Sr. Mechanical Engineer – Santa Barbara, CA

Santa Barbara Infrared, Inc. (SBIR), a subsidiary of HEICO Corporation (NYSE: HEI, HEI.A), designs and manufactures electro-optical (E-O), including advanced infrared (IR), test instrumentation used worldwide. Our products support the testing of military and commercial sensor systems in laboratory, production, depot, and field environments. SBIR has built its reputation as a fast-paced, innovative company that provides highly engineered, cost-effective solutions to the aerospace and defense community.

Role Summary

We are seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to own the architecture and guide the development of precision mechanical systems for IR test equipment. In this role, you’ll define mechanical design approaches, create and refine complex assemblies, and ensure system-level integration in collaboration with cross-disciplinary teams. You will serve as a technical leader to junior engineers, providing design guidance, reviews, and best practices, while remaining hands-on in CAD, analysis, and prototyping. Your expertise will directly shape the performance and reliability of next-generation optical test systems used by global aerospace and defense leaders. This is a hands-on, on-site role based in Santa Barbara, CA.

$145,000.00/yr. -$195,000.00/yr. – DOE

M-F (Full-Time, On-Site)

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and complete lifecycle of E-O/IR systems, ensuring that mechanical designs meet all performance, environmental, and compliance requirements, driving traceability from concept through delivery.
• Contribute to the ME team’s budgetary and schedule estimations, and rapidly identify corrective paths to keep projects on track.
• Identify technical, schedule, and manufacturing risks early, and drive mitigations to maintain program success.
• Partner with project managers, system engineers, vendors, and production staff to support manufacturing and rapidly implement performance, reliability, and quality improvements.
• Drive semiconductor integration and hardware design for IR scene projection products and programs.
• Drive ECO’s to create and maintain detailed design documentation, including fabrication/assembly drawings, BOMs, and Interface Control Documents (ICDs).

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent.
• 10+ years of related experience.
• Expert with CAD tools (SolidWorks preferred) including revision control (PDM/PLM), and GD&T (ASME Y14.5) including tolerance stack-ups.
• Experience with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for static analysis.
• Background in optical systems (including alignment and precision adjustment mechanisms), vacuum hardware design, electro-mechanical system design, and/or power electronics packaging.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, or Aerospace Engineering.
• Experience with FEA/CFD simulation tools (ANSYS, SolidWorks Simulation, COMSOL) for thermal/structural/frequency analysis.
• Familiarity with regulatory and qualification testing (e.g., vibration, thermal cycling, shock, EMI/EMC, or MIL-STD/DO-160 standards)
• Experience with Zemax or other optical design/tolerance analysis tools.
• Background in vacuum hardware design, sealing, and hermetic packaging.

Additional Information

Due to US Export Control Regulations compliance, eligible candidates MUST be a US citizen, permanent resident or a person who has been granted asylum; proper documentation required. Pre-employment verifications: must pass background, reference and ITAR/EAR checks in addition to a pre-employment drug screen.

Benefits

We offer a comprehensive package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k), PTO, HSA, FSA, 9/80 alternate work week schedule, LTD, life insurance, and more.

Equal Opportunity

SBIR is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer (Male/Female/Veteran/Disabled).