Senior Electromagnetic Actuator Design Engineer

OpenAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 225,000 - 423,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking a senior Actuator Electromagnetic Design Engineer in San Francisco to lead the development of custom robotic actuators for advanced systems. You will own architecture, design, prototype validation, and system integration, partnering with mechanical, electrical, controls, firmware, reliability, and manufacturing teams.

This role focuses on the design, integration, and validation of precision electromechanical systems, including motors, transmissions, sensing, structural

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or graduate degree in Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience designing electromagnetic systems, robotic actuators, or precision mechatronic hardware.
• Experience developing actuators for robotics, automation, aerospace, automotive, or other high-performance dynamic systems.
• Strong understanding of motors, transmissions, bearings, encoders, structural design, thermal management, and precision mechanical integration.
• Familiarity with actuator sensing architectures, including encoder integration and calibration strategies.
• Experience designing for prototype and production manufacturing processes including machining, casting, molding, and assembly.
• Proficiency with CAD and PLM tools such as NX and Teamcenter or equivalent systems.
• Experience developing validation plans, reliability testing, and failure analysis workflows.
• Experience scaling hardware systems from prototype through EVT/DVT/PVT and into production is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, design, and integration of custom robotic actuators, including design, simulation, integration and sourcing of custom electromagnetic components.
• Define actuator requirements and system-level trade studies around torque density, bandwidth, efficiency, thermal performance, inertia, reliability, manufacturability, and cost.
• Design precision electromechanical assemblies with strong attention to tolerances, alignment, load paths, thermal expansion, sealing, wear, and serviceability.
• Drive actuator integration into robotic systems, partnering closely with controls, firmware, electrical, and robotics software teams to optimize closed-loop performance.
• Develop and evaluate architectures with integrated sensing and encoder strategies.
• Build and validate prototypes through hands-on bring-up, debugging, characterization, and iterative refinement.
• Develop test methodologies and characterization infrastructure for actuator performance, reliability, durability, and failure analysis.
• Analyze test data to identify limitations, failure modes, and opportunities for design improvement.
• Collaborate with manufacturing and supplier partners to transition designs from prototype to scalable production-ready assemblies.
• Support DFM, DFA, DFT, calibration, and assembly strategies for electromechanical subsystems.
• Contribute to actuator sourcing strategy, vendor qualification, prototype builds, and supply-chain development.
• Document designs, interfaces, validation results, and engineering decisions to support long-term maintainability and production readiness.
• Help establish engineering standards, integration practices, and development workflows for future robotic platforms.

Skills

Electromagnetic design

Actuator design

5+ years exp with EM systems

Encoder integration

Robotics hardware

Education

Electrical Engineering

Robotics

Mechatronics

Tools

NX

Teamcenter

Job description

OpenAI is seeking a senior Actuator Electromagnetic Design Engineer in San Francisco to lead the development of custom robotic actuators for advanced systems. You will own architecture, design, prototype validation, and system integration, partnering with mechanical, electrical, controls, firmware, reliability, and manufacturing teams.

This role focuses on the design, integration, and validation of precision electromechanical systems, including motors, transmissions, sensing, structural