STEPHEN STEGER
About
Stephen is an award winning Product Designer with more than 10 years of experience taking high-volume, consumer electronics products from design concept through mass-production.He is currently a Product Design lead for Snapchat Spectacles, and his past clients and employers include Ammunition, Beats By Dre, Google, Lyft, Ember, Incase, Intel, and Polaroid.
He is a Founding Partner of RocketFuel, a team of angel investors which has made more than 20 seed and early stage investments in the blockchain and distributed ledger space.
Stephen has a B.S.E in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and is an inventor on more than 18 utility and design patents.
Experience
Snap, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA. 05/15 to Present
Product Designer
Third mechanical engineering hire at Snap, Inc.
Project lead for Spectacles V2 Veronica & Nico, Spectacles V1 Case, and individual contributor on Spectacles V1, V2, V3 programs.
Owned the design, development, and architecture of mechanical components and assemblies including injection molded plastic parts (single shot, double shot, insert molded), metal parts (MIM, CNC, sheetmetal), hinge & button mechanisms, charging interfaces, optical systems, audio systems, thermal management, sealing and gasketing for water ingress, battery packs, antennas, and rigid & flexible circuits.
Collaborated on-site with manufacturing partners in Asia for engineering builds, process development, component validation, and reliability testing.
Ammunition
San Francisco, CA. 07/12 to 05/15
Senior Mechanical Engineer
First engineering hire at Ammunition.
Drove mechanical and ergonomic design of Powerbeats 2 and Powerbeats Wireless, which became the #1 selling headphone in North America after launch.
Collaborated with Beats By Dre on the concept development, mechanical design, and manufacturing of Beats EP, Tour 2, and accessories for Beats Studio 2, Solo 2, Powerbeats Wireless, and Pill.
Developed projects with Lyft, Google, Ember, Polaroid, and several small startups.
Collaborated closely with the Industrial Design team to pre-emptively drive feasibility, manufacturability, and reliability into product designs both prior to client presentation and throughout the product lifecycle.
Worked on-site with clients and factory partners to conceive of and build consensus around unique solutions to difficult engineering and manufacturing challenges.
Incase
San Francisco, CA. 02/10 to 07/12
Product Developer, Hard Goods and Audio.
Developed and brought to market Incase’s four headphone models in 9 month development cycle. Lead hard goods PD team to develop numerous case accessories and unique finishes simultaneously for iPhone, iPad, iPod, and MacBook comprising literally hundreds of SKUs.
Independently drove innovation and exploration of new manufacturing techniques to meet or exceed design intent. Built and standardized key product requirement documents, QC standards, and SOPs for the Product team to maintain and improve product quality and process.
Built and maintained complete product life-cycle timelines to keep projects on schedule, even in the face of extremely short market opportunity windows.
Established and maintained critical relationships with Asia based suppliers. Travelled extensively to Asia to ensure product completion on time and to spec.
Organic Oscar
Multiple locations. 05/09 to 12/14
Product Designer & Developer (Consultant).
Designed and brought to market bottle & container designs for a new line of organic bath products for dogs, achieving in-store, retail placement at Target and Petco Unleashed.
Performed market research, user experience testing, built prototypes, and generated product CAD and label designs.
Collaborated with Chinese and Korean factory partners to ensure product quality and on-time delivery for retail launch.
Intel Corporation
Chandler, AZ. 09/08 to 02/10
Process Engineer, AZFSM Fab32.
Implemented quality and efficiency improvements for 32nm and 45nm technology wet etch processes and associated machines.
Troubleshot and sustained wet etch tools using statistical and analytical means.
Determined action plans and assigned tasks to maintenance technicians to prevent and disposition defect excursions and reduce tool downtime.
MIT Media Lab
Cambridge, MA. 02/07 to 05/08
Undergraduate Researcher, Cognitive Machines Group
Designed mechanical structure of "Playlamp", a surveillance device to aid in early detection of autism.
Designed modular containment unit for "Trisk" cognitive robot support systems.
MIT Media Lab
Cambridge, MA. 09/06 to 02/07
Undergraduate Researcher, Tangible Media Group
Completed design and construction of self-sustaining, solar-powered printer prototype.
Callaway Golf
Carlsbad, CA. 07/05 to 08/05
Intern, Innovation and Advanced Design Department.
Created design sketches and renderings for Callaway brand golf drivers. Redesigned clamp system used in measuring driver head displacement. Designed apparel for Odyssey brand.
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
Bachelor of Science in Engineering, June 2008.
Concentration in Mechanical Engineering w/ focus in Electrical Engineering
Cumulative GPA 4.5/5.0
Coursework
Mechanical Engineering
Product Design & Development Process, Mechanical Design, Manufacturing, Control Systems, Dynamics, Thermodynamics & Fluids, Materials, Toy Design
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Circuits & Systems, Signals & Systems, Power Electronics, Microcontrollers, Computation Structures, Structure & Interpretation of Computer Programs
Art & Design
Tangible Interfaces, Computational Media Design, Media Studies, Sculpture, Furniture
Patents
“Circuits and methods for wearable device charging and wired control”
United States Patent US10686279B2
Issued June 06, 2020
“Circuit systems”
United States Patent US10714429B1
Published July 07, 2020
“Low pressure molded article and method for making same”
United States Patent US20200174259A1
Published June 06, 2020
“Wearable device antenna system”
United States Patent US20200119433A1
Published April 16, 2020
“Eyewear device hinge assembly”
United States Patent US20190293969A1
Published September 26, 2019
“Button assembly and method of manufacturing thereof”
United States Patent US20190271856A1
Published September 05, 2019
“Heat management for electronic devices ”
United States Patent US10042187B2
Issued August 07, 2018
“Wearable electronic device with articulated joint”
United States Patent US10345617B1
Issued July 09, 2019
“Multifunctional case for electronics-enabled eyewear”
United States Patent US20180090958A1
Published March 29, 2018
“Wearable electronic device with articulated joint”
United States Patent US9746692B1
Issued August 29, 2017
“Beverage container”
United States Patent USD799268S1
Issued October 10, 2017
“Charger”
United States Patent USD788034S1
Issued May 30, 2017
“Earphone leverage attachment”
United States Patent USD777149S1
Issued January 24, 2017
“Drinking container”
United States Patent USD770853S1
Issued November 08, 2016
“Audio device mount for a bicycle”
United States Patent USD722540S1
Issued February 17, 2015
“Container for disposable sheet items”
United States Patent USD712281
Issued September 2, 2014
“Fluid Container”
United States Patent USD641248S1
Issued July 12, 2011
Awards
2017 Cannes Gold Lion Awards for Snapchat Spectacles
2014 IDSA Bronze PowerBeats Wireless
2012 Red Dot Award for Product Design Incase Sonic Headphones
2009 Intel Sustainability in Action Grant ($7K)
Led team of 7 Intel Employees to develop and deploy a network of wireless mobile pollution sensors using GPS and GSM/GPRS technologies.
Skills
Product
Product Design
Product Development
Product Management
Project Management
Wearable Technology
Augmented Reality Hardware
Design for Manufacturing
Finite Element Analysis
Reliability Testing
Supplier Management
Global Sourcing
Asia Manufacturing
Cut & Sew Design & Development
Languages
English, native
Mandarin, professional working proficiency
Spanish, professional working proficiency
Software
Siemens NX, Creo Parametric, SolidWorks, Solidworks Simulation, Rhino 3D, Matlab, MathCAD, MasterCAM, Adobe CS, Final Cut Pro, MS Office, Google Suite
Machine Tools
CNC Machines, Mill, Lathe, Lasercutter, Waterjet, 3D Printer, Thermo-former, Arc-welding, Wood-working, Sewing
Programming
Python, SQL, Matlab, Assembly, C, HTML, CSS