeds statutory requirements.
• Work from Anywhere program
• An annual benefit of NT$10,000 to be flexibly used for various Rakuten services.
• Stock Options Program.
• Annual Health Check-up
• Fully Subsidized Group Insurance

About Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo Inc. is one of the most advanced global ecommerce companies, with the world’s most innovative e-reading services offering more than 6 million eBooks and audiobooks to 30 million + customers in 190 countries. Kobo delivers the best digital reading experience through creative innovation, award-winning e-readers, and top-ranking mobile apps. Kobo is a part of the Rakuten group of companies.

Rakuten Kobo Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Accessibility accommodations for candidates with disabilities participating in the selection process are available on request. Any information received related to accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially.

Rakuten Kobo would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this role however only qualified candidates will be shortlisted.