Lead Mechanical Design Engineer

Location: Hubli, Karnataka

Experience: 3–10 years in Mechanical New Product Development

Note: Experience in service-based industries will not be considered. About the Role

Astr Defence is looking for a Lead Mechanical Design Engineer to lead our mechanical design function and drive the development of next-generation defence hardware.

This is a leadership role for someone who can combine strong hands-on engineering with team leadership, process building, and product ownership. You will lead mechanical design engineers, drive development from concept to field trials, and establish the structure and discipline needed to build rugged, reliable, field-ready systems in a fast-moving defence environment.

This role is for someone who wants to do more than create CAD models and drawings. You should want to lead engineers, solve difficult product problems, and build hardware that performs in the real world. What You’ll Be Doing

Lead end-to-end mechanical design and development of new defence products, from concept sketches to certified field hardware

Supervise and mentor Mechanical Design Engineers and freshers, helping them grow into robust independent contributors

Establish and strengthen structured mechanical design practices including DFMEA, tolerance stack-ups, BOM management, revision control, and release systems

Drive prototyping and validation cycles in coordination with production and cross-functional teams

Oversee mechanical builds, testing, debugging, and iteration for rugged, field-ready systems

Conduct structured design reviews and quality gates to ensure manufacturability, ruggedness, reliability, and serviceability





Drive simulation and engineering analysis using tools such as FEA, vibration, fatigue, and structural analysis

Work closely with electronics, embedded, manufacturing, testing, and quality teams to deliver integrated products

Support certification, compliance, and external defence evaluations with strong technical documentation Requirements

3–10 years of hands-on experience in mechanical new product development

Experience in defence, aerospace, automotive, robotics, industrial equipment, or hardware startups is strongly preferred

Experience in service-based industries will not be considered

Strong command of CAD tools such as SolidWorks and/or Fusion 360

Strong command of engineering analysis tools such as ANSYS and MATLAB

Deep understanding of materials, GD&T;, tolerances, ruggedization, MIL standards, and real-world manufacturing constraints

Solid experience with manufacturing processes such as CNC machining.

Experience leading prototype-to-production transitions in complex mechanical systems

Ability to conduct root-cause analysis and solve practical engineering problems under time pressure

Strong documentation and review discipline

Evidence of what you have personally designed, built, tested, and shipped A builder’s mindset: you should care about product performance in the field, not just design completion on paper Read Before Applying





This role demands hard work, ownership, and tenacity.

If you prefer routine over ambiguity, this role is not for you.

If you want a predictable, low-intensity environment, this role is not for you.

Here, you will be expected to design, build, test, break, fix, and repeat — fast.

We are creating products that do not yet exist in the world. That means ambiguity, speed, setbacks, iteration, and steep learning curves are part of the job.

But if you want to solve real engineering problems that matter to national security, and you want your work to exist in the field rather than in presentations, you’ll feel at home here.

Why Join Astr

Defence

Work on mission-critical defence hardware, not just paper designs

Lead real product development and shape how mechanical engineering is done in the company

Build products with direct real-world impact on national security

Collaborate closely with highly driven cross-functional engineers

Experience the full cycle: design → prototype → test → deployment

Operate in a high-trust environment with meaningful technical responsibility What You’ll Get

Extreme ownership and autonomy

Freedom to experiment, fail, learn, and ship A high-intensity, high-growth learning environment

Direct exposure to core product development challenges The satisfaction of building hardware that actually works in the field About Us

Astr Defence is a new-age Indian defence technology company building next-generation systems for the modern battlefield.

We are not just designing hardware.

We are building India’s defence future.

This is not just a job.

It’s a mission.

📌 Lead Mechanical Design Engineer (Hubli)
🏢 Astr Defence
📍 Hubli