Automation Engineer

Gradient Robotics; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Gradient Robotics in San Francisco is seeking an Electrical Automation Engineer to design, build, and debug industrial automation cells for robotic systems. You will define power and control architectures and work closely with programmers and machine learning specialists to ensure feasible, scalable solutions.

The role emphasizes ownership of hardware design, integration with AI-enabled workflows, and rapid iteration in a fast-moving robotics environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering from an ABET-accredited program.
• Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering are required.
• Programming fundamentals and some experience expected.
• Desire to learn and grow skills quickly.
• Ability to use AI to improve productivity.
• Interest in robotics and automation suggested.

Responsibilities

• Design industrial automation cells from ground up including power, instrumentation, actuation, safety, and compute.
• Research and decide on instrumentation and actuation architectures.
• Integrate traditional automation electronics with custom electrical solutions.
• Purchase and help build the designed solutions.
• Debug cell issues from approach or functional perspectives.
• Role is not programming-heavy; focus on electrical architecture for programmers and ML teams.

Skills

Programming fundamentals

Growth mindset

AI-assisted productivity

Education

ABET-accredited engineering degree

Tools

Python

Embedded Rust

PCB design

Mixed-signal design

Job description

About the Company

The datacenter buildout is the largest industrial project in human history. Gradient builds the autonomous robots that make it possible.

Partnered with the world's largest AI infrastructure companies and backed by the industry's best investors, we move fast and build full-stack systems that matter.

About the role

We are looking for someone to design, build and debug the industrial controls for our robotic solutions. You’ll be playing a critical role in our team, so you’ll have the opportunity to move fast and make independent design decisions. If high ownership and an emphasis on building things that work sound attractive, Come make our robots move.

Responsibilities

• Design industrial automation cells from the ground up. Power supply, instrumentation, actuation, safety, compute, and anything else needed

• Research and make decisions about the best instrumentation and actuation architectures for our problems

• Understand how to integrate traditional automation electronics with our custom electrical solutions

• Purchase and help build the solutions you’ve designed

• Debug any issues with the cell, whether they come from the problem approach, or other functional issues

• This is explicitly not a programming heavy role. We are looking for someone focused on the electrical architecture, who can understand what will make it feasible for our programmers and machine learning specialists to control the robot

Minimum Qualifications

• Have designed an industrial automation cell from zero at least once

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from an ABET accredited institution

• Understanding of the fundamentals of Electrical Engineering

• Understanding of programing fundamentals and some programming experience

• A desire to learn and grow your skills quickly

• Ability to use AI to multiply your productivity

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with vision based systems

• PCB design experience / solid understanding of mixed signal electrical design

• Programming experience in Python, Embedded Rust

If you’re driven and have the initiative to tackle any sort of problem in your way, we want you here. It’s okay if you’re qualifications don’t completely match ours but you know that you’d kill it in this role. A defining trait here is that we’re aggressively trying to learn everything we can about robotics. If you’ve got the passion and ability to do just that, then you’ll succeed here.