Principal Mechanical Engineer Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
Principal Mechanical Engineer roles attract H-1B visa, O-1 visa, and EB-2 sponsorship from employers in aerospace, defense, and energy. The specialty occupation requirement is straightforward for licensed PEs and advanced-degree holders. Employers regularly file LCAs for senior engineering titles, making this one of the more sponsorship-active engineering levels.
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FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORM), is a leading provider of essential test and measurement technologies along the full semiconductor product life cycle — from characterization, modeling, reliability, and design debug, to qualification and production test. Semiconductor companies rely upon FormFactor’s products and services to accelerate profitability by optimizing device performance and advancing yield knowledge. The company serves customers through its network of facilities in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Rooted in our core values — Focus on the Customer, Ownership & Accountability, Respectfully & Effectively Communicate, and Motivate & Develop People — we foster an environment where diverse perspectives are not only welcomed but celebrated. Everyone can make an impact here. Whether it's improving products, supporting customers, or positively influencing peers and the community, the contributions of our people matter.
Shift:
The regular hours for this position are day shift.
Job Description:
As a Sr Principal Mechanical Design Engineer within the Product Solutions group, you will serve as a subject matter expert responsible for developing and advancing mechanical designs as we expand our newest pad probing product portfolio across a wide range of customers and challenging semiconductor applications.
Working closely with product development, manufacturing, applications, quality, and customer-facing teams, you will lead complex mechanical design efforts from requirements definition and concept development through prototyping, qualification, product launch, and sustaining support. You will apply deep mechanical engineering expertise, structured problem-solving, and data-driven decision-making to develop solutions that balance product performance, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and customer requirements.
Key Responsibilities:
Mechanical Design & Product Development
- Lead the design and refinement of novel tip construction and pad probing products for advanced packaging applications, from requirements definition and concept development through prototyping, qualification, scaling, and sustaining support.
- Serve as a mechanical design subject matter expert, providing technical direction on complex product design, performance, reliability, and manufacturability challenges.
- Develop innovative mechanical solutions for complex or ambiguous applications where established design approaches may not fully address requirements.
- Create and maintain complex 3D CAD models, layouts, detailed engineering drawings, specifications, and bills of materials for manufacturable product designs.
- Apply GD&T, tolerance analysis, design for manufacturability, and mechanical assembly principles to develop robust and repeatable designs.
- Perform engineering analysis, including tolerance studies, fit and function assessments, design reviews, and finite element analysis as appropriate.
Product Validation & Qualification
- Define product performance requirements, engineering test plans, and validation strategies to demonstrate readiness for customer applications.
- Support prototype development, laboratory testing, product qualification, manufacturing scale-up, and launch readiness.
- Analyze experimental and product performance data to validate designs, identify risks, and guide engineering decisions.
- Drive design reviews and technical assessments to evaluate design trade-offs and ensure performance, quality, cost, and manufacturability requirements are met.
Customer & Field Support
- Translate customer needs, application challenges, and business requirements into actionable product improvements and new technical capabilities.
- Partner with applications and customer-facing teams to optimize designs for real-world customer applications.
- Provide technical escalation support for complex field and customer issues, drawing on hands-on engineering expertise and structured problem-solving.
- Aggregate customer feedback, field performance, and technical learnings to recommend product enhancements and influence future design direction.
Troubleshooting & Continuous Improvement
- Lead troubleshooting and root cause analysis for complex product and field issues, developing prototypes and design modifications to validate corrective solutions.
- Apply structured problem-solving and failure-analysis methodologies, such as DOE, 8D, FMEA, and SPC, to identify and resolve technical issues.
- Use qualification results, manufacturing data, and field performance to identify opportunities for improved product quality, reliability, and manufacturability.
- Identify and implement improvements to engineering methods, design practices, tools, and processes that increase development efficiency and technical capability.
Cross-Functional & Technical Leadership
- Collaborate with product development, manufacturing, applications, quality, and customer teams throughout the product lifecycle.
- Provide technical leadership and engineering judgment on complex mechanical design decisions, risks, and trade-offs.
- Influence cross-functional technical decisions by communicating engineering findings, recommendations, and design rationale to key stakeholders.
