Forward Deployed Engineer

Description

San Francisco · In person · Regular travel to customer sites across the US

About the role

The company is building autonomous robots for scientific laboratories. Our robots work with existing lab equipment to automate physical workflows, from transporting well plates to loading instruments, without requiring customers to rebuild their facilities.

We’re looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer to take ownership of building, integrating, and deploying these systems. You’ll work directly with the founders, moving between our workshop and customer laboratories to turn prototypes into reliable working robots.

Our hardware work includes UFactory xArm7 and I2RT YAM arms, Intel RealSense cameras, mobile platforms, and custom fixtures and end-effectors. You’ll design parts, assemble electronics, troubleshoot failures, and work alongside scientists to make the complete system work in their environment.

Success means the lab can rely on the robot after you leave the site.

Responsibilities

• Design and fabricate hardware: Create grippers, camera mounts, instrument interfaces, and fixtures in CAD; prototype using 3D printing, machining, and other fabrication methods.
• Build and integrate systems: Assemble robotic arms, mobile platforms, sensors, compute, networking, and power electronics. Build wiring harnesses, solder connections, and diagnose electrical faults.
• Deploy at customer laboratories: Own preparation, installation, testing, and handover. Adapt systems to real workspace constraints, instrument access, and customer workflows.
• Resolve failures across the stack: Investigate mechanical alignment, camera calibration, wiring, networking, and software issues until the complete workflow runs reliably.
• Improve the next deployment: Turn field experience into hardware changes, better testing, and clear assembly, deployment, and maintenance documentation.

Requirements

• You have built and debugged a physical robotic or electromechanical system end to end, and can explain what you personally designed, assembled, and made work.
• Strong CAD and mechanical design skills, with practical experience in fabrication and rapid prototyping.
• Hands-on experience with electronics, wiring, soldering, and electrical debugging, plus the ability to investigate problems across hardware and software.
• Comfortable taking ownership of open-ended engineering problems, communicating directly with customers, and travelling regularly for deployments.
• Practical hardware experience is essential
• Preferred Qualifications
• Experience with robotic arms, mobile robots, or industrial automation; ROS 2 and Linux; camera and sensor calibration; or commissioning and supporting hardware at customer sites. Experience with laboratory equipment is valuable but not required.
• About the company
• We believe laboratories should be able to automate using the infrastructure they already have. We’re a small, founder-led engineering team building robots around that principle, with a direct connection between what we build in the workshop and what customers use in their labs.
• This is an opportunity to help shape both our robots and how we deploy them.
• When applying, include an example of hardware you’ve built (photos, a video, or a project write-up) and describe your contribution.
• Experience: Any (new grads ok)
• Visa: US citizen/visa only