Mechanical Designer - POP

The world isn’t standing still, and neither is ATS Life Sciences - We don’t follow the trends. We set them!

Are you interested in being part of a team that makes a difference? Join our growing ATS Life Sciences Systems team a division of ATS Corporation, a publicly traded global enterprise with a proud history, we are helping advance the future with our factory-wide automation solutions. Within Life Sciences Systems, what we do matters – we custom design, build and service critical automated solutions for medical device and pharmaceutical companies.

We are dedicated to assisting our customers in improving the quality of life for people around the world. When there is no room for error, and product failure is not an option, leading life sciences companies trust us to resolve their production challenges.

Job Description

As a Mechanical Designer in the Proof of Principle Execution team, you will collaborate with a multi-disciplinary group to anticipate, identify, and mitigate technical and process risks. Your work will focus on understanding and defining requirements, and applying a systematic approach to problem-solving to ensure solutions meet customer performance specifications.

We’re looking for a creative thinker—someone who can approach challenges from fresh angles while staying grounded in practical engineering. You should be able to grasp the fundamentals of a problem quickly and develop effective, innovative solutions that are both functional and forward-thinking.

Key Attributes:

• Strong conceptual and analytical skills
• Hands-on approach to prototyping and testing
• Ability to work across disciplines and communicate clearly
• Passion for solving complex mechanical challenges

Duties include generating innovative concepts, designing and validating prototypes to meet performance and functional goals. While the primary focus of this role is Mechanical Design, successful solutions often require a multi-disciplinary approach that integrates mechanics, electronics, and software. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a strong blend of technical depth and creative problem-solving, with the ability to approach challenges from both practical and unconventional perspectives.

Responsibilities include:

• Generate concepts to solve new customer mechatronic problems/needs.
• Perform engineering calculations to validate new concepts.
• Generate detailed designs for prototypes ensuring all purchased and manufactured parts meet acceptable cost/performance/delivery.
• Attend assigned Project Kick-Off meetings (PKO), review scope of work, budget and schedule.
• Participate and lead in defining the requirements and concepts for Proof of Principle (POP) projects ensuring an “outside the box” approach, avoiding limitations normal in operations projects.
• Lead technical evaluations of technologies in their area of expertise.
• Sign-off on project designs, go/no-go and pivot decisions for POP execution.
• Perform rework efficiently to ensure minimal impact to budget and schedule.
• Be hands-on and support the team in building prototypes.
• Contribute to test plans for prototypes and either execute the test plan or support others that are performing the test plan.
• Support Applications and Operations during concept development and customer-facing interactions.
• Support creation of labour, material and execution plans for POP projects.
• Lead or participate in design reviews with internal/external customers, vendors, and internal design groups.

• Ensure that all business activities are performed with the highest ethical standards and in compliance with the ATS Code of Business Conduct.

• Maintain a 5S environment.
• Travel to support POP execution.
• These responsibilities are subject to change as assigned.

Skills

• Skilled at producing effective mechanical designs within accelerated development cycle.
• Able to deal with a high degree unknowns up front as challenges are often being solved for the first time.
• Adapt quickly to new learnings from prototypes and incorporate findings into design solutions.
• Strong ability to get to root cause of customer problems and deliver innovative solutions.
• Team player able to communicate effectively in status meetings, perform design reviews, and…