First Manufacturing Engineer

Charge Robotics; San Leandro (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading robotics startup in San Leandro is seeking an experienced manufacturing lead for solar farm production. You will work with internal and external teams to scale robotic systems from prototype to production, enabling gigawatts of clean electricity generation. The ideal candidate has 4-8 years of experience in complex electromechanical products, strong communication skills, and a passion for renewable energy. Compensation ranges from $140K to $180K and the role offers the opportunity for significant impact in the clean energy sector.

Qualifications

• 4-8 years of experience bringing complex electromechanical products from prototype to production.
• Strong understanding of metal fabrication, rigging, and heavy machinery.
• Ability to create manufacturing documentation and communicate effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead the production of robotic systems that assemble solar farms.
• Collaborate with engineers to ensure manufacturability and cost-effectiveness.
• Maintain manufacturing documentation, drawings, and BOMs.
• Support supplier quality initiatives and part qualification.

Skills

Electromechanical product development

Reading mechanical drawings

Clear communication

Heavy machinery experience

Education

Degree in a related field

Tools

ION manufacturing software

Job description

About Charge Robotics

Charge Robotics is a Series A startup building robots that build solar farms.

Demand for new solar projects is booming (1/5 of all the solar that exists in the US was installed last year!), but today’s construction companies can’t keep up due to limited labor resources.

We thought this was insane, so we started working on robots to directly address this bottleneck and speed up the world’s transition to renewables.

Charge is a fast-moving company, which means constant opportunities for learning and growth. You’ll have a large impact on the direction of our company, and will be compensated accordingly.

We’re MIT-founded and backed by top generalist and climate tech investors, including Lux Capital and Y Combinator (S21).

If you’re excited to work on interesting problems with direct climate impact, you’re going to fit right in! Read more about Charge at the links below:

• Fast Company – Solar Building Robots to Solve One of Climate's Biggest Problems
• MIT News – Making solar projects cheaper and faster with portable factories
• YouTube – full video of our Gen1 robots building a solar farm

About this role

As the first in our manufacturing function, you’ll work closely with both internal teams (design engineers, supply chain, technicians) and external manufacturing partners (vendors, CMs, customers) to scale our solar farm construction technology from prototype to production. Your work will directly deploy gigawatts of clean electricity generation.

What you'll be working on

• Taking the lead on building + scaling production of our state-of-the-art robotic systems that assemble solar farms in the field
• Collaborating with design engineers to ensure systems are manufacturable, cost-effective, and easy to assemble
• Developing and maintaining manufacturing documentation, drawings, and BOMs
• Supporting part qualification, incoming inspection, and supplier quality initiatives
• Making it faster and easier to build our robots and, in turn, accelerate the deployment of clean energy

You

• Have 4-8 years of experience bringing complex electromechanical products from prototype to production — especially systems that include metal fabrication, rigging, and heavy machinery
• Understand how to read and create mechanical drawings and manufacturing documentation
• Have a strong ability to communicate clearly (written/verbal) with engineers, suppliers, technicians, and leadership
• Are based in or can relocate to the SF Bay Area, and able to work 4-5 days/week from our San Leandro HQ
• Are excited to see our robots deployed onto actual solar farms!

It'd also be nice if you

• Have a degree in a related field
• Have used ION manufacturing software before
• Have experience sourcing and qualifying suppliers & contract manufacturers
• Are familiar with DFM, DFA, and/or GD&T principles
• Are excited to grow into a leadership role as we scale our systems and teams

Charge Robotics is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Compensation Range: $140K - $180K