---
title: 'Senior Mechanical Engineer at Fortell'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-fortell-new-york-ybse2xjwh2tm'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-10'
---

# Senior Mechanical Engineer at Fortell

- **Company:** Fortell
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-11-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-10
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/fortell/eda73c3e-432e-457b-b3e8-c9a04981e5d6

## Job description

## About Fortell

Fortell is designing better hearing aids for life as it’s meant to be heard. Traditional hearing aids make everything louder, but they don’t do enough to help the brain separate conversation from noise. Fortell uses a custom AI chip to separate speech from noise in real time, amplifying the important speech and attenuating the noise.

## The Role

We are looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to join our hardware team. Reporting to our Head of Hardware, you will own mechanical design from early prototypes through high-volume production, covering the hearing aid itself and everything it takes to build and test it. You’ve designed and launched small, tightly packaged electromechanical products built from high-precision molded and machined parts with cosmetic finishes. You’ve spent time on the factory floor at overseas vendors, you know how to work with suppliers in Asia to get parts right, and you’ve shipped products at volume. You’re as comfortable 3D printing a prototype overnight as you are working through a tolerance stack-up for a production tool. You also move fast. We need mechanical engineers who are creative problem-solvers committed to making sure mechanical is never the long pole in the schedule. We’re a lean team, so this role goes beyond design. You’ll act as a process engineer, vendor manager, and project manager as the situation demands, and you’ll jump in wherever the product needs you.

## What You’ll Do

- Drive mechanical design and development of Fortell’s hearing aid products, from concept and prototyping through validation and mass production.
- Design extremely small, tightly packaged electromechanical assemblies, working closely with electrical, RF, and acoustic engineers to integrate PCBAs, batteries, antennas, and flex circuits into a tiny ear-worn form factor.
- Design high-precision parts for injection molding, micro-injection molding, and metal injection molding (MIM), including painted and cosmetically finished parts.
- Perform tolerance analysis and stack-ups to make sure designs are robust and manufacturable at volume.
- Design the fixtures, jigs, assembly tooling, and test equipment that go into making a hearing aid, not just the hearing aid itself.
- Rapidly prototype using 3D printing, machining, and quick-turn processes to answer questions fast and prove out ideas.
- Define and run mechanical testing and reliability validation for small devices, including drop, environmental, ingress, and durability testing.
- Manage overseas suppliers and contract manufacturers: drive DFM reviews, tooling kickoffs, T1/T2 trials, first article inspections, and process qualification, on-site when needed.
- Act as process engineer during builds by troubleshooting yield issues, refining assembly processes, and closing the loop between design and the production line.
- Own project timelines for mechanical workstreams and keep vendors, tooling, and builds on schedule.

## What We’re Looking For

- 5+ years of mechanical engineering experience, with products designed and launched into volume production.
- Experience designing small, high-precision electromechanical assemblies. Hearing aids, earbuds, wearables, or similarly miniaturized consumer or medical devices are strongly preferred.
- Deep expertise in injection molding and micro-injection molding, plus hands-on experience with MIM, cosmetic finishes, and painted parts.
- Strong tolerance analysis and GD&T skills.
- Proven experience working directly with overseas vendors and contract manufacturers in Asia, including on-site factory work, tooling trials, and supplier management.
- Experience designing fixtures, jigs, and test equipment for assembly and validation.
- Hands-on prototyping skills: 3D printing, rapid iteration, and comfort at the bench.
- Proficiency in 3D CAD and drawing creation (NX and SolidWorks preferred).

## Nice to Have

- Experience with medical device development and design controls (ISO 13485, FDA).
- Familiarity with acoustic design for hearing aids, wearables, or audio products.

Location

- This role is on-site at Fortell’s office in NYC (at least 3 days a week).

Travel Requirements

- Up to 20% travel overall.
- Participation in hardware on-sites in Minneapolis (Tuesday–Thursday every six weeks).
- Occasional overseas travel to visit our vendors and partners.

