About the Role
This is a hands-on mechanical engineering role on a lean team building ground robots designed to operate in the most demanding environments on earth — high temperatures, corrosive conditions, water-heavy settings, and complex terrain. You'll own mechanical systems end-to-end, from early concept through field deployment, with a direct impact on the reliability and performance of autonomous platforms.
What You'll Do
-
Own complex mechanical systems across all stages of product maturity.
-
Design innovative solutions and produce 3D CAD models and proof-of-concepts given system requirements.
-
Drive rapid concept validation and critical learnings through fast iteration, including building ad-hoc test platforms when it's faster.
-
Conduct structural, reliability, and assembly analyses to ensure designs meet requirements.
-
Lead and participate in design reviews and issue triages with cross-disciplinary engineers.
-
Generate assembly layouts and detailed engineering drawings using GD&T concepts.
-
Collaborate with suppliers and manufacturers to ensure part producibility and quality.
-
Develop and execute testing plans, and perform root cause analysis on failures in development and deployment.
-
Design and build jigs, test fixtures, and tooling as needed.
-
Communicate with users to clarify requirements and guide feature direction.
-
Document design justifications, analyses, test results, and recommendations for traceability.
What We're Looking For
-
2–8 years of experience designing and building mechanical systems, ideally in robotics or similarly demanding hardware domains.
-
Proven track record of building, testing, and troubleshooting mechanical systems with full ownership from concept to production.
-
Experience building robots.
-
Proficiency with SolidWorks for CAD and ANSYS for finite element analysis.
-
Experience designing for harsh environments — high temperature, corrosive, or water-heavy operating conditions.
-
Strong fundamentals in mechanical engineering, backed by a rigorous engineering education or experience at engineering-intensive organizations.
-
Hands-on experience with prototyping, hardware testing, jig/fixture design, and tooling in lab or manufacturing settings.
-
Experience generating and approving manufacturing drawings with GD&T annotations to industry standards.
-
Strong cross-functional communication skills with engineering, manufacturing, and QA teams.
Compensation & Benefits
-
Salary: $90,000 – $150,000 USD annually
-
Visa sponsorship: Available
Location
On-site in Austin, Texas, United States.