Hardware Engineer (Mechanical and Mechanism Design)

This hardware engineer will handle mechanical and mechanism design for Photosynth’s Akerun smart-lock IoT products. The role covers the product lifecycle from requirements definition and design through prototyping, evaluation, transfer to mass production, and failure analysis. It also includes maintaining and improving existing products after launch.

Daily work includes designing enclosures and drive mechanisms such as motors, gears, and springs with 3D and 2D CAD. The engineer will coordinate with molding and assembly manufacturers, manage quality, support the launch of mass production, prepare mechanical design specifications, FMEA analysis results, and process instructions, and operate design reviews. Existing-product work includes end-of-life responses for components, investigation of market or product failures, cost-reduction design, and other improvement activities.

Required experience includes hardware design using both 3D CAD and 2D CAD; primary responsibility for designing and evaluating products containing drive systems or movable parts such as motors, gears, and springs; and experience negotiating with molding or assembly manufacturers, managing quality, and launching mass production.

Preferred experience includes practical work related to appearance quality, including painting, decoration, printing, or surface treatment; responsibility for a product model across requirements, design, prototyping, evaluation, mass-production transfer, and failure analysis; design of assembly jigs for mass production; market-failure response or improvement of current products; preparation of product specifications; and team management. The posting also describes an expectation that the engineer will learn about installation environments, architecture, locks, and electrical constraints beyond the mechanical domain, and share knowledge to improve team-wide product development.

Akerun is a cloud-based, subscription IoT access-management product used in settings including offices, gyms, retail stores, universities, and factories. Its ongoing service model supports continued product improvement after sales. Product specifications through manufacturing are developed in-house. The development organization is described as approximately 150 people and includes hardware, software, sales, marketing, customer support, and logistics functions. Fusion 360 is used for 3D CAD and DraftSight for 2D CAD. Cursor, Devin, and Gemini Advanced are also provided as AI tools for development and knowledge sharing.

The position is full-time and uses a discretionary labor system. Standard working hours are 9:30 to 18:30 with a one-hour break, and average overtime is stated as approximately 15 to 20 hours per month. The workplace is in Minato, Tokyo, and remote work is listed among the available workplace measures. Annual holidays total 125 days, including Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, and year-end holidays from December 29 to January 3. Ten days of paid leave are granted on the joining date, followed by annual grants, and five days of special leave are available under the stated programs.

Annual compensation is listed as JPY 6,000,000 to JPY 10,000,000. Monthly pay is JPY 500,000 to JPY 835,000, consisting of ability-based pay, performance-variable pay, and a discretionary allowance. The allowance covers 45 hours of overtime regardless of whether overtime is worked, with additional premium pay for overtime exceeding that allowance. Salary reviews occur twice a year. The probationary period is six months. Benefits include a company smartphone, an awards program, commuting and housing allowances, a café space, free drinks, subsidized club activities, book-purchase assistance, internal study sessions, and support for study-session participation. Social insurance includes employees’ pension, health insurance, employment insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance.