SF-Based Mechanical Engineer — Robotic Lab Automation

USA Tech Recruit; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

401(k)

Unlimited PTO

Weekday team dinners

Job summary

USA Tech Recruit seeks a Mechanical Engineer to drive the design and scaling of robotic laboratory automation hardware in a fast-paced startup setting. You will prototype, test, and iterate mechanical systems to enable precise manipulation of lab tools, while collaborating with robotics, electrical, software and manufacturing teams.

The role emphasizes hands-on hardware development, rapid prototyping, and ownership across the full development cycle, including manufacturing integration and tool

Qualifications

• Hands-on mechanical design experience post-graduation (1–7 years).
• Experience shipping hardware into manufacturing, not just CAD work.
• Experience in small teams, startups, or early-stage companies.
• Broad hardware systems knowledge across product domains.
• Strong mechanical intuition, debugging, assembly and problem solving.
• Proficiency with at least one professional CAD package.
• Strong understanding of design for manufacturability (DFM).
• Experience designing, building, testing and scaling physical hardware.
• Familiarity with tolerances, materials, processes, and engineering best practices.
• Willingness to work across disciplines and take ownership beyond job scope.

Responsibilities

• Analyze and iterate mechanical systems for robotic laboratory automation.
• Create CAD designs, drawings, assemblies, and production-ready docs.
• Prototype, test, validate and scale hardware through development iterations.
• Design and test hardware to manipulate laboratory and biological tools.
• Take hardware from concept to validation and manufacturing.
• Apply DFM and coordinate with manufacturing, materials and suppliers.
• Debug hardware issues hands-on and develop practical solutions.
• Collaborate with mechanical, robotics, electrical, software and science teams.
• Contribute across engineering responsibilities as the product evolves.

Skills

Mechanical design

Hardware debugging

DFM

Prototype iteration

CAD software

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS in Mechanical Engineering

MS in Mechatronics or related

Tools

PLM

CNC workflows

Job description

USA Tech Recruit seeks a Mechanical Engineer to drive the design and scaling of robotic laboratory automation hardware in a fast-paced startup setting. You will prototype, test, and iterate mechanical systems to enable precise manipulation of lab tools, while collaborating with robotics, electrical, software and manufacturing teams.

The role emphasizes hands-on hardware development, rapid prototyping, and ownership across the full development cycle, including manufacturing integration and tool