Mechanical Engineer, Robot Hardware

About the role

You’ll design and build the hardware of our teleoperated robots and the exoskeleton operators wear to drive them: multi-DoF arms, actuators, end effectors and the structures that hold them together. Then you’ll take that hardware from prototype to our first 100 units.

Our robots don’t live in labs. They go to construction jobsites, substations and industrial plants, with dust, heat, vibration and energized equipment nearby. You’ll design for that, see your hardware run in pilots and demos, and fix what the field teaches you.

What you’ll do

• Own the mechanical design of major subsystems (arms, joints, actuators and transmissions, end effectors, exoskeleton) from concept through production
• Design multi-DoF arms for stiffness, low backlash, torque density, weight and serviceability
• Run FEA (structural, fatigue, modal, thermal) and first-principles analysis, and correlate the results with test data
• Take designs from prototype to a 100-unit build: design for manufacturing and assembly, tolerancing and GD&T, drawings, BOMs, supplier selection and incoming inspection
• Design for harsh industrial environments: dust and water ingress, heat, vibration, shock, and work near energized equipment
• Prototype in house (machining, 3D printing, fabrication), build test rigs and fixtures, then break, iterate and harden hardware based on what fails
• Support pilots and demos: get hardware ready to ship, travel to customer sites and trade shows, and turn field failures into design changes
• Work with the controls, electrical and software teams on sensor integration, cable routing, thermal management and URDF/model accuracy
• Mentor our mechanical co-op and interns

What we’re looking for

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics or a related field (or equivalent demonstrated ability)
• 3+ years designing and shipping electromechanical hardware, ideally at a venture-backed hardware startup
• Experience designing multi-DoF robot arms or similar mechanisms: joints, actuators and transmissions
• Strong FEA skills (ANSYS, Abaqus or similar), and the judgment to know when to trust the model
• Experience taking a product from prototype to a production run of tens to hundreds of units
• Strong CAD skills (SolidWorks, Onshape, NX or similar), with a portfolio of parts and assemblies you designed that were actually built
• Practical knowledge of mechanisms, materials, fasteners, bearings and power transmission
• Fluency in GD&T, tolerance stack-ups and design for manufacturing
• Hands-on machining and fabrication: you can run a mill, lathe or CNC yourself

Bonus

• Hardware deployed in industrial or harsh environments (construction, utilities, energy, mining, defense or outdoor)
• Experience supporting customer pilots or live demos
• Experience with exoskeletons, haptics or teleoperated robots
• Designing around high voltage, including insulation and dielectric requirements
• Serious personal hardware projects (built your own CNC, engine, vehicle, robot). Please tell us about them
• Experience as an early or founding hardware engineer

About Mundane

Mundane builds force-feedback teleoperation for dangerous, hands-on work. A skilled tradesperson wears our exoskeleton and works through a robot on site, seeing in stereo and feeling the forces it meets, from outside the hazard. We’re starting with energized electrical work and expanding across the trades. Every job also produces the force-rich data that robot learning is missing. We’re a small, venture-backed team in Palo Alto.

Work authorization.

Please tell us whether you’re authorized to work in the US and whether you’ll need visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Equal opportunity

Mundane is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from every background and don’t discriminate on the basis of any legally protected characteristic.