Matt DesJardien

A Bit About Me

My name is Matt DesJardien. I’m a mechanical engineer by training, but throughout my career and in my hobbies I’ve worn many hats and tackled a wide variety of challenges across disciplines.

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I began my career in aerospace, working on jigs, tooling, and automation systems. My first role had a startup-like atmosphere where each engineer owned their designs end-to-end. I was responsible for everything from problem solving and prototyping to sourcing, assembly, and testing. It was a fantastic crash course in owning a project from concept to completion.

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From there, I joined Boeing Research & Technology, where I designed both small tools and large-scale automated systems. Whether I was improving drill jigs or helping develop next-gen manufacturing platforms, I found ways to innovate inside a massive organization, an effort that’s resulted in 28 granted U.S. patents (and counting). I worked on large battery powered systems, monumental manufacturing systems, small hypermobile drill platforms, and vision-based surface scanning hardware.

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After earning my MSME, I joined the Amazon Go hardware team. We focused on sensors and infrastructure for the Just Walk Out experience. It was a crash course in customer-facing electromechanical systems and designing for retail environments. I’m proud that my designs have shipped in high volumes and operated for years in live stores with exceptionally low field failure rates. Here I honed my skilled in high volume processes like injection mold design, and parametric design for high volume sheet metal.

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Most recently, I’ve been remotely leading the mechanical engineering team for a robotics startup based in Austin. We developed a family of robotic end-effectors for AGVs, focused on delivering practical, cost-effective automation. There I designed a custom mecanum wheel designed for extreme loads, carrying the sensor-laden robotic platform. It’s an excellent place to get back to the vertical ownership of a startup, and the goal of doing more with less.

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Outside of work, I’m just as curious and hands-on. I’ve done a long-block engine swap in my high school car, built my own TrueNAS Linux server, and I spend a fair amount of time 3D printing, woodworking, and building small things that make life better. I enjoy learning new tools and technologies and getting to know the people who love them too. Professionally, my favorite CAD platform is SolidWorks but I spent years working in Catia and a year in CREO. Then, I use Autodesk Fusion for my personal designs.

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If you’re looking for someone who thrives in a multidisciplinary environment, enjoys solving tough problems, and brings a healthy dose of curiosity and good humor to the team, I’d love to chat.

Sincerely, Matt DesJardien