Hiring: Mechanical Engineer

Cargo Robotics; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare plan

401k

PTO

Parental leave

Job summary

Cargo Robotics is building the X1 Robotic Cargo Bay and is hiring a Mechanical Engineer to join the first 5 employees in our SF Bay Area startup. You’ll collaborate with the CTO and software team to bring hardware and systems from concept to production, delivering reliable, scalable robotics for last‑mile delivery.

You will prototype, test, and iterate with strong CAD, hands‑on fabrication, and engineering skills, helping grow the team as we pilot our first production builds in the field.

Qualifications

• BS or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, or equivalent experience.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience developing complex mechanical products.
• Strong CAD skills and prototyping experience (3D printing, laser cutting).
• Experience with robot arms or gantries; motor control (PID).

Responsibilities

• Develop systems from concept to production for X1 and beyond.
• Lead pilot builds and collaborate with CTO and software team.
• Define requirements, test plans, and documentation for robust designs.
• Source and manage new team members as we grow.

Skills

Hands-on experience

CAD

Prototyping

DFM/DFA

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

SolidWorks

Creo

Job description

At Cargo, we just closed several $Ms in funding from some of the best robotics investors in the Valley and we’re ready to hire a Mechanical Engineer.

About You

Are you a rockstar mechanical engineer? We’re serial founder alumni of Stanford / StartX / South Park Commons, and are well funded with awesome robotics founders and investors behind us. We’re looking for an awesome hardware engineer with the ambition and versatility to join with the first 5 employees at a robotics startup disrupting a massive legacy industry.

Candidates will need to be able to work locally with us in the SF Bay to enable tight collaboration and fast iteration.

About Us

Cargo is building the robotic delivery platform of tomorrow. You can think of us as an automated warehouse on wheels.

After taking jobs at UPS and FedEx, we realized that the last mile was broken and parcel delivery needed a new approach. Although delivery volumes have grown 5x in the past decade, delivery vans are stuck in 1950 and today’s process is highly inefficient and injury prone. Our first product is the X1 Robotic Cargo Bay which reimagines the guts of every delivery van you see on the road, and saves hours of labor per day for each vehicle. Our vision is to fully automate the delivery chain with radically more efficient networks that reduce carbon emissions and congestion while enabling people and our planet to thrive.

We’re looking for an unstoppable and versatile ME to create many unique systems and help us launch our pilots for X1. You’ll then rapidly iterate alongside our CTO and test with our customers to develop a complete V1 product.

We’re a user and product-centric company, so expect to deliver some actual parcels in your first week at work! Get ready, there’s lots to build :)

What you’ll do:

Bring delivery automation to life by developing key parts of our systems from foggy inklings to scaled manufacturing:

Develop firsthand knowledge of logistics challenges by doing actual deliveries and supporting customer tests of X1 and subsequent products.

Brainstorm new designs, mechanisms, and features to solve our customers’ problems, and collaborate tightly with our CTO and software team to identify cross functional dependencies and build the best possible product

Use whiteboards, CAD, rapid prototyping, electronics, code, and elbow grease to design, test, and rapidly iterate

Codify promising designs by developing functional requirements and specifications, test plans, detailed design and engineering analysis, DFM & DFA, BOMs, engineering drawings, assembly instructions, and maintenance guides

Lead pilot builds of your designs and support our transition into production

Help to source and manage new team members and contractors as we grow

Personal characteristics: you are

A machete engineer: you cut through all kinds of difficult problems to get to your goal

Biased toward action: when you see problem, you fix

Driven and gritty: you can take punches and keep on going

Calm in chaos: you can hold the tiller and sail through the hurricane

A quick study: you learn fast and teach those around you

A team and solo athlete: you perform well on your own and play well with others

Self-aware and low ego: you can take and give feedback with grace

You need to bring this:

BS or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, or equivalent experience

Mastery of engineering fundamentals & first principles

2 or more years of hands‑on experience developing complex mechanical products from whiteboard to production, ideally including manipulators such as robot arms or cartesian gantries, and motor control for servos (PID) and steppers

Strong mechanical intuition and build skills crafting proof‑of‑concept prototypes in the shop: hand tools, 3D printing, laser cutting, milling, etc.

High proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks, Creo, or similar) including complex assemblies & configuration management, FEA, and properly‑dimensioned drawings (GD&T desirable).

A working knowledge of failure avoidance methods such as FMEA, experience in tolerance, kinematic, and vibration analysis, DFM/DFA, and BOMs

Good engineering judgment to meet deadlines and product performance goals: you can both hack and deploy fast, and structure robust systems that hold up to abuse and scale

Excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate your teammates to achieve ambitious goals.

You thrive in startup environments, and can multi‑task and manage conflicting deadlines

We’d love if you also have this:

Built and deployed robot hardware to production

Experience with robot EOAT & manipulators such as vacuum pickup or soft robotics

Experience with lab test instruments such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, DC loads, power supplies, spectrum analyzers, etc.

Strong understanding of electronics and programming fundamentals, and experience building embedded projects in C++ and Python using Arduino / ESP32 / STM32 / Raspberry Pi

Familiarity with software stack technologies (Docker, k8s, Linux, Git, etc.)

Benefits and Workplace

Benefits: Healthcare plan, 401k, PTO, parental leave, and much more!

On-site: 5 days a week (Menlo Park)

Does this sound like you?

Also don’t worry if you’re missing a skill or two - the right attitude and experience are more important to us than an exact skills match.

We’ll try to get back to you as promptly as we can.