- Mentor and provide technical guidance to less-experienced engineers, sharing best practices and strengthening mechanical design capabilities across the team.
Preferred Qualifications & Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Significant experience in mechanical design and product development, with demonstrated ability to independently lead complex designs from concept through prototyping, qualification, production, and sustaining support.
- Advanced proficiency with 3D CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, tolerance analysis, mechanical assemblies, and design for manufacturability.
- Hands-on experience with laboratory testing, experimental design, product validation, and troubleshooting complex mechanical systems.
- Strong knowledge of structured problem-solving, statistical analysis, and failure-analysis methods such as DOE, 8D, FMEA, and SPC.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to use engineering and performance data to identify root causes and drive design improvements.
- Proven ability to collaborate across product development, manufacturing, quality, applications, and customer-facing teams while providing technical leadership and influencing engineering decisions.
- Experience with probe card technology, semiconductor test, advanced packaging, precision mechanical systems, or similar high-technology products.
- Experience with finite element analysis, process engineering, continuous improvement, or customer-facing technical support is a plus.
- Ability to work in a Class 1000 cleanroom environment as needed and travel up to 15% domestically and internationally.
Skills:
Customer Escalation, Customer Messaging, Failure Analysis, Mechanical Design, Mechanical Design Drafting, Mechanical Engineering, Probe Cards, Testing Protocols, Wafer Probing
Education & Experience:
Minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 3 years experience; or equivalent experience | Required
Pay Range:
$136,200.00 - $178,815.00
Pay Range Explained:
This role in Livermore, California pays between $136,200.00 and $178,815.00 per year, depending on your experience, skills, and background. Pay may vary in other locations. We offer a full benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability coverage, a 401(k) with company match, employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), and paid time off. You’ll also be eligible for quarterly profit-sharing bonuses and flexible spending or savings accounts.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
FormFactor is an equal opportunity employer. FormFactor complies with all national, state, and local laws that seek to promote equal opportunities for any applicant or employee without regard to age, race, color, gender, gender identity/expression, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, disability, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, military service, or any other legally protected characteristics. These protections apply to all aspects of employment, including but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, training, promotions, and compensation.
For roles that are designated as remote-eligible, employees cannot be located in: AL, AK, AR, DE, GA, HI, IL, IA, LA, ME, MD, MS, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NM, ND, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, WV, WI, WY. This list is continuously evolving and being updated, please check back with us if the state you live in is on the exclusion list. A role is remote-eligible only when it is listed as "Remote" in the job location.
Forming Our Future together
FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORM), is a leading provider of essential test and measurement technologies along the full semiconductor product life cycle — from characterization, modeling, reliability, and design debug, to qualification and production test. Semiconductor companies rely upon FormFactor’s products and services to accelerate profitability by optimizing device performance and advancing yield knowledge. The company serves customers through its network of facilities in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Rooted in our core values — Focus on the Customer, Ownership & Accountability, Respectfully & Effectively Communicate, and Motivate & Develop People — we foster an environment where diverse perspectives are not only welcomed but celebrated. Everyone can make an impact here. Whether it's improving products, supporting customers, or positively influencing peers and the community, the contributions of our people matter.
Shift:
The regular hours for this position are day shift.
Job Description:
As a Sr Principal Mechanical Design Engineer within the Product Solutions group, you will serve as a subject matter expert responsible for developing and advancing mechanical designs as we expand our newest pad probing product portfolio across a wide range of customers and challenging semiconductor applications.
Working closely with product development, manufacturing, applications, quality, and customer-facing teams, you will lead complex mechanical design efforts from requirements definition and concept development through prototyping, qualification, product launch, and sustaining support. You will apply deep mechanical engineering expertise, structured problem-solving, and data-driven decision-making to develop solutions that balance product performance, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and customer requirements.
Key Responsibilities:
Mechanical Design & Product Development
- Lead the design and refinement of novel tip construction and pad probing products for advanced packaging applications, from requirements definition and concept development through prototyping, qualification, scaling, and sustaining support.
- Serve as a mechanical design subject matter expert, providing technical direction on complex product design, performance, reliability, and manufacturability challenges.
