Robotics Engineer (Mechanical)

Mission TAR’s mission is to power intelligence for the world. We are building the world’s first off-grid power plant for data centers powered by renewable technologies. We firmly believe AI should be built in the US for the benefit of all people. For that, power must be fast, clean and scalable. We are singularly focused on delivering GW-scale power faster than anyone has ever done, by rethinking every layer of the stack. To deliver on this vision, TAR manufactures, deploys and operates off-grid energy assets with a renewable backbone. We vertically integrate to solve every bottleneck, from racking systems to power electronics to dispatch algorithms to on-site construction. Leave your mark by powering the future of civilisation-scale energy infrastructure. We hire people who care deeply about this problem space. If that is you, please apply! Company We are a team of seasoned operators run by founders who previously scaled a company to over 80 people and $350M in annual sales. We know how to operate and we move fast. We are working directly with one of the largest compute providers to make our vision come true and plan to deploy 5GWs by 2028. TAR is both a hardware and software company, we are building out massive, critical, physical infrastructure. We operate on… High ownership. High Agency. Own project end-to-end. Great people don’t need to be managed. Speed. We achieve great things on incredible timelines. We always push ourselves to go faster. First principles. No ego. No hierarchy. Challenge every assumption. Passion. Solving the energy problem is one of the largest challenges that faces the world now and in the future. We put in long hours and hard work to solve this. About the role We are building an autonomous field robot that drives rebar foundations into the ground at precise coordinates across utility-scale solar sites: the machine that makes our construction model an order of magnitude faster and cheaper than conventional pile driving. You will be the mechanical lead for this robot: a hands-on engineer who owns the machine end to end, from chassis to tool head, and who is equally comfortable with the electromechanical guts (motors, drivetrains, actuation) as with structures and mechanisms. This is a ground-floor role on a new hardware program, with founding-team-level ownership and direct line of sight to a 100+ MW project in construction. You will design, build, break, and rebuild prototypes at our Texas pilot site, and your decisions will define the product. To apply, send your resume and, more importantly, a short note about the hardest machine you’ve built. Responsibilities Own the mechanical architecture of the robot: chassis/platform, mast and tool head, rebar handling and feed system, and the driving mechanism (percussive, vibratory, or press; you’ll help make that call based on soil testing). Design drivetrain and locomotion for rough, unimproved desert terrain: motor sizing and selection, gearboxes, wheels/tracks, suspension. Specify and integrate actuators (electric and/or hydraulic), sensors, and power distribution in collaboration with our electrical/mechatronics engineer. Perform structural and dynamic analysis: reaction loads during driving, vibration, fatigue, tip-over stability. Build and iterate rapidly: machine prototype parts, work with local fab shops, get hardware into the dirt at Fort Stockton and learn from every failure. Define the tolerance budget with our perception and racking teams: what placement accuracy the robot must deliver, and what the racking can absorb. Take the design from prototype toward a small production fleet: DFM, reliability, serviceability in the field. Qualifications 4–10+ years of mechanical engineering experience with meaningful time at a robotics company (construction robotics, ag-tech/off-highway autonomy, warehouse/field robotics, or similar). Demonstrated ownership of an electromechanical system that shipped or operated in the real world: not just CAD, but motors, drivetrains, actuation, and integration. Strong fundamentals: structures, mechanisms, GD&T, materials, and enough EE fluency to select motors and drives, read schematics, and debug an integrated system. Rapid prototyping instincts: comfortable in a shop, comfortable in the field, biased toward building over analyzing. Nice to have Heavy machinery and hydraulics experience. Outdoor/mobile robots and harsh-environment design. Experience with pile driving, drilling, or ground-engaging tools. Salary and Benefits Up to $15K Relocation bonus Unlimited PTO Health, Dental, Vision insurance $1K monthly stipend for meals