Senior Staff Mechanical Engineer - Continuous Improvement

Boston Dynamics; Waltham, Northern (MA, KY); On-site; USD 135,000 - 167,000; Full time

Job summary

Boston Dynamics in Waltham, MA is seeking a Senior Staff Mechanical Engineer to join the Atlas Actuation team focused on Continuous Improvement. You will own failure analysis, drive ECOs, and lead root cause investigations across in-house builds and overseas manufacturing partners to improve actuator reliability and manufacturability.

This is an individual contributor role requiring hands-on problem solving, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to champion changes from concept to

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
• 7+ years in design, systems, or sustaining engineering with scale-up to high-volume manufacturing.
• Strong RCA/DFx experience and hands-on failure analysis.

Responsibilities

• Lead failure analysis and RCCA investigations for defects and failure modes.
• Drive ECOs to permanently update BOMs and improve reliability.
• Synthesize defect data and drive product maturity across production environments.
• Collaborate with in-house and overseas manufacturing partners; interface with test teams.

Skills

RCA/RCCA

3D CAD CATIA

PLM systems

Jira/JAMA/Smartsheets

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Autonomous execution

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering

Tools

CATIA

Arena

ENOVIA

Job description

Boston Dynamics is looking for a Senior Staff Mechanical Engineer to join our Atlas Actuation team focused on Continuous Improvement (CI) efforts. As a Senior Staff Mechanical Engineer focusing on Continuous Improvement (CI) for the Atlas Actuation Technology team, you will play a pivotal role in refining and perfecting our actuator products. In this impactful individual contributor role, you will take ownership of understanding hardware defects, conducting comprehensive failure analysis, and prioritizing root cause investigations. This encompasses both field failures (on-robot) and build failures (on the manufacturing line)—whether they occur during our in-house builds or at our rapidly scaling overseas manufacturing partners. As the first responder to actuator failures, you will rapidly diagnose defects and drive the downstream execution of Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) to permanently update the Bill of Materials (BOM). Your technical leadership will ensure that existing and next-generation designs receive the right hardware improvements at exactly the right time—eliminating repeat failures, maturing the product, and accelerating our transition into full global production.

Boston Dynamics is a world leader in mobile robots, tackling some of the toughest robotics challenges. For years, our awe-inspiring viral videos on YouTube have shown the world what remarkably capable robots can do. Now we are quickly becoming a recognized leader in automation solutions for industrial applications and warehouse logistics.

What You’ll Do:

• Cross-Functional Investigation: Collaborate closely with in-house production teams, overseas manufacturing partners, and test teams to gather vital details and context around hardware failures and manufacturing issues.
• Data Synthesis: Review and synthesize defect data using tools like Jira to build a comprehensive understanding of actuator product maturity across all production environments.
• Root Cause Analysis: Lead hands-on failure analysis and root cause/corrective action (RCCA) investigations on specific defects and failure modes, addressing both line-down manufacturing blocks and on-robot field performance.
• Design Implementation: Propose, develop, and execute design changes through Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) to resolve defects and enhance future reliability and manufacturability.
• Roadmap Strategy: Champion the actuation product and technology roadmap, identifying key areas for improvement and evaluating which new technologies will provide the most value for future product generations.

What You Bring:

• Educational Background: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Professional Experience: Demonstrated background in design, systems, or sustaining engineering (typically 7+ years), particularly in environments scaling from low-volume in-house builds to high-volume overseas manufacturing.
• Problem Solving & RCA: Strong proficiency with Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and general hardware problem-solving methodologies for complex electromechanical assemblies.
• Product Maturation: A proven track record of launching and continuously improving products, particularly through the formal management of Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and DFx (Design for Manufacturability/Assembly) principles.
• Technical Tools: Proficiency in 3D CAD (CATIA preferred) and PLM systems (Arena and/or ENOVIA preferred). Familiarity with agile project management tools (Jira, JAMA, Smartsheets) is highly valued.
• Autonomous Execution: Experience independently managing large, complex projects, making sound prioritization and delegation decisions in a dynamic, collaborative environment.
• Mentorship & Communication: A commitment to fostering a culture of technical excellence and best practices, coupled with exceptional organizational and cross-functional communication skills to bridge in-house engineering with global manufacturing partners.

10-20% international travel required to support the global supplier and partner network for actuator products.

We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, we are not able to sponsor visas for this position.

The salary range for this position will be clearly stated in the job posting as required by Massachusetts law. The base pay range for this position is between $135,000 - $167,000. Base pay will depend on multiple individualized factors including, but not limited to internal equity, job related knowledge, skills and experience. This range represents a good faith estimate of compensation at the time of posting.

Boston Dynamics will never ask you to divulge your personal financial or account information as part of its recruiting process.

#LI-MD1 We are growing rapidly, building a commercial company that delivers cutting edge technology and solutions to our customers from industrial applications to logistics and warehouse solutions.