Mechanical Engineer

Generalist; Somerville (MA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Generalist in Somerville, MA is seeking a hardware engineer to advance dexterous manipulation devices, wearable sensors, and robotic hands from concept through mass production.

You will collaborate with ML, controls, perception, and mechanical/hardware teams to define requirements, timelines, and priorities, delivering robust, compliant designs built for real-world use.

Qualifications

• Must have strong experience in designing tightly integrated electro-mechanical systems.
• Proficiency in CAD tools (Solidworks) and physics-driven analysis (FEA).
• Proven leadership from concept to mass production.

Responsibilities

• Develop wearable data collection devices for dexterous manipulation.
• Design and manufacture robot hands with integrated sensors.
• Collaborate with ML, controls, perception, and hardware teams to define requirements and priorities.

Skills

Electro-mechanical design

Solidworks CAD

FEA

PDM

Leadership

Injection molding

Additive manufacturing

Machining

Electronics manufacturing

Communication

Education

10+ years mechanical/electro-mechanical design

Tools

Solidworks

PDM

FEA

Job description

About Generalist

At Generalist, we are on a mission to build general intelligence for the physical world and make it useful to everyone. We believe the industries and homes of the future will depend on humans and machines working together in new ways. Robots can help us build more and get more done.

We build embodied foundation models, starting with a focus on dexterity. This requires advancing the frontiers of data, models, and hardware, to enable robots to intelligently interact with the physical world.

The company embraces both large-scale AI and robotics as core to its DNA. Our team of researchers, roboticists, and company builders come from OpenAI, Boston Dynamics, Google DeepMind, and other frontier labs—with a track record of shipping AI breakthroughs. Before Generalist, we pioneered large embodied multimodal models and vision-language-action models (PaLM-E, RT-2, Gemini Robotics), launched and scaled ChatGPT and GPT-4 to hundreds of millions of users, engineered the foundations of autonomous driving, built next-generation robots (Atlas, Spot, Stretch) and pushed the limits of what they can do (from parkour to manipulation, and testing robustness).

We’re an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

We’re hiring hardware engineers that can advance our goals of developing grippers, sensors, and robotic systems capable of dexterous manipulation that is robust, capable, and precise.

Responsibilities

• Develop wearable data collection devices capable of dexterous manipulation, from concept design through mass-production.

• Design and manufacture robot hands that include custom structures, actuators, as well as integration of cameras, IMUs, encoders, and additional sensors.

• Perform trade studies to evaluate various actuator, robot, and sensor implementations.

• Lead engagements with external vendors to manufacture components, assemblies, or to multiply IC efforts.

• Integrate COTS and custom robotic arms, robot stands, mobile bases, robotic hands, sensors, and end effectors.

• Test designs for functionality, robustness, and compliance with key standards

• Collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team that includes ML, controls, perception, operations, mechanical, electrical and hardware engineers; as well as a business development team to define product requirements, timelines, and dynamically set priorities.

Desired Qualifications

• Strong experience in design of tightly integrated electro-mechanical systems

• Fluency in CAD modeling (Solidworks), PDM, FEA, and physics-driven analysis

• Leadership in driving a project from conceptual design through mass production

  • Injection molding, overmolding, machining, additive manufacturing, actuator assembly, and/or electronics manufacturing experience is beneficial.

• 10+ years of education/experience in relevant mechanical / electro-mechanical design

• Strong communication skills, and a commitment to building a respectful and collaborative environment