Mechanical Engineering Intern

Overview 

Are you looking to make a difference in the world? Tender is revolutionizing the food industry by solving a major global challenge: how to make meat production ethical and sustainable. Going beyond the existing plant-based burgers, we are developing alternative meat whole-cuts – think steaks and chicken breasts – using innovations in manufacturing, materials science, and tissue engineering. This will transform how the world consumes meat and protein. Spun out of Harvard University in 2020, we are actively building our core team. 

We are hiring a Mechanical Engineering Intern to help design and build our next-generation food manufacturing systems. You will work closely with our Engineering and Food Science team to scale RnD discoveries into novel food processing equipment and automated production lines. You will assist in the development of food-safe equipment for our very first set of product launches while laying the groundwork for future scale-up. 

Responsibilities 

• You’ll work with our Engineering team to design and build novel and scalable food manufacturing equipment. 

• You’ll be responsible for designing food equipment that will provide the next generation of plant-based meat, from conceptual problem solving, CAD mock-ups, in-house prototyping, to high-throughput and automated manufacturing platforms.  

• You’ll work internally and externally to manufacture custom food manufacturing components, ensuring compliance with food safety and FDA regulations. 

• You will run scale up experiments on novel food manufacturing equipment. 

• You’ll routinely communicate with our team members, strategic partners, manufacturers, and industry experts to improve our systems.  

About You 

• You are currently enrolled in a Mechanical Engineering (or equivalent) Bachelor’s degree program 

• You are fluent in Onshape or Solidworks. Extra credit if you also have experience working with 3D printing, and CNC machining 

• Bonus: You have experience in process engineering, or food processing 

• You have strong organizational skills and demonstrated experience prioritizing multiple deliverables.

• You have a strong attention to detail and can spot what others have missed. 

• You are excited about joining an early-stage food technology startup, where you will have an ambiguous, dynamic role and will work autonomously on high-impact projects. 

• You have a passion to change the world for the better. You are not just looking to cash a paycheck – what you do for work matters to you deeply. 

Why work with us?  

At Tender, we are deeply committed to diversity, equality, and inclusion. Our goal is to create an environment and company culture where people from all walks of life can come together in an inclusive manner and be an amazing force for good!  

• You’ll get to join us on our mission to radically transform the meat industry – one of the most polluting industries on our planet.  

• You’ll get to work with a diverse group of people that cares deeply about what we are trying to solve.    

• You’ll have ownership over what you do and how you do it.  

• You’ll join a really fun, interesting, and dynamic place to work!  

• You’ll join a young startup that is experiencing very rapid growth!