Hardware Systems Integration Engineer (Robotics)

Tutor Intelligence, Inc.; Watertown (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Tutor Intelligence, Inc. is seeking an engineer to evaluate hardware from suppliers, integrate it into our robots, and work directly with suppliers in China. You will travel to supplier sites, test components on real systems, and drive fixes with supplier engineers.

Based in Watertown, MA, you’ll collaborate with the R&D team, own the hardware integration process end-to-end, and grow into leadership as the project expands, while maintaining a high technical bar.

Qualifications

• Experience developing hardware with suppliers or factories in China.
• Fluent Mandarin and English for technical discussions and writing specifications.
• Broad hands-on skills across mechanical, electrical, and firmware domains.
• Comfortable building test setups, taking measurements, and documenting results.
• Willingness to travel for long and frequent trips.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate new hardware from suppliers against robot requirements.
• Integrate and test new hardware on our robots and drive fixes to completion.
• Work with suppliers’ engineers at their sites to iterate changes.
• Ensure teams understand what is needed and why.
• Build prototypes and learnings to inform design decisions.
• Travel roughly one-third to one-half of your time in China.

Skills

Mandarin & English

Hardware testing

Travel willingness

Lab/debugging

Job description

The Company

We believe general-purpose, generally-intelligent robots will be built in our lifetimes. Robots will work in our factories, move our goods, walk on our streets and eventually be in our homes. To build that future, research and deployment must work in lockstep: real-world operation must make the technology better and better technology must make deployment easier. We’re looking for the thinkers, builders, and researchers who want to be part of that loop.

As an AI robotics company that deploys its inventions directly into the facilities that need them, on state-of-the-art hardware, every line of code written at Tutor has a direct impact on the global, physical economy.

Our Culture

We believe that something truly special can happen when talented, motivated people work together; at Tutor, every member of our team is empowered to have real impact in everything that they do. We’re characterized by both technical excellence and next-level collaboration and respect.

About the Role

Our robots are built from hardware we design and hardware we buy, and many of our suppliers are in China. We’re looking for an engineer to evaluate that hardware, integrate it into our robots, and work directly with the suppliers who make it.

You will test new components, find where they fall short, and work with suppliers’ engineers, in Mandarin, to get the changes we need. You will be based in Watertown and spend a large part of your time at supplier sites. As this work grows, there is room to hire and lead other engineers doing it.

What You’ll Do

• Evaluate new hardware: Test arms, actuators, sensors and other components from suppliers against what our robots need
• Integrate and test: Bring new hardware up on our robots, find where it falls short, and see the problems through to a fix
• Work with suppliers’ engineers: Spend time at their sites, agree on changes, and keep the work moving between visits
• Carry our requirements: Make sure the people building for us understand what we need and why
• Build prototypes: Run small prototype builds and bring what you learn back to the design team
• Travel: Spend roughly a third to half of your time in China

What We’re Looking For

• Experience developing hardware with suppliers or factories in China: You have taken a product from prototype toward production with them
• Fluent Mandarin and English: You can hold a technical discussion and write a specification in both
• Broad hands-on skill: You can debug a system that has mechanical, electrical and firmware parts, and you know when to bring in a specialist
• Comfortable in a lab: You build test setups, take measurements, and write up what you found
• Willing to travel: Long and frequent trips are part of the job

Nice to Have

• Experience with robot arms, actuators or motor drives
• Experience hiring or leading engineers
• Time spent living and working in China

$150,000 - $300,000 a year

About Our Roles & Titles

At Tutor, we believe great engineers and researchers are defined by what they build and the impact they have — not where they sit in an org chart or what title they have. Therefore, everyone in our R&D org holds the title Member of Technical Staff (MoTS). Our job postings use standard titles so you can find us, but if you join Tutor, you’ll be a MoTS — with a level that is determined through the interview process.

That also means we hire people, not slots. Work at Tutor evolves every quarter, and we set the expectation of flexibility from day one — it’s common for people to start on one thing and shift to another based on where the team needs them most. A high technical bar across the board is what makes that flexibility possible: it’s what allows people to contribute meaningfully whatever problem they take on.