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

About the Team

Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and pushing towards AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world settings. Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the constraints of physical systems to improve peoples' lives.

About the Role

We are seeking an Electrical Engineer to build and own the electrical backbone of our robotic actuator dynamometer and test infrastructure. You will design, integrate, and operate the load motor drives, power distribution, instrumentation wiring, DAQ interfaces, and safety systems that make high-performance robotic actuator testing repeatable, safe, and scalable.

This role spans hands-on lab execution and system architecture: selecting and commissioning power electronics, designing robust test-cell electrical systems, bringing up sensors and DAQ, and partnering with mechanical and software engineers to turn robotic actuator hardware into trustworthy data.

In this role, you will

• Own the 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.

You might thrive in this role if you

Have strong intuition for power electronics, motor drives, electrical safety, and precision measurement in noisy electromechanical environments.

• Enjoy being hands-on in the lab: wiring, probing, commissioning, debugging, and improving real hardware.
• Can move comfortably between system-level architecture and detailed electrical implementation.
• Care about clean grounding, shielding, calibration, and signal integrity because trustworthy data depends on them.
• Are comfortable working with evolving hardware and creating structure in a fast-moving environment.
• Take ownership of safety and operational reliability, not just a schematic or subsystem.
• Communicate clearly across electrical, mechanical, controls, software, facilities, and operations teams.
• Balance engineering rigor with rapid iteration and pragmatic lab execution.
• Are motivated by building infrastructure that accelerates the development of advanced robotic actuators.
• Are excited to build electrical test infrastructure that accelerates robotic actuator development.

Preferred qualifications

• Preferred qualifications
• Bachelor's or graduate degree in Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a related field.
• Experience building, commissioning, or maintaining electrical systems for robotic actuator dynamometers, robotics, automation, motors, power electronics, or industrial test equipment.
• Hands‑on experience with motor drives, servo systems, load motors, power distribution, and electrical protection.
• Strong understanding of grounding, shielding, EMI/EMC, signal integrity, and instrumentation wiring.
• Experience integrating sensors and DAQ hardware for voltage, current, torque, position, speed, temperature, or vibration measurements.
• Familiarity with electrical safety practices, E-stops, interlocks, safe torque off, lockout/tagout, and relevant lab or machinery standards.
• Ability to create and maintain schematics, wiring diagrams, panel layouts, and clear electrical documentation.
• Experience troubleshooting complex electromechanical systems with oscilloscopes, meters, power analyzers, and other lab tools.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general‑purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI's Affir

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