Senior Mechanical Engineer- Actuators and Gearbox , Fauna

Amazon Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company, is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to lead actuator design for our robotic systems. You will design, prototype, test, and scale actuator solutions across the full development lifecycle, ensuring performance, reliability, and manufacturability.

You will collaborate with electrical and software teams, work with global suppliers, and help shape future robots with tight integration of hardware, control systems, and thermal management.

Responsibilities

• Lead the selection, design, and integration of robotic actuators.
• Create and optimize precision mechanical systems, including linkages, joints, and actuation systems.
• Collaborate with electrical and software engineers to integrate sensors, drive electronics, and control systems.
• Define actuator requirements around torque density, bandwidth, efficiency, thermal performance, back drivability, inertia, reliability, manufacturability, and cost.
• Develop test infrastructure and expertise for measuring performance and reliability.
• Work with suppliers and manufacturers worldwide to source components, manage production timelines, and maintain quality standards.
• Perform life-cycle testing, quality assurance, and failure analysis to validate designs and ensure product reliability.
• Oversee the transition of designs from prototype to mass production, including working directly with manufacturing partners globally.
• Maintain detailed design documentation, including CAD models, drawings, and test data.

Job description

Description

We are seeking a talented and experienced Senior Mechanical Engineer to join our actuator team. You will play a pivotal role in designing, prototyping, testing, and scaling the actuator systems for our robotic systems. This role requires a strong background in motor and precision gearing design, including broader knowledge around motor electromagnetics, transmission types, sensing, structural components, and thermal management. You will help drive actuator development across the full engineering lifecycle while establishing scalable design, test, and integration practices for future robotic platforms.

Key job responsibilities

• Lead the selection, design, and integration of robotic actuators.
• Create and optimize precision mechanical systems, including linkages, joints, and actuation systems
• Collaborate with electrical and software engineers to integrate sensors, drive electronics, and control systems
• Define actuator requirements around torque density, bandwidth, efficiency, thermal performance, back drivability, inertia, reliability, manufacturability, and cost.
• Develop test infrastructure and expertise for measuring performance and reliability.
• Work with suppliers and manufacturers worldwide to source components, manage production timelines, and maintain quality standards
• Perform life-cycle testing, quality assurance, and failure analysis to validate designs and ensure product reliability
• Oversee the transition of designs from prototype to mass production, including working directly with manufacturing partners globally
• Maintain detailed design documentation, including CAD models, drawings, and test data

About the team

Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company, is building capable, safe, and genuinely delightful robots for everyday life. Our goal is simple: make robots people actually want to live and interact with in everyday human spaces.
We believe that future won't arrive until building for robotics becomes far more accessible. Today, too much effort is spent reinventing the fundamentals. We're changing that by developing tightly integrated hardware and software systems that make it faster, safer, and more intuitive to create real-world robotic products.
Our work spans the full stack: mechanical design, control systems, dynamic modeling, and intelligent software. The focus is not just functionality, but experience. We're building robots that feel responsive, expressive, and genuinely useful.
At Fauna, you'll work at the frontier of this space, helping define how robots move, manipulate, and interact with people in natural environments. It's an opportunity to solve hard problems across hardware and software with a team focused on making robotics accessible and joyful to build.
If you care about making robotics real for everyone and building systems that are as delightful as they are capable, we're interested in hearing from you.