Electrical Engineer: Actuator Test Infrastructure

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI's Robotics team seeks an Electrical Engineer to own the electrical backbone of our actuator dynamometer and test infrastructure in San Francisco. You will design, implement, and maintain power distribution, motor drives, and safety systems for repeatable, safe, and scalable testing of robotic actuators.

This role blends hands-on lab work with system architecture: selecting power electronics, bringing up sensors and DAQ, and collaborating with mechanical and software engineers to turn

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or related field.
• Experience building, commissioning, or maintaining electrical systems for robotic actuators.
• Hands-on lab experience with wiring, testing, and debugging of electrical hardware.
• Ability to design safe, scalable electrical test cells and power distribution.
• Familiarity with sensors, DAQ, and data acquisition for torque, position, speed, temperature, etc.
• Strong understanding of grounding, shielding, EMI/EMC, and signal integrity.

Responsibilities

• Own electrical architecture of dynamometer and actuator test cells, from mains distribution and protection through load motor drives, braking, and auxiliary power.
• Specify, integrate, commission, and tune motor drives and load machines for robotic actuator torque, speed, efficiency, thermal, and durability testing.
• Design power distribution, grounding, shielding, cable routing, and connectorization for high-current, high-voltage, and low-level measurement systems.
• Integrate torque, position, speed, temperature, voltage, current, vibration, and other instrumentation from robotic actuators into DAQ and control systems.
• Develop electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, panel layouts, harness documentation, and test-cell interface definitions.
• Build, debug, and maintain test-cell electrical hardware, rapidly diagnosing noise, EMI, grounding, drive, sensor, and power-quality issues.
• Design and validate safety circuits including E-stops, interlocks, contactors, safe torque off, guarding interfaces, and fault detection.
• Partner with mechanical engineers on packaging, cooling, fixturing interfaces, and serviceability of test infrastructure.
• Partner with software and controls engineers on I/O maps, real-time signals, calibration, automated sequences, and reliable data capture.
• Establish commissioning, calibration, inspection, and preventive-maintenance procedures for lab electrical systems.
• Evaluate vendors and components for drives, motors, sensors, DAQ hardware, protection devices, and electrical enclosures.
• Analyze test and diagnostic data to improve measurement quality, cell uptime, and hardware reliability.
• Set practical electrical standards that enable a growing dyno lab to operate safely and consistently.

Skills

Power electronics

Motor drives

Electrical safety

Instrumentation wiring

DAQ integration

Schematic design

EMI/EMC troubleshooting

Signal integrity

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or related field

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Power analyzers

DAQ hardware

Motor drives

Servo systems

Multimeters

Electrical schematics software

Job description

OpenAI's Robotics team seeks an Electrical Engineer to own the electrical backbone of our actuator dynamometer and test infrastructure in San Francisco. You will design, implement, and maintain power distribution, motor drives, and safety systems for repeatable, safe, and scalable testing of robotic actuators.

This role blends hands-on lab work with system architecture: selecting power electronics, bringing up sensors and DAQ, and collaborating with mechanical and software engineers to turn