Senior Mechanical Design Engineer – Humanoid Robotics

Proception Inc.; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Equity option

Health, dental, vision

Work with leading robotics researchers

High-ownership role

Job summary

Proception Inc. seeks a Mechanical Design Engineer to lead the design of high-DOF robotic arms and hands for humanoid manipulation, including geartrains and tendon systems.

You will drive simulation, prototyping, and testing in a fast, hands-on environment, collaborating with controls, perception, and firmware teams to deliver robust, scalable hardware. You will iterate on designs based on test data, field feedback, and noise, ensuring manufacturability and reliability for advanced humanoid

Qualifications

• 1+ years of experience designing mission-critical mechanical systems for robotics, aerospace, or automation.
• Mastery of CAD (SolidWorks, Fusion), FEA, and precision design
• Experience prototyping with your own hands—machining, printing, assembling, debugging
• Fluent in tolerance stack-ups, material properties, thermal constraints, and load paths
• Designed for real-world wear, slop, EMI, torque ripple, and backlash
• Experience with humanoids, exoskeletons, prosthetics, soft robots, or tendon drives
• Startup reflexes: you bias toward execution, learn fast, and document like it matters
• (+ ) Experience with humanoids, exoskeletons, prosthetics, soft robots, or tendon drives
• (+ ) Experience with testing and validation of mechanical systems

Responsibilities

• Architect and design high-DOF robotic arms and hands for dynamic manipulation
• Build geartrains, compliant mechanisms, and tendon systems that outperform current state-of-the-art
• Drive simulation, analysis, prototyping, and testing in a no-silos, build-it-yourself workflow
• Iterate hardware based on test data, field failure, or system noise—fast
• Collaborate tightly with controls, perception, and firmware teams to deliver integrated, elegant robots
• Write clear, transferable documentation for scaling what works—and killing what doesn't
• Design and test mechanical systems for humanoids, exoskeletons, prosthetics, soft robots, or tendon drives
• Validate mechanical systems through testing and analysis
• Iterate on mechanical designs based on test data and feedback

Skills

Robotics mechanical design

CAD (SolidWorks)

FEA

Prototype machining/printing

Tolerance & materials

Humanoids/prosthetics

Testing & validation

Tools

SolidWorks

Fusion 360

Job description

Proception Inc. seeks a Mechanical Design Engineer to lead the design of high-DOF robotic arms and hands for humanoid manipulation, including geartrains and tendon systems.

You will drive simulation, prototyping, and testing in a fast, hands-on environment, collaborating with controls, perception, and firmware teams to deliver robust, scalable hardware. You will iterate on designs based on test data, field feedback, and noise, ensuring manufacturability and reliability for advanced humanoid