Back to jobs
The Design Rules Company logo

Product Engineer

The Design Rules CompanyNew York City

Posted October 27, 2026

Job Description

Turn ideas into physical products across code, circuits, and mechanical design.

About Us

We are a product design company with a small team, focused on transit systems and cities. Our flagship product, Metroboard, is a walnut and aluminum art piece that shows live train movement through the city.

We are especially rooted in New York, where most of our community and customers are, but the work is about cities broadly. We focus on form through function and the curiosity, recognition, and wonder of seeing something familiar reframed.

We are in an early scaling phase with strong traction in New York and growing presence in other major cities, looking to build durable cultural and commercial systems around the brand, partnerships, and community.

Role overview

This is a multidisciplinary product engineering role spanning electrical, software, firmware, and mechanical design.

You will turn product ideas into finished objects, moving between disciplines as the work requires. You might design a circuit, write firmware, build a software tool, or work through how an assembly fits together and gets manufactured. The product is the focus, rather than any one engineering discipline.

This role is ideal for someone who loves making things and wants to own them end to end. You do not need to be an expert in everything, but you should be able to learn whatever a product needs and take ownership of how the whole thing works, from first prototype to production.

This is a self-directed, high-ownership role. You will define the questions, decide what needs to be learned, and move projects forward without waiting for every step to be laid out. You will work closely with the engineering team to decide what to build next and how to build it.

What you will do

  • You will lead products from early research and prototypes through to production.

  • You will work across electronics, firmware, software, and mechanical design, following the needs of the product rather than staying inside a fixed discipline.

  • You will design and test circuits, write code, and develop physical parts and assemblies.

  • You will connect the pieces into complete products and make sure they work reliably together.

  • You will work with manufacturers and suppliers to get products made well and at scale.

  • You will improve our existing products, including Metroboard, through testing, debugging, and iteration.

  • You will investigate unfamiliar tools, materials, and technical approaches, building the knowledge needed to make decisions and keep moving.

  • You will document decisions, experiments, and technical knowledge so they are useful to the whole team.

  • You will contribute to the product design of upcoming products, balancing function, form, and how something is made.

What we are looking for

  • Experience taking products from idea to working hardware, through professional work or substantial personal projects.

  • Comfort moving between code, electronics, and physical design.

  • Familiarity with designing for manufacturing, or a strong desire to learn it.

  • Strong curiosity across engineering disciplines and a desire to understand how things work.

  • Ability to work independently, ask good questions, and create structure without needing every step defined.

  • Strong initiative and willingness to own a problem from the first question through production.

  • Sensitivity to how technical decisions affect the form and experience of a product.

  • Interest in objects, cities, infrastructure, and physical design.

  • Ability to move quickly, experiment, and learn from things that do not work.

Application instructions

No need for a formal cover letter! Instead, please include:

  • A portfolio or examples of things you have built (code, circuits, CAD, prototypes, shipped products, anything relevant)

  • A short note on a project you took ownership of, what you had to learn, and how you worked through it.

Benefits & Perks

We've got the basics and then some!

  • Fully covered Gold-tier health, vision, and dental insurance (PPO).

  • Monthly MTA transit subsidy (we cover your subway fare!)

  • Paid domestic and international work travel

  • Flexible work structure & unlimited PTO