Mechanical Forward Deployed Engineer

About CoLab

At CoLab, we want to help mechanical engineering teams bring life-changing products to market years sooner.

CoLab is a cloud based platform for engineering design review. We make it easy for subject matter experts (SMEs) across your business to access, evaluate, and comment on 2D drawings and 3D models. Our built-in AI peer checker, AutoReview, scans designs for common errors or non-compliance with your standards and guidelines. AutoReview creates markups and comments on your files, in context – just like a human checker.

With CoLab, human SMEs and AI work together to help you make better decisions and improve designs faster. We automatically capture knowledge from across your global business that would otherwise be buried in emails, spreadsheets, slide decks, and unknown locations in Sharepoint or PLM. Then, we make sure every lesson learned and every design guideline is applied exactly when it matters.

Companies like Johnson Controls, Komatsu, Schaeffler, and Polaris have launched products 40% faster, cut BOM costs by 50%, and reduced quality escapes by 15% in 1 year.

About the Role

This is a new, high-impact role that will help define how CoLab delivers technical value to its most strategic customers. You’ll act as a dedicated technical problem-solver and trusted advisor, embedding with enterprise customers to optimize how they use CoLab—especially our AI peer checker, AutoReview.

You’ll help large mechanical engineering orgs rethink how they manage feedback, data, and decision-making across design and PLM. That means getting deep into customer workflows, testing new ways of working, and building repeatable methods the rest of the team can scale.

You’ll work closely with our product org, Software FDE, and customer-facing teams to close technical gaps, shape product direction, and directly influence customer success. This role isn’t about selling or pitching—it’s about deeply understanding engineering problems and solving them alongside the customer.

Our Ideal Candidate

You're a mechanical engineer by trade but your superpower is applying that knowledge in creative, systems-level ways. You’re curious, technical, and comfortable working through ambiguity. You’ve likely been a design engineer or worked in a PLM-heavy environment. Maybe you’ve dabbled in automation, scripting, or app development for internal tools.

You don’t need to be the loudest voice in the room—but you can run a sprint, lead a cross-functional project, and talk shop with both customer engineers and internal developers.

If the average person might find this job too undefined or complex, that probably excites you.

Job Responsibilities

• Embed with enterprise customers to optimize CoLab usage—especially AutoReview
• Investigate and solve complex engineering data and integration challenges across PLM, design, and feedback systems
• Partner with a cross functional team to test and implement new CoLab workflows inside customer environments
• Collaborate with product teams to identify feature gaps, improve capabilities, and refine AutoReview
• Build technical documentation, playbooks, and repeatable frameworks based on successful projects
• Provide mechanical engineering expertise to validate AI-generated results and ensure engineering rigor
• Contribute to CoLab’s strategic partnership program by helping drive wins with top-tier customers

Qualifications

Must-haves:

• Background in mechanical design engineering
• Strong understanding of PLM systems and enterprise engineering data architecture
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical projects and cross-functional collaborations
• Experience working directly with customers or internal stakeholders to solve technical problems
• Comfort working in fast-changing, ambiguous environments
• Strong written communication and documentation skills
• Working knowledge of high level AI architecture, specifically LLMs. 

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience with internal tool development, scripting, or automation
• Familiarity with APIs, data integrations, and enterprise architecture concepts
• Exposure to AI/ML tools applied to engineering workflows
• Prior work in design consulting or product development at scale

Extra Details

• This is a full-time, permanent position with a competitive compensation package that includes stock options
• Unlimited paid vacation, extended health benefits, and RRSP/401k matching
• Remote-friendly within Eastern or Central time zones in Canada or the US.
• This role will have a travel component to visit customers onsite. Customer visits are typically 1-3 days total, one or two a month. 

Equity Note

Frequently cited statistics show that people who identify with historically marginalized groups are likely to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. We encourage you to help us break that statistic and apply even if you don’t meet every single qualification—your potential is what matters most to us.