We're hiring
3D modelling engineers, for the parts that don't exist yet.
Printing is the last step of what we do. A good chunk of our work starts before any file exists at all — and we're taking on freelance modellers to help with it.
- Role
- 3D Modelling Engineer
- Basis
- Freelance, per project
- Where
- Remote · South Africa
The work
Jobs come to us as a photo, a sketch, a broken part, or a file that's already given someone trouble elsewhere. Turning any of those into something that prints properly is the job.
Design from nothing
A photo on a phone, a pencil sketch, or a description of what someone is picturing. You talk through proportions, function, and load paths before a single line gets drawn — then build it.
Reverse-engineer the unbuyable
A discontinued knob, a snapped clip, a bracket nobody has made in a decade. The physical part is the source file. You measure it, work out how it mounts, and rebuild it properly rather than tracing a rough copy.
Rescue files that won't print
Non-manifold geometry, walls too thin to hold their shape, no clearance for supports, scan meshes that are a shape but not a printable one. You repair, hollow, and optimise instead of sending it back with a list of problems.
Model for the machine that prints it
Everything you design gets run on real FDM hardware in PLA, PETG, ABS or ASA. Orientation, overhangs, tolerances, and layer-direction strength are part of the design, not an afterthought for the slicer.
What we're looking for
- A portfolio of parts that were actually manufactured — not renders. We care far more about a printed bracket that fits than a beautiful turntable animation.
- Solid parametric CAD (Fusion 360, SolidWorks, Onshape, FreeCAD — tell us which) and/or mesh and sculpting work (Blender, ZBrush) for organic pieces.
- Real design-for-FDM instincts: wall thickness, clearances and press fits, overhang angles, and where a part is going to be weak across layer lines.
- Comfort moving between STL, STEP and 3MF, and the mesh-repair work that comes with them.
- The judgement to read a thin brief and come back with the right three questions instead of guessing and burning a week.
- Dependable turnaround and clear async communication. You will mostly hear from us on email and WhatsApp.
Helpful, not required
- · Reverse engineering from calipers or 3D scan data
- · Mold and tooling design — we print a fair number of molds
- · Proper dimensioned technical drawings
- · Your own printer to sanity-check a part before it ships to us
No degree requirement, and no minimum years. If you can show us parts you designed that were built and worked, that counts for more than anything on a CV.
How the work actually runs
You get a brief with photos, measurements and the client's constraints. We handle the customer conversation, the printing, and the finishing — you deliver the model, normally a STEP plus a print-ready mesh.
Each job is quoted and paid on its own. Take what suits your week, pass on what doesn't. There's no retainer and no minimum volume.
Expect revisions, and expect them to be the point. A radar mounting bracket we built for Rhevia took 47 revisions before it was right. Nobody here thinks that's a failure — it's what getting a real part correct looks like.
Worth a read before you apply: how we design a model from scratch and the hardware your files will land on.
The hiring process
Send your work
Email or WhatsApp us a portfolio link and a short note. No cover letter, no CV template — the work does the talking.
A short call
Twenty minutes to walk through a couple of your parts, how you approached them, and what you would charge.
One paid trial job
A real, small commission from the queue, quoted and paid like any other. It is the only reliable way for either of us to find out if this works.
Onto the roster
Work goes out to modellers as it comes in. Take what suits you, pass on what doesn't.
Apply
Show us something you made.
Send a portfolio link, the software you work in, and one part you designed that got manufactured — including what went wrong the first time.
Rates are agreed per project, based on scope and your experience. We reply to everyone who sends work.