Industrial Designer

Menlo; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Menlo Research is seeking an Industrial Designer to own the form language and physical identity of Asimov, from enclosures to CMF, while collaborating with mechanical and electrical engineers to ensure manufacturability and durability in real-world conditions.

You will translate constraints into manufacturable concepts, create high-fidelity models and prototypes, and guide CMF specs and packaging. A design portfolio demonstrating constrained hardware work is essential.

Qualifications

• Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, or related discipline.
• 4+ years shipping physical products (consumer electronics, robotics, or similar hardware).
• Strong proficiency in 3D modeling and rendering tools (Alias/Rhino/SolidWorks; KeyShot).
• Working knowledge of manufacturing processes: injection molding, sheet metal, die casting, surface finishing.

Responsibilities

• Develop the industrial design vision for Asimov and Menlo hardware products, including form, proportion, ergonomics, and CMF.
• Translate engineering constraints and functional requirements into manufacturable, visually coherent concepts.
• Produce high-fidelity 3D models, renderings, and physical prototypes to communicate design intent.
• Partner with mechanical engineering on DFM reviews and tolerances to catch issues before tooling.
• Own the CMF specification process and supplier engagement.
• Contribute to user-facing documentation, packaging, and unboxing experience for Asimov kits.
• Maintain design consistency across the Menlo hardware product family as the portfolio grows.

Skills

Industrial design

3D modeling

Rendering

Collaboration with engineers

Education

Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design

Tools

Alias

Rhino

SolidWorks

KeyShot

Job description

About Menlo

Menlo Research is an Applied R&D lab building Asimov, an open-source humanoid robot platform, and the full software stack that powers it. Our mission is to make humanoid labor economically viable – turning software into physical labor at scale. We build across the full stack: hardware architecture, locomotion, autonomy, simulation, and infrastructure. We move fast, ship to real robots, and open-source everything we can. If you want your work to matter beyond a paper or a demo, this is the place.

The Role

Industrial design at Menlo is not cosmetic. Asimov is a physical product that will be assembled, operated, serviced, and iterated on – and how it looks and feels in the world is as consequential as how it performs. As our Industrial Designer, you will own the form language and physical identity of Asimov, from enclosures and surface treatments to ergonomics, CMF (color, material, finish), and packaging. You will work shoulder to shoulder with mechanical and electrical engineers to ensure that every design decision holds up in manufacturing and survives contact with real-world conditions.

What You Will Do

• Develop the industrial design vision for Asimov and Menlo hardware products, including form, proportion, ergonomics, and CMF
• Translate engineering constraints and functional requirements into design concepts that are both manufacturable and visually coherent
• Produce high-fidelity 3D models, renderings, and physical prototypes to communicate and test design intent
• Partner with mechanical engineering on DFM (design for manufacturing) reviews, tolerance stack-ups, and assembly sequencing to catch design issues before tooling
• Own the CMF specification process – material selection, surface finish standards, color systems, and supplier engagement
• Contribute to user-facing documentation, packaging, and unboxing experience for Asimov kits and development hardware
• Maintain design consistency across the Menlo hardware product family as the portfolio expands

What You Will Bring

• Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, or a related discipline
• 4 or more years of experience shipping physical products – consumer electronics, robotics, medical devices, or similarly complex hardware
• Strong proficiency in 3D modeling tools (Alias, Rhino, SolidWorks, or equivalent) and rendering software (KeyShot or similar)
• Working knowledge of manufacturing processes: injection molding, sheet metal, die casting, surface finishing
• Experience collaborating directly with mechanical engineers and contract manufacturers in an iterative development environment
• Portfolio demonstrating a consistent design sensibility applied to technically constrained products

Nice to Have

• Experience designing for humanoid or legged robots, cobots, or other electromechanical systems
• Exposure to DFM/DFA review processes in a high-mix low-volume manufacturing context
• Familiarity with sim or CAD-driven design workflows
• Interest in or understanding of open-source hardware communities

Why Join Menlo

You will be the person who decides what Asimov looks like to the world. That is a rare brief at this stage of a company, and it comes with the autonomy to match. You will work on a product that is technically ambitious, publicly visible, and genuinely consequential – with a small team that moves fast and takes the craft seriously.

A Note on AI

You don’t need deep AI expertise for every role, but we do expect everyone at Menlo to be intellectually curious, drawn to tinkering and discovery, and excited to use AI as a real collaborator in their work. For some roles, AI fluency is a core requirement. When that’s the case, we’ll say so explicitly in the qualifications. People who thrive here don’t treat AI as a novelty. They use it to think better, and make their work easier for others to build on.

Equal Opportunity and Accommodations

We hire talented people from a wide range of backgrounds. If you’re excited about a role but don’t meet every bullet, we still encourage you to apply. Menlo Research is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any legally protected characteristic. Menlo provides reasonable accommodations during the application process. If you need one, please let your recruiter know.