Prototyping Engineer - Model Maker

About the role

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• Prototyping Engineer - Model Maker
• Prototyping Engineer - Model Maker
• Seattle, WA
• Hardware
• + 2 more

As a Prototyping Engineer within the multidisciplinary Proto Make Team, you will employ your expertise in problem solving and model making to accelerate product development across Meta's hardware organization. You will collaborate with teams within Hardware Engineering, Research and Development, and Industrial Design.

These projects cover a wide variety of technical challenges unique to Meta's hardware portfolio, including Meta Quest, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, AI wearables, robotics, and beyond. As the next stage of consumer hardware moves closer to the body, rapid soft element exploration has become exponentially more vital in creating human first technologies.

This role requires expertise in molding and casting for use in prototype hardware informing early design decisions. Knowledge of silicone, polyurethanes, additive manufacturing and novel fabrication processes will be crucial in creating fast prototypes in all shapes and sizes. You will work throughout the hardware lifecycle with a particular focus on prototype ideation and early-to-mid stage development.

This is a casting and molding specialist role. Your primary craft is mold design and construction and the casting of silicones, urethanes, and foams — you will independently own the most demanding casting and molding work in the lab, adding genuine specialist capacity and redundancy rather than task-level coverage.

As is typical of any model making role here, that work is delivered inside complete Industrial Design models, so you will routinely incorporate components from CNC machining, 3D printing, and 2D cutting to carry a build end-to-end. You will also partner with the Casting & Molding leads to raise the maturity of how the function runs — tooling, SOPs, and workflow that scale beyond a handful of individuals.

Our team is constantly growing and you will be relied upon to help define team direction and be motivated to improve the effectiveness of our tools and processes from each project to the next.

Prototyping Engineer - Model Maker Responsibilities

Complex casting & molding: Independently run the lab's most demanding casting and molding projects in silicones, urethanes, resins and foams, mixed, degassed, cast and cured to spec. Finish cast prototypes to rigorous cosmetic standards. Partner with the Casting and Molding leads on the hardest new problems, adding specialist capacity and redundancy to a critical function

Mold design & construction: Design and build 3D printed and traditional molds, including multi-part and complex geometries. Design and adapt molds, fixtures and model components in Autodesk Fusion instead of only building to spec

Complete models: Take designs from concept to finished physical model, pulling in CNC, 3D printed and 2D cut parts and using both internal and external manufacturing. Bring core model making skills: high-quality finishing, part prep, scratch building, color mixing and strong material knowledge

• Soft goods prototyping: Quickly explore cast soft components for products worn on the body. Work with Industrial Design, Engineering and Research to solve complex design and UX problems and shape early design decisions
• Fast, parallel iteration: Manage multiple concurrent projects by prioritizing work based on impact, deadlines, and stakeholder needs, keeping parts flowing for fast design cycles

Process improvement & documentation: Try new materials and methods, then turn what works into standard tooling, SOPs and workflows so the function can scale. Build and maintain a knowledge base and clear teaching docs for molding, casting, finishing and material handling

• Mentorship: Share best practices and give hands-on guidance to team members and CW staff, helping new people ramp up on core skills and lab safety
• Lab organization: Keep the lab clean and organized and keep improving it. Own inventory, housekeeping, materials ordering and digital workflow and inventory records

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor in Fine Arts, Engineering, Design, Materials or related field and/or equivalent practical experience
• 6+ years of experience in prototype fabrication, model making, or casting and molding for hardware product development
• Proven experience designing and constructing molds, including the ability to independently own a model build end-to-end, incorporating components from CNC machining, 3D printing, and 2D cutting
• Demonstrated skill using at least one major CAD tool (Autodesk Fusion, NX, SolidWorks, Rhino)
• Finishing skills sufficient to bring your own cast and molded parts to spec — sanding, part preparation, and cosmetic cleanup with a high attention to detail
• Experience maintaining lab organization, materials inventory, and consumable ordering for a shared fabrication space
• Able to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced prototyping environment, managing concurrent projects against hard deadlines

Preferred Qualifications

• Dedicated paint & finishing depth, surface prep, coating, painting, and cosmetic finishing on plastics and metals from high polish to fine matte texture
• Understanding of Meta products and technologies
• Advanced Autodesk Fusion skills (our primary CAD environment) — design of complex molding solutions and parametric mold tooling, beyond basic part modeling
• Exposure to additional CAD, PDM, and print-prep packages (NX, TeamCenter, SolidWorks, Rhino, Materialise Magics, GrabCAD Print, 3D Sprint, mold flow simulation)

• Silicone seaming / painting
• Extensive adhesives knowledge
• Direct experience with injection molding / CNC mold construction
• Experience manufacturing tooling, jigs and fixtures

• High quality paint / finishing experience (3D prints, priming, powder coatings, precision parts)
• Experience authoring SOPs, process documentation, or training material for a fabrication lab
• Demonstrated ongoing AI skill development (e.g., prompt/context engineering, agent orchestration) and staying current with emerging AI technologies
• Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices (e.g., risk assessment, bias mitigation, quality and accuracy reviews)
• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize/redesign workflows and drive measurable impact (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements)

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