Project Engineer

Noble Machines, Inc; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Noble Machines, Inc. is seeking a Project Engineer to bridge lab capabilities to on-site performance.

You will integrate software and hardware for customer environments, run acceptance tests, and lead end-to-end deployments with hands-on field work and training. Responsibilities include site readiness, test planning, field data handling, safety and risk assessments, and cross-functional leadership across engineering and operations.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, or Robotics Engineering, CS, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• 3+ years leading technical projects, ideally customer-facing and involving robot deployments (AMRs, mobile manipulators, humanoids) or AI/ML hardware infrastructure.
• Schedule ownership with KPIs and data-backed reporting.
• Proficiency in Python and/or C++ on Linux.
• Comfort with physical systems and software.
• AI-native and capable of building and automating workflows.
• Clear writing and calm communication with customers under pressure.
• Willingness to travel (>=15%) domestically and internationally.

Responsibilities

• Deployments: survey sites, stage tests, and document readiness for go-live.
• Experience with field data: test plans, trials, evidence packs.
• Sim-to-real feedback to engineering and validate fixes in simulation.
• Power characterization and on-site charging planning.
• Safety and site readiness, including PPE and training.
• Lead cross-functional coordination across multiple engineering domains.
• Triage faults and coordinate RMAs with operations.
• Deliver hands-on training to customer operators and staff.

Skills

Python

C++ on Linux

Project leadership

Customer-facing experience

Education

BS or MS in Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, or Robotics Engineering or CS

Tools

ROS 2

NVIDIA Isaac or similar

Linux administration

Edge/on-prem deployment

Job description

Noble Machines builds multipurpose robots to support human workers in the world’s toughest jobs, turning dangerous work from a necessity into a choice. Our work demands reliability, robustness, and readiness for the unexpected, on time, every time. We’re assembling a mission-driven team focused on real impact in heavy industry, from construction and mining to energy and logistics. If you’re driven to build rugged, reliable products that solve real-world problems, we’d love to talk.

About the Role

The Project Engineer manages the path from lab capability to repeatable, measured, on-site performance. You integrate Moby’s software and hardware for a customer’s environment, prove it with acceptance tests and evidence, and run the deployment end-to-end with the customer. You also take on special projects, e.g., executive and trade-show demos, international robot shipments and site bring-up, customer training cohorts, and new test infrastructure – cross-functional efforts for which you author the playbook and procedures, architect and improve the process toward scalable standard operating procedures. This is a hands‑on, high-ownership role for someone equally at ease building an integrated schedule, debugging a robot on a job site, and briefing a customer’s operations lead.

What You’ll Do

Deployments

• Site readiness: Survey customer sites (environment, lighting, floor and door geometry, network, power, infrastructure). Create the site survey report, listing the gaps to close and the requirements for go-live.
• Integration: Stage acceptance tests in Noble Machines’ lab under conditions that mirror the customer site, covering navigation, perception, and manipulation tasks.
• Test and evidence: Write a test plan for each milestone, run trials, log every run, and produce the evidence pack (metrics, video, fault log).
• Sim-to-real: Feed site data (maps, lighting captures, geometry) back to engineering, and validate fixes in simulation before field rollout.
• Power characterization: Build the duty-cycle and charging model for each deployment, and define on-site charging locations and schedules.
• Safety: Run on-site risk assessments, e-stop procedures, and operator training. Enforce exclusion zones during trials.
• Site operations: Work with the customer’s site team on readiness of tools and equipment (PPE, KVM carts, workbenches, crash carts, site safety training).
• Data outputs: Set up logging and a customer-facing KPI view, and train customer staff to read it.
• Field support: Triage hardware, firmware, and software faults, and lead root-cause analysis. Coordinate spares and RMAs with operations.
• Training: Deliver hands‑on training to customer operators and site personnel on safe, effective robot operation.

Special projects

• Own time-boxed, cross-functional projects end-to-end: executive and trade-show demo builds, international shipments and post-transit bring-up (re‑calibration, local power, network), customer training cohorts, test-bench and gantry setups, and new-variant pilots.
• For each project, define scope, success criteria, schedule, and owners. Close it with a short retrospective and a reusable playbook.

Schedule and cross-functional leadership

• Lead without direct authority across navigation, perception, manipulation, and controls engineering; hardware and field operations (spares, shipping, RMAs); safety/EHS; and the customer’s operations team.
• Run the cadence: daily stand-up during ramp-up, a weekly technical sync with the customer, and a weekly status and risk report to the TPM.
• Hold a RACI for each milestone. Manage the critical path and dependencies. Escalate blockers within 12 h, and any slip over 2 days within 24 h with a recovery plan.
• Make or drive scope, test, and schedule trade-offs, and document each decision.
• Turn field learnings, edge cases, and customer feedback into concrete product requirements. Build scalable deployment processes, tooling, and documentation as the customer base grows.

What You’ll Bring

• A BS or MS in Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, or Robotics Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent hands‑on experience.
• 3+ years leading technical projects or programs, ideally customer-facing and involving robot or hardware deployments (AMRs, mobile manipulators, humanoids) or AI/ML hardware infrastructure.
• Schedule ownership: you have built and run an integrated schedule (critical path, dependencies, gates) with test discipline, clear KPIs, and data‑backed reporting.
• Working proficiency in Python and/or C++ on Linux. You can read, debug, and modify code across the stack.
• Comfort with physical systems (wiring, sensors, mechanical troubleshooting) as well as software.
• You are AI-native and comfortable building and automating agents and workflows.
• Clear writing and calm, trust‑building communication with customers under pressure.
• Strong ownership and the ability to work independently on ambiguous, high‑stakes problems with shifting requirements.
• Willingness to travel (>=15%) to industrial and remote sites, domestic and international, and to do the physical tasks of fieldwork (lifting equipment, working outdoors, wearing required PPE).

Nice to Have

• Deployments in logistics, warehousing, or trailer loading/unloading, or in heavy industry (construction, mining, oil and gas, utilities).
• ROS 2, autonomy stacks, or fleet management. Linux administration, networking, and edge/on-prem deployment.
• Humanoid or whole-body control experience. Simulation tools (NVIDIA Isaac or similar).
• Robot safety practice (ISO 10218, ISO 13482, ANSI/A3 R15.08; risk assessment, e-stop). OSHA 10/30 or MSHA.
• Experience with international shipping and export (Incoterms, export classification, lithium battery transport).
• Data pipelines and dashboarding.
• Field service or startup pilot experience where you were the only project manager and engineer on site.

Under California’s Pay Transparency Act (SB 1162), the expected base salary range for this position in Sunnyvale, CA is $150,000 – $210,000 per year. Actual compensation depends on qualifications, experience, and technical expertise. Base salary is one part of total rewards, which may also include equity, healthcare, retirement contributions, and performance‑based incentives.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Noble Machines is an equal opportunity employer. We make employment decisions based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law. We welcome applicants who need accommodations during the hiring process and will work with you to provide them.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Noble Machines, Inc’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.