Engineering Technician

Lightmill; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 55,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Lightmill is building a new class of machine tools in San Francisco, seeking an Engineering Technician to work closely with engineers to assemble, wire, and operate Lightmill machines. This hands-on role involves building mechanical systems, wiring electrical components, running machines, and diagnosing issues to accelerate the engineering team's progress.

The ideal candidate has strong mechanical and electrical aptitude, experience with wiring, soldering, and reading schematics, and can work

Qualifications

• Hands-on mechanical and electrical aptitude.
• Experience assembling, wiring, repairing, modifying, or troubleshooting complex hardware.
• Comfortable reading wiring diagrams and electrical schematics.
• Ability to read engineering drawings and use hand/power tools safely.
• Strong attention to detail and problem solving.

Responsibilities

• Assemble and bring up prototype and production Lightmill machines.
• Build mechanical assemblies, motion systems, optical assemblies, and supporting hardware.
• Wire machines, including motors, sensors, power supplies, controllers, switches, fans, and other electrical components.
• Build, route, terminate, label, and troubleshoot wiring harnesses.
• Crimp terminals and connectors and perform basic soldering when needed.
• Read wiring diagrams and electrical schematics.
• Use a multimeter to diagnose wiring, grounding, continuity, voltage, and other electrical issues.
• Help organize and improve machine electrical layouts, cable routing, strain relief, and serviceability.
• Operate Lightmill machines and run machining experiments.
• Load material, run jobs, inspect finished parts, and document results.
• Use metrology equipment to measure and characterize parts.
• Diagnose mechanical, electrical, optical, and process issues.
• Help engineers execute experiments and rapidly test new designs.
• Modify and fabricate components using common shop tools.
• Maintain, repair, and improve machines as they accumulate operating hours.
• Create and improve assembly procedures, wiring procedures, test procedures, fixtures, and documentation.
• Help keep the lab, machines, tools, and parts organized and ready to use.
• Identify recurring problems and propose practical fixes rather than simply working around them.

Skills

Mechanical assembly

Electrical wiring

Soldering

Troubleshooting

Multimeter use

Reading schematics

Tools

Crimping tools

Soldering iron

Multimeter

Job description

Lightmill is building a new class of machine tools for manufacturing metal parts. We are an early-stage, engineering-driven startup based in San Francisco, working across lasers, robotics, software, and advanced manufacturing.

We're a small, highly technical team working across mechanical engineering, lasers, optics, automation, software, and manufacturing.

The Role

We're looking for an Engineering Technician who loves building things and getting hardware to work.

You’ll work directly alongside our engineers to build, wire, operate, troubleshoot, and improve Lightmill machines. This is a highly hands‑on role: assembling mechanical systems, building wiring harnesses, wiring electrical components, running machines, inspecting parts, setting up experiments, and diagnosing problems when things don’t work.

You’ll be an important part of increasing the speed of the entire engineering team. The ideal person is resourceful, careful, mechanically capable, comfortable with electrical work, and able to figure things out without needing a detailed set of instructions.

What You’ll Do

• Assemble and bring up prototype and production Lightmill machines
• Build mechanical assemblies, motion systems, optical assemblies, and supporting hardware
• Wire machines, including motors, sensors, power supplies, controllers, switches, fans, and other electrical components
• Build, route, terminate, label, and troubleshoot wiring harnesses
• Crimp terminals and connectors and perform basic soldering when needed
• Read wiring diagrams and electrical schematics
• Use a multimeter to diagnose wiring, grounding, continuity, voltage, and other electrical issues
• Help organize and improve machine electrical layouts, cable routing, strain relief, and serviceability
• Operate Lightmill machines and run machining experiments
• Load material, run jobs, inspect finished parts, and document results
• Use metrology equipment to measure and characterize parts
• Diagnose mechanical, electrical, optical, and process issues
• Help engineers execute experiments and rapidly test new designs
• Modify and fabricate components using common shop tools
• Maintain, repair, and improve machines as they accumulate operating hours
• Create and improve assembly procedures, wiring procedures, test procedures, fixtures, and documentation
• Help keep the lab, machines, tools, and parts organized and ready to use
• Identify recurring problems and propose practical fixes rather than simply working around them

Because we’re a small team, you’ll also occasionally help with whatever hardware problem is most important that day.

What We’re Looking For

• Strong hands‑on mechanical and electrical aptitude
• Experience assembling, wiring, repairing, modifying, or troubleshooting complex hardware
• Comfortable doing machine wiring and working with connectors, terminals, harnesses, sensors, motors, and power supplies
• Experience using crimpers, wire strippers, soldering equipment, and multimeters
• Ability to read engineering drawings, wiring diagrams, and basic electrical schematics
• Comfortable using hand tools, power tools, measurement equipment, and basic shop equipment
• Comfortable working around motors, sensors, wiring, pneumatics, optics, and electromechanical systems
• Careful and methodical when working with precision hardware and electrical systems
• Able to work independently and figure out unfamiliar problems
• Strong attention to detail without getting stuck chasing unnecessary perfection
• Clear communication and documentation
• Excited to spend most of your time working directly with physical hardware

Nice to Have

You don't need experience with all of these, but we’d be especially interested in experience with:

• CNC machines, machine tools, robotics, or industrial automation
• Machine wiring, control cabinets, or electrical panel assembly
• Precision mechanical assembly
• Laser systems or optics
• Motion control systems
• Stepper or servo motors and motor drives
• Industrial sensors, relays, power supplies, and controllers
• GD&T and dimensional inspection
• CMMs, optical measurement systems, microscopes, or 3D scanners
• CAD, particularly SolidWorks
• Machining, fabrication, or prototyping
• Manufacturing equipment maintenance or field service
• Building prototype hardware in a startup, research lab, machine shop, or similar environment

Who Will Be Successful Here

You like hardware enough that when a machine isn’t behaving correctly, your instinct is to grab a multimeter and a set of tools and start figuring out why.

You're equally comfortable assembling a mechanical system, building a wiring harness, replacing a sensor, or helping an engineer set up an experiment.

You're comfortable working from an engineering drawing or wiring diagram when one exists, but you don’t need a perfectly written procedure before you can make progress.

You take safety and precision seriously, but you’re also practical. You understand the difference between something that needs to be perfect and something that simply needs to work so we can run the next experiment.

Most importantly, you enjoy being part of a small team building something that hasn’t existed before.