- Develop innovative mechanical solutions for complex or ambiguous applications where established design approaches may not fully address requirements.
- Create and maintain complex 3D CAD models, layouts, detailed engineering drawings, specifications, and bills of materials for manufacturable product designs.
- Apply GD&T, tolerance analysis, design for manufacturability, and mechanical assembly principles to develop robust and repeatable designs.
- Perform engineering analysis, including tolerance studies, fit and function assessments, design reviews, and finite element analysis as appropriate.
Product Validation & Qualification
- Define product performance requirements, engineering test plans, and validation strategies to demonstrate readiness for customer applications.
- Support prototype development, laboratory testing, product qualification, manufacturing scale-up, and launch readiness.
- Analyze experimental and product performance data to validate designs, identify risks, and guide engineering decisions.
- Drive design reviews and technical assessments to evaluate design trade-offs and ensure performance, quality, cost, and manufacturability requirements are met.
Customer & Field Support
- Translate customer needs, application challenges, and business requirements into actionable product improvements and new technical capabilities.
- Partner with applications and customer-facing teams to optimize designs for real-world customer applications.
- Provide technical escalation support for complex field and customer issues, drawing on hands-on engineering expertise and structured problem-solving.
- Aggregate customer feedback, field performance, and technical learnings to recommend product enhancements and influence future design direction.
Troubleshooting & Continuous Improvement
- Lead troubleshooting and root cause analysis for complex product and field issues, developing prototypes and design modifications to validate corrective solutions.
- Apply structured problem-solving and failure-analysis methodologies, such as DOE, 8D, FMEA, and SPC, to identify and resolve technical issues.
- Use qualification results, manufacturing data, and field performance to identify opportunities for improved product quality, reliability, and manufacturability.
- Identify and implement improvements to engineering methods, design practices, tools, and processes that increase development efficiency and technical capability.
Cross-Functional & Technical Leadership
- Collaborate with product development, manufacturing, applications, quality, and customer teams throughout the product lifecycle.
- Provide technical leadership and engineering judgment on complex mechanical design decisions, risks, and trade-offs.
- Influence cross-functional technical decisions by communicating engineering findings, recommendations, and design rationale to key stakeholders.
- Mentor and provide technical guidance to less-experienced engineers, sharing best practices and strengthening mechanical design capabilities across the team.
Preferred Qualifications & Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Significant experience in mechanical design and product development, with demonstrated ability to independently lead complex designs from concept through prototyping, qualification, production, and sustaining support.
- Advanced proficiency with 3D CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, tolerance analysis, mechanical assemblies, and design for manufacturability.
- Hands-on experience with laboratory testing, experimental design, product validation, and troubleshooting complex mechanical systems.
- Strong knowledge of structured problem-solving, statistical analysis, and failure-analysis methods such as DOE, 8D, FMEA, and SPC.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to use engineering and performance data to identify root causes and drive design improvements.
- Proven ability to collaborate across product development, manufacturing, quality, applications, and customer-facing teams while providing technical leadership and influencing engineering decisions.
- Experience with probe card technology, semiconductor test, advanced packaging, precision mechanical systems, or similar high-technology products.
- Experience with finite element analysis, process engineering, continuous improvement, or customer-facing technical support is a plus.
- Ability to work in a Class 1000 cleanroom environment as needed and travel up to 15% domestically and internationally.
Skills:
Customer Escalation, Customer Messaging, Failure Analysis, Mechanical Design, Mechanical Design Drafting, Mechanical Engineering, Probe Cards, Testing Protocols, Wafer Probing
Education & Experience:
Minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 3 years experience; or equivalent experience | Required
Pay Range:
$136,200.00 - $178,815.00
Pay Range Explained:
This role in Livermore, California pays between $136,200.00 and $178,815.00 per year, depending on your experience, skills, and background. Pay may vary in other locations. We offer a full benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability coverage, a 401(k) with company match, employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), and paid time off. You’ll also be eligible for quarterly profit-sharing bonuses and flexible spending or savings accounts.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
FormFactor is an equal opportunity employer. FormFactor complies with all national, state, and local laws that seek to promote equal opportunities for any applicant or employee without regard to age, race, color, gender, gender identity/expression, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, disability, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, military service, or any other legally protected characteristics. These protections apply to all aspects of employment, including but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, training, promotions, and compensation.
