Hardware Engineer, Mechatronics

Applied Intuition; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Applied Intuition, Inc. is seeking a Hardware Engineer in Sunnyvale to turn off‑the‑shelf robots into reliable systems for industrial autonomy.

You will move from CAD to fabrication, assemble fixtures, and document installation kits for repeatable use in customer environments. The role involves integrating arms, sensors, and power distribution, coordinating with suppliers, and safeguarding cells with safety specialists.

Qualifications

• Designed, assembled, and deployed mechatronic or robotic hardware that operated outside a CAD model or bench test.
• Strong CAD skills and hands‑on experience with rapid prototyping, machining or fabrication vendors, mechanical assembly, and design iteration.
• Practical understanding of loads, stiffness, tolerances, fasteners, cable routing, and mounting sensors/actuators.

Responsibilities

• Design and fabricate camera and gripper mounts, adapters, fixtures, end‑effector interfaces, and compute enclosures that are rigid, serviceable, and easy to reproduce.
• Integrate arms, mobile bases, lift mechanisms, sensors, compute, power distribution, and cable harnesses into working robot systems with clear interface and load requirements.
• Take retrofit kits from requirements and CAD through supplier coordination, assembly, validation, bills of materials, and installation documentation.
• Work on cell safeguarding with qualified safety specialists and Facilities, including guarding, emergency stops, interlocks, and documented checks before robot operation.
• Diagnose mechanical and electrical faults, repair and recommission hardware, and separate physical failures from software and integration issues.
• Keep the lab ready with calibration fixtures, preventive maintenance, spares, configuration records, and clear operating and troubleshooting procedures.
• Turn recurring prototype and teleoperation rig requests into reusable hardware rather than undocumented one‑off modifications.

Skills

CAD skills

Prototyping

Mechanical assembly

Electrical troubleshooting

Documentation

Cross-boundary collaboration

Tools

Multimeter

Oscilloscope

Cad-to-URDF workflows

Job description

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company's solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co .

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full‑time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in‑office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

About the role

Applied Intuition is building a robot learning platform on Dana, its physical AI platform: the data infrastructure and training intelligence a company needs to make any robot learn an industrial task and keep improving it. The robotics team builds that platform and uses it to deliver robot autonomy on customer lines, training, evaluating, and deploying policies on real robots doing real industrial tasks. Everyone on the team works hands‑on with hardware and sees their work reach customers.

As a Hardware Engineer, you will turn commercially available robots into reliable systems for industrial autonomy and robot learning. You will work on retrofit kits and lab hardware, moving from CAD to fabrication, from a wiring fault to a working robot, and from a one‑off fix to a documented kit someone else can install. The job is integrating and improving existing platforms, not designing a new robot from scratch.

We are open to candidates at different experience levels who meet the requirements. We value demonstrated work on real systems, including equivalent practical experience, over a particular degree or title.

At Applied Intuition, you will:

• Design and fabricate camera and gripper mounts, adapters, fixtures, end‑effector interfaces, and compute enclosures that are rigid, serviceable, and easy to reproduce.
• Integrate arms, mobile bases, lift mechanisms, sensors, compute, power distribution, and cable harnesses into working robot systems with clear interface and load requirements.
• Take retrofit kits from requirements and CAD through supplier coordination, assembly, validation, bills of materials, and installation documentation.
• Work on cell safeguarding with qualified safety specialists and Facilities, including guarding, emergency stops, interlocks, and documented checks before robot operation.
• Diagnose mechanical and electrical faults, repair and recommission hardware, and separate physical failures from software and integration issues.
• Keep the lab ready with calibration fixtures, preventive maintenance, spares, configuration records, and clear operating and troubleshooting procedures.
• Turn recurring prototype and teleoperation rig requests into reusable hardware rather than undocumented one‑off modifications.

We're looking for someone who has:

• Designed, assembled, and deployed mechatronic or robotic hardware that has operated reliably outside a CAD model or a bench test.
• Strong CAD skills and hands‑on experience with rapid prototyping, machining or fabrication vendors, mechanical assembly, and design iteration.
• Practical understanding of loads, stiffness, tolerances, fasteners, cable routing, and the tradeoffs in mounting sensors and actuators.
• Experience with low‑voltage power, connectors, harnesses, and electrical troubleshooting with a multimeter and oscilloscope.
• Experience writing test procedures, bills of materials, assembly instructions, and maintenance documentation for physical systems.
• Careful judgment around robot hazards and comfort working across mechanical, electrical, controls, and software boundaries.

Nice to Have:

• Experience integrating industrial arms, mobile manipulators, force and torque sensors, grippers, or dexterous hands.
• Experience with robot‑cell safeguarding, safety‑rated components, or machinery risk assessment.
• Experience designing teleoperation devices, camera calibration fixtures, or data collection hardware.
• Familiarity with Python, ROS 2, or CAD‑to‑URDF workflows for working effectively with software teammates.

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base sala