Founding Robotics Engineer

About this role

ABOUT THE ROLE

This is a founding engineering role at a pre-seed robotics company building low-cost, teleoperated humanoid platforms that turn physical jobs into remote work. As the Founding Robotics Engineer, you will own the end-to-end design and delivery of the robot — from hardware to software — and shape manufacturing and deployment strategy as the company scales. This is a rare opportunity to define the technical direction of a physical product from day one, with meaningful equity alongside a competitive salary.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Architect and build a low-cost teleoperated humanoid robot designed to replace or augment on-site physical roles.

- Deliver the initial wheel-based robot for patient check-in in urgent care clinics — including self-charging and safe navigation — within a Bill of Materials (BOM) under $1,000.

- Solve the human-robot interaction challenge: craft an experience that achieves a patient preference win-rate above 50% compared to in-person staff.

- Deploy and maintain a fleet of 50 robots in clinical environments, targeting a Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) exceeding 500 hours.

- Ship a contextual AI copilot that provides real-time guidance to remote operators, compressing new-hire training from weeks down to 24 hours — and laying the groundwork for a future physical reasoning model.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Required

- 3+ years of hands-on engineering experience with clear ownership of shipped projects.

- Mechatronics & Integration: proven experience building robots from scratch, integrating motors, sensors, actuators, and compute into cohesive, reliable systems.

- Embedded Software & AI: solid firmware development skills and experience deploying ML models on edge systems with real-time, low-latency constraints.

- Rapid Prototyping: expert-level proficiency in CAD, 3D printing, and quick-turn fabrication — from idea to physical prototype in days.

- Design for Manufacturing: designs with cost, assembly time, tolerances, material selection, and scalable production in mind.

- First-Principles Thinking & Radical Ownership: you question assumptions, invent novel solutions, and start solving problems without waiting for permission.

- Strong CS fundamentals supporting both the mechatronics and software sides of robot development.

Nice to Have

- Fleet Management: experience deploying and maintaining robots in clinical or field environments with uptime targets (e.g., MTBF tracking).

- Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) intuition: instinct for what makes robots feel trustworthy vs. unsettling; understanding of the uncanny valley and how to design around it.

- Exposure to healthcare or clinical environments.

- Early-stage startup or founding engineer experience.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

- Salary: $120,000 – $140,000 USD annually

- Equity: meaningful founding equity stake (~1%)

- Visa sponsorship: available

LOCATION

This is an on-site role based in New York, NY. Candidates should be prepared to work in person as part of a small, fast-moving founding team.

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