Senior Mechanical Engineering Consultant – Product Industralisation in Lausanne

Sonexos is seeking an experienced Senior Mechanical Engineering Consultant – Product Industrialisation to provide expert design-for-manufacture (DFM) and industrialisation input as the Company’s Plasmapanel platform progresses from mature engineering concepts towards repeatable, scalable manufacture.

The Plasmapanel is a compact, multi-material electromechanical assembly combining precision-formed metal components, injection-moulded engineering polymers, specialised films and bonded interfaces, and integrated drive electronics.

Its industrialisation draws on a range of established manufacturing processes, executed to tight tolerances and at scale.

Further technical detail is shared with candidates during the recruitment process.

The Company has developed and matured the principal product concepts, and mechanical design ownership rests with the Company’s internal engineering team.

The consultant will provide professional input on DFM and the optimisation of the design for the selected manufacturing processes, review and approve design drawings for production, and act as the Company’s expert liaison with component manufacturers, tooling suppliers, and assembly-equipment providers in relation to mechanical fabrication processes.

An explicit objective of the engagement is capability building: supporting the Company’s internal engineers in honing their DFM and product-engineering skills, so that industrialisation capability is progressively embedded within the internal team.

This is not a conceptual design or research position, and it does not displace the internal team’s design responsibility.

The emphasis is on applying credible industrial product-development experience — from products that have actually been manufactured at scale — in an advisory, review, and development capacity.

The position reports to the Engineering Director and works in significant collaboration with the Chief Operating Officer, who is responsible for the Company’s supply chain, including components and production.

It is expected to be performed on a part-time consulting basis, with regular presence in or proximity to Lausanne strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert DFM input across the Plasmapanel and its constituent components — working alongside the internal engineering team, which retains design ownership — through systematic DFM reviews of the design, materials, tolerances, interfaces, assembly methods, and manufacturing assumptions, and recommended design revisions.
• Advise on the optimisation of component and assembly design for the selected manufacturing processes, including metal forming, plastic moulding, wiring and the integration of electronics, sealing and bonding, and the optimal joining and fit of adjoining parts.
• Advise on part-material selection — spanning engineering polymers and metals, and potentially extending to glass and ceramics — and on mechanical specifications, identifying material/process interactions that may affect dimensional control, bonding, assembly, or reliability.
• Review and approve mechanical engineering drawings, tolerance definitions, and specifications for production release, establish clear mechanical acceptance criteria, and ensure design documentation reaches an appropriate level of maturity before production release.
• Act as the Company’s senior technical expert in dealings with component manufacturers, tooling suppliers, and assembly-equipment providers on mechanical fabrication processes — working in close collaboration with the Chief Operating Officer, who is responsible for the Company’s supply chain — reviewing supplier proposals, challenging manufacturing assumptions, and participating in supplier design reviews, tooling trials, process qualification, and manufacturing readiness reviews.
• Advise on mechanical and dimensional verification requirements, participate in engineering builds, pilot builds, and production trials in a review and advisory capacity, and support root-cause investigation and design and process FMEA activities.
• Support the Company’s internal engineers in honing their DFM and product-engineering skills through structured design reviews, coaching, and day-to-day collaboration, introducing appropriate DFM methods, checklists, and review practices, and progressively transferring industrialisation know-how to the internal team.
• Undertake other tasks relevant to the industrialisation of the Plasmapanel and to the building of the Company’s internal industrialisation capability, as agreed with the Engineering Director.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Product Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Strong formal grounding in mechanical design, engineering materials, manufacturing processes, dimensional tolerancing, and product development.
• Strong practical understanding of Design for Manufacture and Assembly principles.
• Sound knowledge of engineering drawings, GD&T, tolerance analysis, material specifications, and manufacturing documentation.
• Proficiency with professional 3D CAD and associated engineering drawing tools; the Company’s mechanical design environment is Solid Works.
• Working knowledge of structured product-development, design-review, risk-management, and engineering-change processes.

Experience

Credible, directly relevant industrial experience is a prerequisite for this position.

Candidates should demonstrate substantial professional experience taking complex physical products from engineering development through industrialisation and into controlled manufacture.

