Principal R&D/Product Development Engineer
TE Connectivity
Assembly
Principal Product Development Engineer
TE Connectivity
full-time
Posted on:
Origin: • 🇺🇸 United States • Pennsylvania
Visit company websiteJob Level
Lead
About the role
- Lead advanced mechanical research, design, and validation for interconnect systems used in AI data centers, high-performance computing, and communications infrastructure
- Develop novel mechanical structures, execute thermomechanical simulations, validate materials, and collaborate cross-functionally to enhance product performance, reliability, and manufacturability
- Define and drive innovation across mechanical platforms from early-stage proofs-of-concept through NPI handoff
- Collaborate with electrical, signal integrity, system architecture, manufacturing, and supplier development teams
- Execute multi-physics FEA (implicit and explicit) across structural, thermal, vibrational, and dynamic load cases using tools like Ansys Workbench, LS-DYNA, HyperMesh, Simufact, Digimat
- Guide material selection and qualification for polymers, composites, TIMs, and metal alloys
- Define and enforce DFM, tolerance stack-up analysis, and robust mechanical design for high-volume production
- Partner with manufacturing, tooling, and supply chain teams to drive scalable solutions to mass production
- Lead technical reviews, design audits, and FMEA processes for high-risk mechanical designs
- Mentor and coach junior engineers and promote continuous improvement and innovation
- Develop and validate reliability test strategies for shock, vibration, thermal cycling, and mechanical fatigue
- Drive standardization of mechanical design platforms and reusable modules across product lines
- Support long-term technology planning and contribute to mechanical innovation roadmaps aligned with CTO and business unit strategies
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or Physics with 12+ years of experience, or Master's with 10+ years, or PhD with 6+ years, or equivalent amount of experience in mechanical product development
- Hands-on experience with mechanical design and modeling using Creo, SolidWorks, or NX
- Expertise in simulation tools such as ANSYS, Abaqus, FloTHERM (and experience with LS-DYNA, HyperMesh, Simufact, Digimat)
- Translate complex mechanical challenges into simulation-driven solutions using FEA (implicit and explicit methods)
- Experience executing multi-physics simulations—linear and non-linear—across structural, thermal, vibrational, and dynamic load cases
- Guide material selection and qualification, focusing on polymers, composites, TIMs, and metal alloys
- Proven experience in DFM, DFA, and transition of mechanical designs to high-volume manufacturing
- Experience conducting reliability testing: thermal cycling, vibration, drop/shock, and HALT/HASS
- Experience with tolerance stack-up analysis and robust mechanical design for production
- Ability to partner with manufacturing, tooling, and supply chain teams for NPI and mass production
- Experience leading technical reviews, design audits, and FMEA for high-risk mechanical designs
- Mentoring and coaching junior engineers; establishing technical rigor and continuous improvement
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills focused on root cause analysis and continuous improvement
- Excellent communication skills to engage with global engineering, operations, and customer teams
- Willingness to travel 10% to 25%
- Nice-to-have: Ph.D. in Engineering or equivalent, micro-mechanics, co-packaged optics, liquid cooling, data analytics, Six Sigma, AI-driven simulation optimization, system-level hardware experience, patent filings or published research, managing cross-functional/global engineering projects
