Founding Robotics Engineer

About the Role This is a founding engineering role at a pre-seed robotics company building low-cost, teleoperated humanoid platforms that turn physical jobs into remote work. As the Founding Robotics Engineer , you will own the end-to-end design and delivery of the robot — from hardware to software — and shape manufacturing and deployment strategy as the company scales. This is a rare opportunity to define the technical direction of a physical product from day one, with meaningful equity alongside a competitive salary. What You'll Do Architect and build a low-cost teleoperated humanoid robot designed to replace or augment on-site physical roles. Deliver the initial wheel-based robot for patient check-in in urgent care clinics — including self-charging and safe navigation — within a Bill of Materials (BOM) under $1,000. Solve the human-robot interaction challenge: craft an experience that achieves a patient preference win-rate above 50% compared to in-person staff. Deploy and maintain a fleet of 50 robots in clinical environments, targeting a Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) exceeding 500 hours. Ship a contextual AI copilot that provides real-time guidance to remote operators, compressing new-hire training from weeks down to 24 hours — and laying the groundwork for a future physical reasoning model. What We're Looking For Required 3+ years of hands-on engineering experience with clear ownership of shipped projects. Mechatronics & Integration: proven experience building robots from scratch, integrating motors, sensors, actuators, and compute into cohesive, reliable systems. Embedded Software & AI: solid firmware development skills and experience deploying ML models on edge systems with real-time, low-latency constraints. Rapid Prototyping: expert-level proficiency in CAD, 3D printing, and quick-turn fabrication — from idea to physical prototype in days. Design for Manufacturing: designs with cost, assembly time, tolerances, material selection, and scalable production in mind. First-Principles Thinking & Radical Ownership: you question assumptions, invent novel solutions, and start solving problems without waiting for permission. Strong CS fundamentals supporting both the mechatronics and software sides of robot development. Nice to Have Fleet Management: experience deploying and maintaining robots in clinical or field environments with uptime targets (e.g., MTBF tracking). Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) intuition: instinct for what makes robots feel trustworthy vs. unsettling; understanding of the uncanny valley and how to design around it. Exposure to healthcare or clinical environments. Early-stage startup or founding engineer experience. Compensation & Benefits Salary: $120,000 – $140,000 USD annually Equity: meaningful founding equity stake (~1%) Visa sponsorship: available Location This is an on-site role based in New York, NY . Candidates should be prepared to work in person as part of a small, fast-moving founding team.