# Rachel F. > Mechanical Engineer Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/rachelf1 I’m a latina jill-of-all-trades Product Designer who specializes in prototyping, end-end product design from concept through manufacturing, and early stage R&D projects. I have designed, built, and launched projects using most common manufacturing processes including injection molding, CNC, sheet metal forming, and rapid prototyping. I have also successfully designed, drawn plans for, permitted, and managed the construction of a single family residence in coastal california. ## Work Experience ### Staff Mechanical Engineer @ Imperative Care Jan 2025 – Present Staff Mechanical Engineer working on the next generation of medical robotics. ### Designer/Construction Project Manager/General Contractor @ Freelance (Self employed) Jan 2022 – Jan 2025 Created Initial sketches and edited 2D models to design a wildfire rebuild of a single-family dwelling in coastal California. Produced detailed architectural drawings, including floor plans, elevations, sections, and construction details adhering to International Building Code (IBC) standards. Used survey data to create accurate site plans including septic tank layouts and onsite water production and storage. Worked with various engineers to ensure seamless integration of construction plans. Developed comprehensive building and electrical plans, including lighting layouts and power distributions. Ensured that all designs adhered to California’s Title 24 energy efficiency standards. Worked with external vendor to conduct all energy modelling and calculations to verify compliance with building performance requirements, including thermal envelope and HVAC systems. Implemented high-performance insulation, energy-efficient windows, passive lighting, solar and EV readiness. Incorporated fire-resistant materials and construction methods to mitigate the risk of damage from potential wildfires and adhere to Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) code. Included features such as ember-resistant vents, non-combustible roofing materials, fire sprinkler systems, onsite water storage with wharf hydrant. Prepared and submitted all necessary permit applications and documentation. Managed the permitting process to secure approvals, addressing any feedback from local building authorities. Directed the construction of the home and managed all phases from initial design and planning through inspections. Resolved complex construction challenges as they arose related to site conditions, design changes, and unforeseen circumstances. Created and maintained detailed project schedules, coordinating with dozens of sub-contractors and external vendors. Developed and managed project budget, including cost estimation, resource allocation, and expense tracking. ### Senior Mechanical Engineer @ ChargePoint Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 | Campbell, California, United States Designed and manufactured mechanical parts and subsystems for electric vehicle chargers, with a focus on high-voltage systems and high-current public charging infrastructure. Lead mechanical engineer on our public-bus charging infrastructure project, funded by the federal governments National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. Helped create documentation of safe operating practices and repairs of high voltage systems. Specified product requirements so customers could work with site designers to implement our products on their construction sites. Designed ruggedized outdoor electro-mechanical products to meet UL, NEMA, and regulatory standards. Managed vendors and suppliers of individual components to hit deadlines. Performed failure analysis and root cause investigations to determine and repair common field failures. Performed DFMEAs and helped shape product requirements for new products. Optimised designs for manufacturability and cost-effectiveness, using processes such as injection molding, CNC machining, die casting and production tooling. Worked with cross-functional teams across the US, Europe, and Asia, interfacing directly with suppliers to ensure efficient mass production. Proficient in CAD tools (Solidworks& NX), with experience in cable/connector tests, thermal design, EMI shielding, and regulatory standards. Drove multiple aspects of the product design process while hitting key deadlines in the development process. ### Senior Mechanical Engineer @ Carbon Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 ●Lead engineer on the launch of four stand-alone products from the initial R&D stage through manufacturing and production for our consumer printers. ●Designed and built parts using injection molding, CNC machining, and sheet metal forming processes. ●Created initial prototypes, performed UX testing, and developed DOE plans and life cycles testers for product verification. Completed DFM/DFA on parts, performed cost reduction, led cross-functional design reviews, created GD&T drawings, and managed vendors to bring up new products. ●Executed electromechanical subsystem architecture design in close collaboration with other engineering disciplines and cross-functional partners. ●Designed structural housing and alignment procedure of our 4k optical Light Engine for next generation printers. Promoted to