#LI-Hybrid

## About Fortell

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Fortell builds AI-powered hearing aids that use custom silicon and advanced signal processing to clarify speech in noisy environments, helping people understand more of what they hear.
- **Entity Type**: Private (backed by prominent venture capital firms)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2021
- **Founders**: Matthew de Jonge (CEO), Andrew Casper (CTO), Igor (last name not publicly available), Cole (last name not publicly available)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Medical device manufacturing (hearing aids), artificial intelligence, healthtech
- **Target customers**: B2C – individuals with hearing loss, especially those who struggle with speech comprehension in noise; also works with audiologists and clinics
- **Mission statement**: "To restore effortless connection through better hearing."

## Products & Services
- **Fortell AI Hearing Aids**: A hardware + software product featuring custom AI chips that separate speech from background noise in real time. The device is fitted and programmed through Fortell’s own audiology clinics (first clinic at 530 Park Ave, New York, NY). The product is marketed as a medical device and is available only after a personalized hearing evaluation and fitting by an audiologist.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding amount not disclosed; backed by Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners, Optum Ventures, Lux Capital, Vast Ventures, Good Friends, Positive Sum, Stonecroft, and Atreides Management.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners (lead investors); advisors include Dr. Barbara Weinstein (Professor of Audiology, NYU), Dr. Kevin Franck (former Chair, Hearing Loss Association of America), Dr. Matt Fitzgerald (Stanford), Dr. Jan Blustein (NYU School of Medicine).
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - 52 employees (LinkedIn) with +1.6% monthly headcount growth
  - 15 active job postings (as of mid-2025), with a 200% monthly increase and 1400% quarterly increase in postings
  - First clinic in New York City; planning to expand to multiple major U.S. cities (e.g., Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Bay Area; Boston; Greenwich, CT)
  - Clinical trials show 50x more words understood vs. leading AI hearing aid in challenging noise; 95% of participants preferred Fortell over 5 top-spec competitors

## Competitive Advantages
- **Custom AI silicon**: Proprietary chips designed specifically for real-time speech separation, not just amplification.
- **Clinical validation**: Randomized controlled trials overseen by external academics demonstrating significant improvement in speech comprehension.
- **Integrated clinic model**: Direct-to-consumer fitting and support through owned audiology clinics, ensuring proper tuning and customer satisfaction.
- **Strong investor syndicate**: Backing from top-tier VCs (Thrive, Founders Fund, Valor) provides credibility and resources.

## Strategic Focus
- **Clinic expansion**: Opening new clinics across the U.S. to increase accessibility.
- **Talent acquisition**: Aggressively hiring across engineering (firmware, DSP, AI, hardware), audiology, quality, supply chain, and operations.
- **Product refinement**: Continuous improvement of AI algorithms and hardware based on real-world feedback and clinical data.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as fast-moving, intentional, and mission-driven. Emphasis on cutting-edge science, human-centered design, and improving lives at scale.
- **Work environment**: Hybrid roles available (e.g., Firmware Engineer listed as hybrid on Built In). Office located in New York City with free lunch.
- **Compensation & benefits**: Competitive salary and stock options; top-notch healthcare for employee and family; free lunch; generous paid time off; 401(k) plan; parental leave.
- **Engineering culture**: Opportunity to work on custom silicon, AI/ML, DSP, and hardware in a startup environment with strong scientific backing. Team includes pioneers from Google, Butterfly Network, Mount Sinai, and other top organizations.

## Sources
1. [Fortell.com – Homepage](https://www.fortell.com/)
2. [Fortell.com – About Us](https://www.fortell.com/about-us)
3. [Fortell.com – Careers](https://www.fortell.com/careers)
4. [LinkedIn – Fortell Research Inc](https://www.linkedin.com/company/fortell-research)
5. [Built In – Fortell Research Inc Jobs](https://builtin.com/company/fortell-research-inc/jobs)

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