Senior Manager of Mechanical Engineering New Austin, TX

Apptronik; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Apptronik seeks a Senior Manager of Mechanical Engineering in Austin, TX to lead the Locomotion and Manipulation group. You will drive the mechanical architecture, kinematics, and manufacturability of Apollo's arms, hands, legs, and mobility chassis.

You will mentor engineers, enforce design standards in Siemens NX, and coordinate with Actuation, Controls, and Electrical teams to push for scalable production and mass-market readiness.

Qualifications

• 8+ years mechanical engineering experience in robotics or related field.
• 3+ years direct engineering management experience in a matrix setup.
• Deep expertise in complex mechanism design, kinematics, and high-torque actuators.
• Expert Siemens NX CAD with top-down modeling and large assembly management.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead, and scale the Locomotion and Manipulation team for Apollo.
• Own mechanical architecture, structural design, and kinematics for limbs and chassis.
• Establish design standards and transition RD prototypes to manufacturable assemblies.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration with Actuation, Controls, and Electrical teams.
• Mentor engineers, remove bottlenecks, and optimize SWaP-C and packaging.

Skills

Team leadership

Matrix leadership

Mentorship

Mechanical design

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Siemens NX

Teamcenter / PLM

Job description

Senior Manager of Mechanical Engineering

Austin, TX

Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life. Our flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate thoughtfully with people, starting with critical industries such as manufacturing and logistics, with future applications in healthcare, the home, and beyond.
We operate at the cutting edge of Applied AI, applying our expertise across the full robotics stack to solve some of society's most important problems. You will join a team dedicated to bringing Apollo to market at scale, tackling the complex challenges like safety, commercialization, and mass production to change the world for the better.

The Role

Apptronik is seeking a highly technical, driven Senior Manager of Mechanical Engineering to build, lead, and scale our Locomotion and Manipulation team. In our matrixed organization, you will own the team that contributes to the mechanical architecture, structural design, and kinematics of Apollo’s arms, hands, legs, and overall mobility chassis.

As a Senior Manager, your primary focus is team execution, resource allocation, and mentorship. You will establish and enforce design standards in Siemens NX, guide your team in transitioning R&D prototypes to manufacturable assemblies, and facilitate seamless cross-functional collaboration with the Actuation, Controls, and Electrical teams. You possess the deep technical intuition required to challenge your engineers, review their work, and remove bottlenecks, ensuring they perform at the absolute highest level.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Building & Matrix Leadership: Hire, mentor, and scale a world-class team of mechanical engineers specializing in complex mechanisms, structural linkages, and kinematics. Strategically deploy your engineers across various product pods in a matrix structure, balancing program deliverables with individual career growth.
• Technical Facilitation & Oversight: Ensure the successful execution of locomotion and manipulation hardware. Ensure your team conducts and participates in rigorous design reviews for structural chassis components, highly loaded rotational joints, and complex end-effectors.
• Siemens NX & CAD Excellence: Establish and enforce company-wide CAD standards using Siemens NX. Drive best practices for large assembly management, top-down master modeling, and seamless PLM integration (e.g., Teamcenter) to ensure a clean, scalable digital twin across the organization.
• Mentorship in Mass Optimization & Packaging: Coach your team to push the boundaries of SWaP-C (Size, Weight, Power, and Cost). Guide them in aggressively lightweighting limbs and optimizing internal packaging to house core actuators and complex wire routing without sacrificing structural stiffness.
• DFM/DFA & Production Scaling: Bridge the gap between prototype innovation and mass production. Ensure your engineers are designing all linkages and structural components for manufacturability (DFM) from Phase 0, leveraging advanced casting, machining, and injection molding techniques.
• Cross-Functional Adjudication: Act as the primary managerial stakeholder in cross-disciplinary conflicts. Facilitate smooth interface negotiations between your team, Tech Leads, and the Actuation and Electrical teams to resolve space claim, mounting, and wire routing disputes.

Qualifications

• Experience: 8+ years of mechanical engineering experience in robotics, aerospace, automotive, or advanced electromechanical systems, with 3+ years of direct engineering management experience.
• Matrix Experience: Proven experience operating in a matrixed organization, successfully partnering with project managers and technical architects to deploy resources and drive execution.
• Mechanism Intuition: Deep, hands-on background in complex mechanism design, structural bearing life calculations, kinematics, and integrating high-torque actuators. You need this depth to effectively mentor and challenge your team.
• Software Proficiency: Expert-level experience with Siemens NX. You must understand how to structure large, complex assemblies and implement top-down modeling workflows to establish standards for your team.
• Dynamic Hardware Background: A proven track record of shipping highly dynamic, moving hardware (e.g., robotic arms, legged robots, advanced prosthetics, or active suspension systems).
• Leadership Style: A servant-leader mentality. You focus on removing roadblocks, building team capabilities, and empowering Tech Leads and ICs to make the best technical decisions.
• Education: BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering.

*This is a direct hire. Please, no outside Agency solicitations.

Apptronik provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Technology Control Restrictions:As a person in this position will have access to technical data and/or computer software maintained by the Company, which includes export-controlled technical data and/or computer software, successful applicants must be eligible under U.S. export control regulations to access such information.