Relevant experience should include several of the following

• Mechanical development and industrialisation of complex electromechanical or multi-material products, with design for manufacture and assembly in medium- or high-volume production environments.
• Sheet-metal forming — preferably including deep-drawn components — and injection-moulded engineering polymers with associated production tooling.
• Broad use of metals in product design; substantial experience designing with metals is a strong plus.
• Precision mechanical interfaces and tolerance management.
• Films, laminates, adhesives, bonding, sealing, or comparable manufacturing processes.
• Design and development of production tooling, jigs, fixtures, and assembly equipment.
• Interaction between product design and end-of-line or in-process test equipment.
• Supplier-led component and tooling development.
• Pilot production, manufacturing trials, process qualification, and transition into serial manufacture.
• Root-cause analysis of manufacturing and assembly problems; product and process FMEA, manufacturing-readiness reviews, or comparable industrial quality processes.

Experience providing DFM or industrialisation input in a consulting, advisory, or senior review capacity — supporting teams that retain design ownership — is particularly relevant, as is experience mentoring or developing less-experienced engineers.

Experience gained in industries such as automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, appliances, medical devices, industrial equipment, or other engineered products manufactured at meaningful scale would be particularly relevant.

The successful candidate is expected to bring practical lessons from products that have actually been manufactured, rather than experience limited primarily to analysis, research, prototype development, or low-volume engineering.

• Personal Attributes
• Highly practical mechanical engineer with strong physical intuition and sound engineering judgement, able to identify the difference between a design that works as a prototype and one that can be manufactured reliably and repeatedly.
• Comfortable working directly with physical components, prototypes, tooling, fixtures, and manufacturing equipment.
• Natural mentor who enjoys developing other engineers and transferring practical manufacturing knowledge.
• Confident challenging internal engineers and external suppliers constructively where design or manufacturing decisions require reconsideration.
• Strong problem solver who works from evidence, measurements, engineering fundamentals, and manufacturing reality, and commercially aware in balancing performance, quality, manufacturing risk, tooling investment, unit cost, and programme timing.
• Effective technical communicator capable of working with engineers, vendors, toolmakers, equipment suppliers, and Company management.
• Self-directed and capable of taking ownership of defined advisory workstreams while operating effectively on a part-time consulting basis.
• Collaborative in working with the Company’s engineers, bringing senior expertise in a manner that develops — rather than displaces — internal technical ownership.
• Remuneration

The position is expected to be engaged on a part-time consulting basis.

The anticipated level and pattern of engagement will be agreed with the successful candidate and may vary according to the requirements of the Company’s product-development, supplier, tooling, and industrialisation programmes.

Commercial terms will reflect the candidate’s experience, the agreed level of commitment, and the scope of responsibility, and will be discussed with candidates during the recruitment process.

• The position is based around the Company’s R&D facility in Lausanne, Switzerland.

While elements of the position may be performed remotely, regular physical presence will be required to work effectively with prototypes, product samples, test assemblies, internal engineering personnel, and visiting suppliers.

• The position will require direct engagement with external component manufacturers, tooling suppliers, and assembly-equipment providers; travel to supplier and manufacturing locations in Switzerland and internationally may therefore be required.
• English is the Company’s working language.
• Candidates engaged under a Swiss employment or personal contracting arrangement must have the appropriate authorisation to work in Switzerland.

Alternative contracting arrangements may be considered where appropriate to the engagement.

Sonexos is a Swiss engineering company specializing in high-performance audio and sound control.

We develop and supply advanced solutions for audio enhancement, noise and vibration control to clients in the consumer, transportation, automotive and industrial sectors.

A core innovation is our

Plasmapanel technology—an active acoustic solution that achieves broadband sound absorption in enclosed spaces such as vehicle cabins, rooms, offices, ducts, and machinery.

Unlike passive treatments that rely on mass or porous materials, Plasmapanel actively absorbs the energy of incident sound waves upon contact, delivering lighter, more space-efficient noise reduction across a wide frequency range.

Beyond our R&D capabilities, Sonexos provides strategic advisory services to help clients accelerate innovation in sound and acoustics.

Our offerings include product design consultation, acoustic benchmarking, system integration support, and scalable manufacturing guidance—ensuring successful deployment of advanced technologies and long-term differentiation in the marketplace.

By combining deep technical expertise with a pragmatic, system-level approach, Sonexos empowers companies to elevate acoustic performance where it matters most – where sound enhances experience.

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