Working Student Hardware Engineering & Product Design (m/f/d)

About the role

Modern conflict runs on the electromagnetic spectrum, and the systems that listen to it have to survive the real world. Datacept builds cognitive electronic warfare systems: passive wideband sensing, AI-driven signal analysis, deployed at ports, stadiums, critical infrastructure, and military sites.

Our systems are already in use with customers. Now the hardware has to scale: produced repeatedly, refined, and trusted in the field.

We are looking for a working student who can take it there: someone who designs the part in CAD and then makes it on the machine.

Your role

You are the hands of our hardware team. You take our existing hardware and develop it into the next generation: robust, manufacturable, well-designed. You work directly with the founders and the engineers, you make design decisions, and you build your own parts in our workshop instead of waiting for someone else to.

What you will do

• Develop our current hardware into a series-ready next generation: construction, assemblies, tolerances, materials

• Product design: enclosures, ergonomics, surfaces, mounting, and ease of assembly in the field

• Create CAD models, technical drawings, and bills of materials

• Build prototypes and samples yourself on our in-house CNC mill and 3D printers, plus assembly and functional tests

• Test hardware under real conditions, learn from failures, and iterate quickly

• Coordinate with suppliers and manufacturing partners on what works in series production

How we work

• Build, don't just draw. An idea becomes a part in your hand before it becomes a document.

• Fast learners over specific backgrounds. We care more about how quickly you pick up new skills than where you have worked before.

• Intellectual honesty. The right answer matters more than being right. If the test shows the design fails, we change the design.

• Ownership of outcomes. You organise your own time, focus on what matters, and cut out inefficiencies. Nobody manages your calendar for you.

• Not building in a vacuum. You stay connected to the founders, the software and RF team, and the sites where our systems run, so that all the pieces fit together in the field.

Requirements

• You study mechanical engineering, product design, mechatronics, or a similar field

• You have strong CAD skills (e.g. SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Inventor)

• You have built real hardware, not only modelled it

• You have operated a CNC mill, or you are ready to learn it on ours

• You understand design for manufacturing

• You go from idea to prototype on your own, and you ask for help when it speeds things up rather than when you are stuck

• You are available up to 20 hours per week during the semester, more during semester breaks if you want

Helpful, not required

• Basic CAM knowledge (e.g. Fusion 360 CAM)

• Experience with FDM or resin 3D printing, turning, sheet metal, or composites

• Electronics basics: wiring, sensors, integrating PCBs and antennas into enclosures

• Projects you built yourself: maker work, Formula Student, university teams, a portfolio

• Rendering and visual design

• Experience with rugged or outdoor hardware

• You want to contribute to Europe's technological sovereignty in a domain where it is currently lacking

Benefits

• Work on a real product that ends up in real deployments

• Your own workshop with a CNC mill and 3D printers: design a part in the morning, hold it in your hand by the afternoon

• Flexible hours around lectures and exams

• Compensation: €16–20 per hour

• 6-month contract with the option to extend

• Perspective for a thesis or a long-term role as we grow

• Insight into real RF hardware and field deployments

• Workshop and main workplace in Horneburg (R&D). Days without hands-on work can be done from our Hamburg HafenCity HQ

Hiring process

1. Intro call (15 min, remote): who you are, why Datacept

2. Project conversation (45 min): bring what you built (CAD, photos, parts), and we start with a small design challenge right away

3. Final meeting in person at our workshop in Horneburg with the founders

4. Reference check and offer within 48 hours

About Datacept

Datacept GmbH, founded in Hamburg in 2025, builds cognitive electronic warfare systems for spectrum awareness, counter-drone defence, and the protection of critical infrastructure. Our platform unifies passive wideband sensing, AI-driven signal analysis, and the RF data infrastructure that ties them together.

We have raised pre-seed capital and are backed by German federal funding. We work with critical infrastructure operators, defence agencies, and NATO partners to give Europe the intelligence we need in the electromagnetic spectrum.