Mechanical Engineer

Insight Recruitment; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Insight Recruitment is partnering with a stealth-stage robotics company in the San Francisco Bay Area. This founding mechanical engineer will own substantial parts of the robot’s mechanical system, designing, building, and iterating hardware from concept through deployment with leadership support.

You’ll tackle grippers, mechanisms, and system-level packaging, applying fast CAD skills and a collaborative, low-ego approach to move quickly while delivering robust, manufacturable hardware.

Qualifications

• Hands-on mechanical design experience with real hardware.
• Track record solving mechanism problems (gears, linkages, transmissions).
• Strong CAD skills with fast iteration capability.

Responsibilities

• You’ll own substantial parts of the robot’s mechanical system and iterate hardware from concept to deployment.
• Focus areas include grippers, mechanisms, and system-level packaging.
• Collaborate with hardware leadership to move quickly and effectively.

Skills

Mechanical design

CAD

DFM/DFA

System-level packaging

Collaboration

Tools

SolidWorks

Onshape

Creo

NX

Job description

Founding Mechanical Engineer – Robotics (Stealth)

Location: San Francisco Bay Area (relocation and visa support available)

Type: Full-time, permanent

Compensation: Competitive base salary plus founding equity

About the company

We’re partnering with a well-funded, stealth-stage embodied AI company building a full-stack robotics platform for real-world automation. The team is small, technical and moving fast. They already have commercial traction and are working towards their first customer deployment. This is a chance to join as one of the first engineers and shape the hardware from the ground up.

The role

You’ll own substantial parts of the robot’s mechanical system. That means designing, building and iterating on hardware from concept through to deployment, with support from experienced hardware leadership. Early focus areas include grippers, mechanisms and system-level packaging.

What we’re looking for

• Hands-on mechanical design experience, building and iterating on real hardware
• A track record of solving hard mechanism problems, such as gears, linkages and transmissions
• Fast, confident CAD skills (SolidWorks, Onshape, Creo, NX or similar)
• Experience designing reliable hardware that can be manufactured and scaled (DFM/DFA)
• Comfort owning a broad part of a system rather than a narrow component
• A collaborative, low-ego approach, open to feedback, with the drive to move quickly

Nice to have

• Robotics experience, especially building and deploying robots
• A portfolio of personal or side projects that shows how you build
• Background in consumer electronics, drones, autonomous vehicles or other complex electromechanical products
• Interest in growing into technical leadership as the team scales

Experience level: open to a range of levels, from strong recent master’s or PhD graduates to experienced engineers.