Hardware Test Engineer

Gritt AI; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Gritt AI is seeking a Hardware Test Engineer to own how we prove our hardware survives years on job sites. Tests occur in the yard behind our office under sun, wind, dust, and temperature, with lab-based and life-cycle testing. You will define the test strategy, build fixtures, and lead campaigns across components and robots.

Your work directly determines field reliability, requiring a rigorous, data-driven approach to acceptances and safety in outdoor environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in engineering or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years testing hardware on electromechanical or robotic systems.
• Ability to write clear test plans with quantitative criteria.
• Comfort with outdoor heavy machinery and safety procedures.

Responsibilities

• Own test strategy end-to-end for hardware products.
• Conduct functional, environmental, and life-cycle tests.
• Lead root-cause investigations and teardowns.
• Test in real-world production conditions and field environments.
• Produce data-driven test reports and maintain traceability.
• Investigate field incidents and feed back improvements.

Skills

Test planning

Data-driven analysis

Hardware testing

Safety awareness

Problem solving

Ownership with minimal supervision

Education

B.S./M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, EE, Mechatronics, Robotics, or equivalent

Tools

Test fixtures

Automation tooling

Job description

Gritt is an intelligent system that combines robotics and AI to build the infrastructure that pulls society forward. Gritt deploys via simple attachments to common equipment found on construction sites and autonomously performs labor-intensive tasks, verification, and planning. Gritt systems are already building critical infrastructure in the harshest outdoor environments, starting with large-scale solar. The founding team includes experts in robotics and AI from Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and MIT. Gritt is backed by Obvious Ventures, Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital, Climactic, Congruent Ventures, and other leading firms.

Role: Hardware Test Engineer Location: SF Bay Area (in-person)

About the role

We are looking for a Hardware Test Engineer to own how we prove our hardware is ready to survive years on a job site. Most of your testing happens in the yard behind our office, where our robots run in genuine sun, wind, dust, and temperature, alongside lab-based and life-cycle testing. You will define the test strategy, build the fixtures and automation that catch failures before they ship, and lead test campaigns across components, subassemblies, and fully integrated robots. Your work directly determines whether our hardware is trusted to hold up in the field.

What you'll get to work on

• Own test strategy end to end - translate design requirements into test plans across components, subassemblies, and the fully integrated robot.
• Run functional, environmental, and life-cycle testing (dust, heat, vibration, repeated cycling) to generate real numbers, not guesses.
• Lead root-cause investigations on hardware failures - teardowns, data analysis, working directly with our hardware team to close the loop.
• Test across real-world conditions the robot must handle in production, from new hardware to changing site and weather conditions.
• Develop, document, and enforce safety procedures for testing heavy hardware around people and equipment.
• Produce clear, data-driven test reports and maintain traceability from requirements through to test execution and results.
• Investigate field incidents and feed structured findings back into the loop so the same issue never ships twice.

What we look for

• B.S./M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, EE, Mechatronics, Robotics, or other engineering disciplines (or equivalent experience).
• 3+ years testing hardware on real electromechanical or robotic systems.
• A rigorous, data-driven approach - you write clear test plans, define quantitative acceptance criteria, and make ship / no-ship calls backed by evidence.
• Sound safety judgment - you are comfortable working hands-on with heavy machinery outdoors and take procedure seriously.
• Comfortable taking ownership of tasks with light supervision, especially in ambiguous, ground-up environments.
• Must have excellent problem-solving skills.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States.