# Principal Solutions Architect at Instrumental

- Company: Instrumental
- What the company does: Backed by First Round Capital.
- Company website: https://instrumental.com
- Type: Startups
- Level: Principal and up
- Location: Palo Alto, United States
- Work setup: On-site
- Pay: $210K to $300K base salary per year (USD)
- Posted: 2026-09-08
- Apply by: 2026-10-23
- Apply: https://jobs.gem.com/instrumental-inc-/am9icG9zdDoR4InutFakaI3PFY03XwhM
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/instrumental-principal-solutions-architect/

## About the role

Most senior mechanical engineers we talk to have hit the same wall: you've spent a decade getting great at one product category, and now every new project feels like a smaller version of the last one. You're ready for harder, more varied problems — but most senior IC roles just mean more of the same thing, not different things.

## What they're looking for

- 15+ years in mechanical design, manufacturing engineering, product design, automation, test equipment, or related disciplines
- Excellent communication skills and genuine enthusiasm for working directly with customers
- Experience on high-volume electronics or NPI manufacturing floors — you understand production workflows, line constraints, and what actually breaks going from NPI to mass production
- Strong CAD chops (SolidWorks, Creo, NX, or similar)
- Real fluency in DFM, tolerance analysis, and mechanical design tradeoffs
- A builder's mindset — you'd rather solve an ambiguous problem than wait for a perfectly-scoped one