Mechanical Design Engineer

Pantograph PBC; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Pantograph PBC is building a first generation of robust robots and seeks a broadly talented mechanical engineer to design, prototype, and scale hardware. You will create parts in Onshape, balance durability and cost, and drive designs from prototype to production in a fast, hands-on team in San Francisco.

You will own design for manufacturability, test fixtures, and end-of-line testing while collaborating with suppliers and the hardware group to ship reliable products at scale.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and shipping a physical product at scale.
• Experience with bent sheet metal and flat-pattern fabrication.
• Cable routing and management, and designing around electronics.
• Working knowledge of reliability engineering metrics and basic statistics.

Responsibilities

• Design parts and assemblies in Onshape that balance load, form factor, durability, cost, and ease of assembly
• Build and test prototypes rapidly, with an emphasis on reliability and durability
• Sweat the details of serviceability, transportability, safety, and usability
• Support procurement by creating engineering drawings, working with suppliers to source parts and ensure final quality
• Design test fixtures, qualification fixtures, and end-of-line tests
• Work closely with the rest of the hardware team to take designs from prototype through production

Skills

Mechanical design

Prototyping & testing

Onshape

DFM (design for manufacturability)

Reliability engineering

Documentation

Team collaboration

Tools

Onshape

Job description

Pantograph is training general models that start by watching internet-scale video and end up on robots. We think the path to capable robots runs through general intelligence rather than narrow, robot-specific skills. We're scaling simple methods across video games, real-world video, and our own fleet of affordable, durable robots.

We're looking for a broadly talented hands-on mechanical engineer to design, prototype, and scale our first generation of robots. Our robots are durable tools, built to survive thousands of hours of real-world operation while still feeling intentional and well-crafted. We want someone who brings product sensibility to machines that are meant to be useful.

Responsibilities

• Design parts and assemblies in Onshape that balance load, form factor, durability, cost, and ease of assembly
• Build and test prototypes rapidly, with an emphasis on reliability and durability
• Sweat the details of serviceability, transportability, safety, and usability
• Support procurement by creating engineering drawings, working with suppliers to source parts and ensure final quality
• Design test fixtures, qualification fixtures, and end-of-line tests
• Work closely with the rest of the hardware team to take designs from prototype through production

You might be a good fit if you

• Have a track record of designing and shipping a physical product at scale (this matters more to us than years of experience or any specific degree)
• Have experience designing for bent sheet metal and similar flat-pattern fabrication methods.
• Have experience with cable routing and management, and designing around electronics
• Have a working knowledge of reliability engineering - MTBF, failure rates, uptime modeling, and basic statistical analysis
• Ruthlessly prioritize, love moving fast and making tangible progress
• Communicate clearly and document your work on a small, collaborative team

Nice to have

• Broad familiarity with robotic systems - actuators, motors, sensors, and electromechanical integration
• Experience designing for high-volume manufacturing
• An eye for the details that make physical products satisfying to own and use

We're a small, fast-moving team working together in person in San Francisco. If this work excites you but you don't check every box, we'd still love to hear from you.