Product Design Engineer - Digital Fabrication

Location: Arvada, CO - on-site
Type: Full-time
Compensation: $70,000–$85,000 DOE, with bonus upside

About Vanlife Customs

Vanlife Customs is a digital-first design and manufacturing company building premium custom van interiors, systems, and components.

We design in 3D, prototype rapidly, and manufacture in-house using CNC routers, laser cutters, laser welding, 3D printing, 3D scanning, and traditional fabrication and woodworking processes.

Our work creates an unusually direct connection between design and outcome. You will see the products you design cut, assembled, installed, tested, revised, and ultimately used in real customer vehicles. Close interaction between our design and installation team is key to our success.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced design engineer who can turn loosely defined ideas and practical requirements into thoughtful, install-ready solutions, particularly for our custom cabinetry and wall/ceiling/floor panel systems.

This is a senior individual-contributor role. You will bring technical maturity, sound design judgment, and strong CAD capability while remaining closely connected to prototyping, fabrication, and installation.

You should be comfortable taking ownership of a design from initial requirements through modeling, prototype, design review, manufacturing release, installation, and revision. You will help strengthen our design systems and technical standards, but you will not be expected to build unnecessary process or manage from a distance.

The right person brings experience without ego. You are confident enough to make decisions, humble enough to test them, and willing to revise your work based on evidence from the shop floor.

Why This Role Is Different

This is not a screen-only engineering position.

You will work directly with fabricators, installers, project managers, and customers to solve practical problems involving fit, function, manufacturability, durability, aesthetics, and serviceability.

Your work will include designing cabinetry systems, mounting structures, electrical enclosures, modular storage systems, vehicle interfaces, fixtures, production tooling, and new product concepts.

You will have meaningful technical ownership without being separated from the people who build and use your designs.

What Success Looks Like

Within your first 3-6 months:

• You independently take products and assemblies from requirements through production release

• Your designs are being manufactured and installed successfully in customer vehicles

• Fabricators and installers trust the clarity, accuracy, and practicality of your work

• You anticipate manufacturing, assembly, serviceability, and installation issues before they create rework

• You make appropriate decisions about materials, tolerances, hardware, fabrication methods, and component interfaces

• You have improved the structure and repeatability of our CAD, drawing, revision, and design-release practices

• You create reusable design systems and standards where they add value

• You give and receive direct technical feedback constructively

• You help less-experienced teammates improve without needing formal authority

• You consistently balance quality, speed, cost, and complexity
   

  Who This Role Is For

  You may be a strong fit if you:

• Have substantial professional experience developing physical products, fabricated assemblies, vehicle components, cabinetry systems, industrial equipment, or similar products

• Are highly capable in parametric 3D CAD; Fusion 360 experience is preferred

• Can produce production-ready models, assemblies, drawings, and manufacturing information

• This role is unlikely to be a fit if you want to work exclusively in CAD, delegate practical problem-solving to others, introduce process without clear benefit, or use seniority as a substitute for collaboration.
  
  A degree in engineering, industrial design, product design, or a related discipline is valuable but not mandatory. Demonstrated judgment, technical capability, and a strong portfolio of built work matter more than credentials alone.

• Understand practical design-for-manufacture and design-for-assembly principles

• Have experience working directly with CNC processes, sheet goods, plastics, composites, metals, hardware, fasteners, or fabricated assemblies

• Can move effectively between detailed CAD work and hands-on prototype evaluation

• Are comfortable making progress when requirements are incomplete or evolving

• Know when greater precision is necessary and when a simpler solution is better

• Treat fabricators and installers as partners in the design process

• Communicate technical decisions clearly without becoming territorial

• Enjoy mentoring through collaboration, review, and example rather than hierarchy

• Want to remain a hands-on technical contributor while influencing how products are developed