Principal Mechanical Engineer
Company websitegetclera.com (Clera, opens in new tab)
Base salary $235K to $305K
Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in San Francisco, CA
You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.
- LocationSan Francisco, CA
- WorkplaceOn-site
- Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
- Last checked (3 h ago) · observed since
About this job
About the Role
Join a small defense technology team developing autonomous directed-energy systems for counter-drone applications. As Principal Mechanical Engineer, you will own system-wide mechanical architecture and help take complex hardware from prototype through production and field deployment.
What You'll Do
Lead mechanical architecture and integration across electrical, power, embedded, and optics subsystems.
Make technical decisions on challenging hardware problems from concept through production readiness.
Guide hardware release and production processes in partnership with manufacturing teams.
Review designs, calculations, and test results to identify risks early and maintain high engineering standards.
Personally execute mechanical design work when your experience can resolve a problem quickly.
Balance cost, mass, reliability, schedule, and field performance in design and manufacturing decisions.
Mentor engineers through hands-on technical leadership and design reviews.
What We're Looking For
10 or more years designing and shipping complex hardware systems, including multiple transitions from prototype through manufacturing and deployment.
Mechanical engineering is your primary discipline, with recent hands-on experience in CAD, structures, mechanisms, and packaging.
Deep mechanical expertise and sound judgment in at least one additional area, such as electrical engineering, power electronics, or embedded systems.
Experience leading full-system hardware integration and designing equipment for demanding real-world environments.
Ability to correlate FEA or hand calculations with bench or field test data.
Background as a senior individual contributor or technical lead at a hardware organization that shipped products.
Experience in defense hardware, aerospace, robotics, high-performance automotive, maritime, or a related field is valuable. Directed energy, laser or high-power systems, thermal management, ruggedized equipment, and manufacturing scale-up experience are also relevant.
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary: $235,000 to $305,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
Location
On-site in San Francisco, California, United States.
Source: Clera on Ashby · View original posting (opens in new tab)
Pay in context
This role's base floor ($235,000) is above 94% of the 2,035 Engineering (non-software) roles in California listed on this site; 2 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $146,200; the middle half runs from $124,000 to $173,000.
Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 6, 2026.
This listingPrincipal Mechanical Engineer$235K to $305K
Business Development Manager$240K to $300K
Founding AI Engineer$225K to $255K
CTO / Technical Co-FounderFrom $250K
Founding Product Engineer$200K to $250K
Founding Product Engineer$200K to $300K
Founding Backend Engineer$200K to $300K
Chart as a table
| Role | Published base |
|---|---|
| Principal Mechanical Engineer (this listing) | $235K - $305K |
| Business Development Manager | $240K - $300K |
| Founding AI Engineer | $225K - $255K |
| CTO / Technical Co-Founder | From $250K |
| Founding Product Engineer | $200K - $250K |
| Founding Product Engineer | $200K - $300K |
| Founding Backend Engineer | $200K - $300K |
Observed changes
- First observed on the employer's board
- Began meeting the published-salary criteria
- Observed since
- Employer-stated posting date
- 2026-11-05
Where this pay comes from
Location as the employer wrote it: San Francisco
Base salary: $235,000 to $305,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
- Method
- Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
- Checked
- Rule set
- us-base-v2
The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.
What we verified
- The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
- The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
- The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.
We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.