About Sofia Ahmed

Brought in as a fractional mechanical engineering expert to guide product development across two concurrent DC power systems: a Class 2 low-voltage system for commercial lighting and a Class 4 fault-managed power system

Led enclosure design for wall and rack-mount Class 4 configurations and the Class 2 Hub and Remote Node, applying IEC 62368-1 requirements, DFM/DFA principles, connector validation, and thermal management strategies

Conducted hands-on thermal testing to characterize enclosure performance and developed active and passive cooling recommendations accordingly

Provided technical advisory input throughout design reviews and delivered full mechanical documentation packages  (BOMs, 2D drawings, and 3D models, quotes, costing) alongside supplier coordination

Extended scope beyond the core brief to produce customer-facing deliverables: specification sheets, photorealistic product renders, and user manual documentation

Co-founding a hardware startup, leading product development alongside the full operational buildout from legal and financial setup to marketing, investor relations, and accelerator membership 

Led product development of several products from concept to manufacture including market research, technical calculations, material specification, LED and optic selection, CAD modeling, prototyping, and creating engineering drawings and specifications. Collaborated with suppliers to research and quote parts, ensuring seamless transitions from design to production.

Collaborated with sales teams and external clients to deliver custom design solutions, ensuring that client requirements were thoroughly gathered, consolidated, and met. This collaboration ensured projects were delivered on time and within budget.

Streamlined R&D processes by automating documentation and procedures through the implementation of Excel and SolidWorks macros, engineering calculation tools, and interactive PDF solutions. These initiatives saved the team hundreds of engineering hours annually, enhancing efficiency and consistency.

Executed and managed dozens of engineering changes and development tasks, including transitioning parts to injection-molded or die-cast designs and redesigning assemblies to use fewer and/or off-the-shelf components. These efforts saved hundreds of labor hours and reduced costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Managed and mentored team members by providing training on products and internal procedures, assigning daily tasks, and delivering performance feedback, fostering a productive and skilled workforce.

Applied Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) principles to redesign several luminaire products, reducing assembly time by more than half by reducing and combining parts, incorporating locating features, and redesigning joining mechanisms.

Validated design decisions through static simulations in SolidWorks, hand calculations per engineering standards, and physical prototyping for comprehensive testing and evaluation.

Drove continuous product improvement by collaborating with process and electronics engineering teams to resolve design, drawing, and documentation issues, enhancing product reliability and efficiency.

Coordinated production workflows for a team of up to 5 operators, prioritizing tasks based on material availability and urgency to ensure timely completion of work orders.

Authored 13 sets of comprehensive work instructions to streamline processes, significantly reducing the need for supervision and saving over 4 hours of supervisory time daily.

Collaborated with the quality team to quickly identify and resolve production-level issues, ensuring all products met stringent internal quality standards and were delivered on time.

Developed and implemented training programs for new operators, enabling them to build 11 different product configurations according to detailed engineering drawings and specifications.

Collaborated with cross functional groups including participating in Kaizens to drive continuous improvement to quality systems and processes, minimizing costs, and increasing customer satisfaction.

Coordinated with suppliers and internal departments to troubleshoot technical problems, help perform root cause analysis on production issues, and implement corrective and preventative actions.

Ensured part compliance to engineering drawings and specifications through measuring tools and inspection methods.

Reviewed supplier quality performance and developed improvement plans.

Performed data analysis by writing VBA code to organize and extrapolate information from quantitative data such as PPM and turnaround times to supply quality assurance reports to the department and organization.