Mechanical Engineering Experts
$100–120/hr
Remote part time STEM contract with Mercor, $100–120/hr. Posted Sep 26.
$100–120/hr
Apply on MercorIs this job worth applying to?
- Pay
- Above typicalTops out at $120/hr. The typical top rate across 148 priced STEM listings is $70/hr.
- Getting in
- Some screening~30 min: resume upload + 20-min AI interview. Resume showing real experience in your field.
- Steady work
- Work is patchyProjects can pause or end with little notice.
- Payout record
- Pays on timeSchedule: weekly, every Wednesday. Paid via Stripe (Wise in a few countries).
- Freshness
- RecentPosted 5w ago. Still listed on Mercor on Nov 6, 2026.
- Where you live
- Not statedThe listing names no country.
The job description
Mercor is seeking experienced Mechanical Engineers to support an advanced engineering and AI research initiative with a leading technology organisation. We are looking for deeply hands-on engineers who have designed, analysed, built, tested, validated, or troubleshot real-world mechanical and electromechanical systems in production environments.
Relevant backgrounds include:
- Structural / Stress Engineering
- Thermal Engineering
- Mechanical Design Engineering
- Dynamics & Controls Engineering
This role is particularly well suited for engineers who have worked directly on complex physical products and can bring practical engineering judgment to evaluating technical designs, analyses, testing workflows, failure modes, and real-world engineering problems.
Key Responsibilities
- Apply hands-on mechanical engineering expertise to technically complex engineering tasks involving real physical systems and products.
- Review and evaluate mechanical designs, engineering analyses, simulation results, test methodologies, and troubleshooting approaches.
- Analyse engineering trade-offs involving structures, materials, thermal performance, mechanical design, dynamics, vibration, controls, reliability, and manufacturability.
- Assess the technical correctness and practical feasibility of engineering solutions generated for real-world mechanical engineering problems.
- Identify incorrect assumptions, unrealistic boundary conditions, design deficiencies, failure modes, and potential implementation or reliability risks.
- Develop or review technically rigorous engineering problems, reference solutions, evaluation criteria, and supporting technical documentation.
- Draw on practical experience with design, simulation, prototyping, hardware integration, test, validation, qualification, debugging, and manufacturing.
- Provide clear technical feedback grounded in real-world engineering experience and established engineering principles.
You’re a Strong Fit If You Have
- 5+ years of professional mechanical engineering experience, including at least 3 years of recent, actively hands-on experience in hardware development, analysis, testing, validation, integration, bring-up, or troubleshooting—not solely program or people management.
- Demonstrated experience as the responsible engineer for real hardware or physical systems, owning meaningful portions of the engineering lifecycle from requirements and analysis through design, prototype development, testing, validation, qualification, and manufacturing readiness.
- Deep technical expertise in at least one core domain: structural/stress analysis and FEA; thermal analysis, heat transfer, and thermal management; mechanical design and product development; or dynamics, vibration, mechanisms, and controls.
- Strong practical command of materials, loads and boundary conditions, structural margins, fatigue, thermal constraints, tolerances/GD&T, component selection, reliability, manufacturability, system integration, and engineering failure-mode analysis.
- Extensive hands-on experience analyzing, testing, debugging, and validating physical hardware, using relevant engineering tools such as CAD/CAE, FEA, CFD/thermal simulation, dynamic or controls simulation, test instrumentation, data acquisition, and structured root-cause analysis.
- Proven experience developing hardware in real-world product or manufacturing environments, ideally across aerospace/defense, space, automotive/EV, semiconductors, consumer electronics, robotics/eVTOL, industrial/energy, or medical devices—e.g., Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Tesla, Rivian, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Apple, Google, Meta, Skydio, Shield AI, Joby, Boston Dynamics, Siemens, GE Aerospace, ABB, Medtronic, or Intuitive Surgical—with the ability to clearly explain technical decisions, design trade-offs, test results, and failure mechanisms.
Preferred Background
Experience working for a company that designs, builds, tests, and manufactures physical hardware products or systems is strongly preferred. Relevant organisations may include, but are not limited to:
- Aerospace & Defense:
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Boeing, General Atomics, L3Harris, BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Honeywell Aerospace, Textron
- Space:
Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Relativity Space, Firefly Aerospace, Sierra Space, Astranis, Planet, Maxar, Axiom Space
- Automotive & EV:
Tesla, Rivian, General Motors, Ford, Lucid, Waymo, Zoox, Aptiv, Bosch
- Semiconductors:
NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Intel, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Marvell, Micron, NXP, Infineon
- Consumer Electronics & Computing:
Apple, Google Hardware, Meta Reality Labs, Microsoft Devices, Amazon, Samsung, Garmin, Sonos
- Drones, eVTOL & Robotics:
Skydio, Shield AI, Zipline, Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Boston Dynamics, Figure, Agility Robotics, Wing
- Industrial, Energy & Medical Devices:
Siemens, GE Aerospace, GE Vernova, ABB, Schneider Electric, Rockwell Automation, Enphase, Medtronic, Intuitive Surgical
Candidates from comparable hardware-focused organisations are equally encouraged to apply.
Why Join
- Apply your mechanical engineering expertise to technically challenging problems at the intersection of advanced hardware engineering and AI research.
- Work on projects where practical, real-world engineering experience and first-principles technical judgment are highly valued.
- Help improve how advanced AI systems reason about mechanical design, structural analysis, thermal systems, dynamics, controls, testing, and hardware troubleshooting.
- Contribute remotely with flexible engagement structures alongside experienced engineers and researchers.
- Work on problems that require genuine engineering judgment and hands-on industry expertise rather than purely theoretical knowledge.
How do you apply to Mercor?
Apply on Mercor
The Apply button opens this post on Mercor's own site. You apply with them, not with Rubric. Budget about 30 min: resume upload + 20-min AI interview.
Get through screening
What Mercor asks for after you apply:
- Take the recorded AI video interview (practice round available)
- Complete any role-specific assessment and the ID check
- Accept the offer and sign the contract
Start work and get paid
Pay schedule: weekly, every Wednesday. Paid via Stripe (Wise in a few countries). You're paid for the work they hand out, not a fixed salary.
Mercor also needs
- Resume showing real experience in your field
- Webcam with your full face visible for the AI interview
- Government ID
Red flags
- Red flagLong waits with no offer after passing the interview
- Red flagProjects ending abruptly with little warning
What is Mercor like to work for?
Hiring marketplace that screens professionals with an AI video interview and places them on hourly contracts training and evaluating models for AI labs.
| Advertised pay | $20–200/hr |
|---|---|
| Getting in | Some screening |
| Application takes | ~30 min: resume upload + 20-min AI interview |
| How you get paid | Weekly, every Wednesday, via Stripe (Wise in a few countries) |
| Payout record | Pays on time |
| Countries | Hires in many countries and runs its pay week on India Standard Time; Mercor keeps a list of locations it cannot onboard, and some projects are US-only. |
Most listings sit around $50–100/hr; healthcare, legal and finance roles pay the most, language and generalist roles the least.