Senior Mechanical Engineer after successful launch of the project. ●Named on two provisional patents for work on a multi-year R&D project for next-generation products. ●Managed two interns and mentored junior engineers. Participated in over 25 hiring committees and wrote the Mechanical Engineering team onboarding documentation. Received commendation from leadership about improved DEI hiring and onboarding practices. ●Founding member of Carbon 3D’s Latinx Employee Resource Group. ### Foundry Specialist, Injection Molding TA- Product Realization Lab (PRL) @ Stanford University Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 Worked as a shop TA in the Product Realization Lab, Stanford's machine shop, where I helped teach ~1200 students various manufacturing fundamentals including machining, sandcasting, rapid prototyping, welding, woodworking, vacuum forming and more. Was the Sandcasting Foundry Specialist and Course TA for Injection Molding. Fall of 2020 I ran the Product Realization Labs dedicated 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping space as a dedicated full time shop manager. Duties include machine repair, creating documentation, supporting Stanford instructors in teaching rapid prototyping techniques and teaching students. ### Mechanical Engineering Contractor @ X, the moonshot factory Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Mountain View Part-time contracting work creating custom silicone parts from molds based on body scans and scaling mechanical designs for production ### Hardware Engineering Intern @ Verily Life Sciences Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 Worked on early stage product development for implantable medical devices in the Neuromodulation group. Designed molds to be sent out for manufacture, produced silicone injections, built prototypes, and designed precision test beds. ### Mechanical Engineering Design - Teaching Assistant @ Stanford University Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 Helped guide students through the design and building process for their senior design capstone projects, ranging from cooling multiple tons of guava and drying chiles in rural India to passive dampening of vertical axis wind turbines. ### Electric Boat Design - Instructor @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Cambridge, Massachusetts Sole instructor running a joint MIT-SUTD boat design challenge where students built unique one man electric boats that traveled ~10 knots. Duties included designing curriculum, shop training, providing building expertise, and conducting design reviews. ### Toy Product Design - Lab Instructor @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Cambridge, Massachusetts One of multiple instructors running a freshman toy design class at MIT. Duties ranged from building a new lab space, maintaining the machine shop, running lab sections, and assisting teams in building a novel toy from ideation to alpha prototype. ### Product Engineering Process - Teaching Staff @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Cambridge, Massachusetts Assisted in the production of a hands-on educational experience in designing consumer products. 150 students participated in this iconic MIT mechanical engineering capstone class and presented in front of ~50k people at the end of the term. ### Lienhard Lab - Research Assistant @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Cambridge, Massachusetts Used CFD to analyze natural convection flows to increase oxygen in fish farming ponds in underdeveloped regions. Built physical pool models to validate analytical results ### Single Variable Calculus - Teaching Assistant @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jan 2013 – Jan 2016 | Cambridge, Massachusetts Ran recitation sections, office hours, graded assignments, and occasionally gave lectures for MIT’s introductory calculus class. ### Womens Technology Program - Teaching Assistant @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Cambridge, Massachusetts Taught, lived with, and mentored rising high school senior girls in mechanical engineering concepts to inspire them to become future engineers. ### Powertrain Installation Cooling Intern @ Ford Motor Company Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | Deerborn, Michigan Helped design a volume calculator used for determining Degas bottle sizing. Created a method for testing and analyzing hose compliance, finding a large discrepancy in actual and believed hose expansion. ### Harvard Microbotics Lab - Undergraduate Research Assistant @ Harvard University Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | Cambridge, Massachusetts Designed and fabricated an air disturbance generator for Robobee robustness experiments to simulate varying gusts of wind. ## Education ### Bachelor of Science - BS in Mechanical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology ### Master of Science - MS in Environmental Studies Stanford University ### Master of Science - MS in Mechanical Engineering Stanford University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/rachel-f-b1886115a - Portfolio: https://rachelreed.org --- Source: https://flows.cv/rachelf1 JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/rachelf1/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13