For roles that are designated as remote-eligible, employees cannot be located in: AL, AK, AR, DE, GA, HI, IL, IA, LA, ME, MD, MS, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NM, ND, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, WV, WI, WY. This list is continuously evolving and being updated, please check back with us if the state you live in is on the exclusion list. A role is remote-eligible only when it is listed as "Remote" in the job location.
See all 542+ Principal Mechanical Engineer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Principal Mechanical Engineer roles.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Visa Sponsorship as a Principal Mechanical Engineer
Align your credentials to specialty occupation
Principal ME roles typically require a bachelor's or master's in mechanical engineering specifically, not just any engineering discipline. Pull the O*NET occupation profile to confirm the degree field alignment USCIS expects before your employer files the LCA.
Verify prevailing wage before negotiating offers
Your offered salary must meet or exceed the DOL prevailing wage for your job title and work location. Run the OFLC Wage Search using the correct SOC code for your seniority level before entering salary discussions with any employer.
Target defense and energy sector employers first
Aerospace primes, national lab contractors, and offshore energy firms file LCAs for senior mechanical engineering roles consistently. Focus your search on employers with active sponsorship history by using Migrate Mate to filter verified LCA filings by role and location.
Clarify PE licensure requirements early
Some Principal ME postings require a Professional Engineer license as a condition of employment, which affects your visa eligibility timeline if your home-country credentials haven't been evaluated. Ask hiring managers directly whether PE licensure is mandatory or preferred before advancing.
Request premium processing on your I-129 petition
Principal-level hires often come with project start-date pressure. Ask your employer to elect premium processing when filing Form I-129 with USCIS, which moves adjudication to 15 business days and reduces the risk of a delayed project assignment.
Front-load PERM documentation for EB-2 planning
If your employer is open to green card sponsorship, ask about starting the PERM labor certification process during your first year on H-1B. Principal ME roles generally satisfy EB-2 advanced-degree requirements, and early filing locks in an earlier priority date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Principal Mechanical Engineer role qualify as a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes?
Yes. Principal Mechanical Engineer roles consistently meet the specialty occupation standard because they require at least a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or a closely related field. The complexity of work at the principal level, including system design ownership and cross-functional technical leadership, reinforces the degree requirement. USCIS expects the job description to specify the engineering discipline, not just a generic engineering degree.
Which visa types do employers typically use to sponsor Principal Mechanical Engineers?
H-1B is the most common path, though the annual lottery and 65,000 regular-cap limit mean timing matters. Employers in defense contracting and energy sometimes pursue O-1A for candidates with patents, published research, or awards demonstrating extraordinary ability. For long-term hires, EB-2 green card sponsorship via PERM labor certification is frequently available because the advanced-degree requirement aligns well with the principal-level job profile.
How do I find employers actively sponsoring Principal Mechanical Engineer roles?
Migrate Mate lists employers with verified LCA sponsorship history, searchable by role and location, so you can identify companies that have already sponsored senior mechanical engineering positions rather than cold-applying and asking about sponsorship later.
Does a Professional Engineer license affect my visa sponsorship eligibility?
PE licensure doesn't directly determine H-1B eligibility, but if the employer lists it as a requirement in the job description, USCIS treats it as part of the minimum qualifications for the role. If you hold a foreign engineering credential, some states require credential evaluation before you can sit for the PE exam, which can add months to the timeline. Clarify with your employer whether PE licensure is mandatory before the LCA is filed.
Can TN visa status cover a Principal Mechanical Engineer role for Canadian or Mexican nationals?
Yes. Mechanical Engineer is listed on the USMCA profession list, and principal-level roles fall within that category as long as the position requires a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and the employer can document the specialty. Canadian nationals can apply at the port of entry without a prior petition, while Mexican nationals apply at a U.S. consulate. TN visa status does not allow dual intent, so it's not compatible with simultaneous green card pursuit.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored Principal Mechanical Engineer jobs?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.