Senior Mechatronics Engineer - R&D

Roboticsconnected; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Ultra seeks a Senior Mechatronics Engineer - Application R&D to lead hardware development for our NYC-built autonomous robots used in real customer warehouses. Join a fast-moving early-stage team and help craft solutions that directly impact daily operations in e-commerce fulfillment.

You’ll design tooling, end effectors, and integrated subsystems, while working with pilots and software teams to ensure robust performance and scalability in production environments.

Qualifications

• Proven multi-disciplinary mechatronics experience across hardware and software.
• Experience designing devices with diverse mechanical and electrical approaches.
• Strong problem-solving with a customer-driven mindset.
• Ability to thrive in a high-trust, high-autonomy environment.

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy robot tooling and end effectors to expand capabilities.
• Collaborate with robot pilots to optimize performance and meet metrics.
• Lead rapid design iterations: prototype, validate, learn, refine.
• Make build-vs-buy decisions for tools and peripherals with strategic value.
• Work with the engineering team to ensure compatibility with the autonomy stack.

Skills

3D design

Rapid prototyping

Design for manufacturing

Mechanical assembly

Electrical assembly

Sourcing components

Tying designs with code

Customer/vendor communication

Job description

About Ultra

Ultra builds industrial AI robots that are working in the real world today. Our robots automate mission-critical warehouse labor end-to-end, starting with e-commerce order packaging. We deploy fast, learn from real production data, and iterate aggressively. We already have a quickly growing number of revenue-generating robots operating in U.S. warehouses, and are now scaling towards thousands of deployments over the next few years. Our mission is simple: build the world's most useful and deployable robot.

WARNING:

Robotics is not for the faint of heart. There are no silver bullets here. It is tiresome, unglamorous, and at times brutal work. The only way out is through, and the only way through is treacherous and unknown.

Success will require teamwork

- so we are building a world-class team to tackle some of the most exciting problems out there. We hope you join us.

Overview

We’re seeking aSenior Mechatronics Engineer - Application R&Dto join our NYC-based team and help lead the development of our robot and the tools it uses in real customer warehouses. We are an early stage company moving very fast in a rapidly growing space, and welcome people from any background as long as you’re excited to join our mission, drive immediate impact, and create a future where automation is accessible to all.

What You’ll Do

• Design and deploy robot tooling and end effectors that expand our capabilities and solve real customer problems.
• Work closely with our team of robot pilots to optimize robot performance for these capabilities- our customers are asking us to develop new capabilities every day, and they have performance metrics we need to be able to hit.
• Lead rapid design loops to ship improvements fast — prototype, validate on the robots in the lab, learn, and refine.
• Make build-vs-buy decisions for tools and peripherals, selecting off-the-shelf components when smart and developing custom parts when it creates strategic advantage.
• Work hands-on with the broader engineering team to make your work compatible with our autonomy stack and ready to scale with our robot platform.

Who You Are

• You are a mechatronics Swiss army knife, capable of working on every part of the hardware stack for our robotic systems, and have multiple years of experience working in robotics.
• You have a portfolio of designing ingenious devices using a wide variety of mechanical and electrical approaches.
• You enjoy problem solving, almost to a fault.
• You thrive in a high-trust, high-autonomy environment. You don’t need to be micromanaged because you are used to working backwards from customer needs and focusing on the most valuable work.
• You are hungry for impact and personal growth. Your dream job is an opportunity to work hard with a team of like-minded engineers building the future of robotics.

Experience and Skills

• The full mechatronics stack:
• 3D design, rapid prototyping, and design for manufacturing
• Mechanical and electrical assembly - from machine tools, to soldering, to debugging electrical
• Sourcing and testing components such as motors, cameras, and raw materials
• Tying designs together with code
• Communication: good with customers and vendors alike. You know how to build relationships across the board and maintain them while helping us achieve our goals.
• Great at digging deep on a problem, pulling all of your knowledge and connections together to help us build the most performant robots we can
• Comfortable with travel to customer and supplier sites

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply.