Robotics Test Engineer (AI)

Location: San Francisco, United States; onsite

Salary: $225K–$318K plus equity

Company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company developing general-purpose artificial intelligence and robotics systems.

What you will do

• Design and build custom test benches for robotic and electromechanical systems using CAD, engineering drawings, and GD&T.
• Develop test plans and execute validation, verification, reliability, environmental, qualification, compliance, and regulatory testing.
• Instrument robotic hardware, operate and debug test equipment, and collect quantitative and qualitative data with high fidelity.
• Analyze test data, identify trends, anomalies, and root causes, and write actionable reports with risks and recommendations.
• Partner with mechanical, electrical, software, controls, manufacturing, product, and leadership teams to guide design iterations and decisions.
• Determine in-house versus third-party testing strategies for product standards and certification campaigns.

Requirements

• Strong intuition for mechanical and electromechanical systems, including how they fail, degrade, or vary in real-world operation.
• Hands-on experience designing, instrumenting, operating, and debugging test equipment and robotic hardware.
• Ability to turn evolving requirements and ambiguous failures into repeatable tests, reliable data, and clear engineering decisions.
• Ability to balance rigorous validation, safety, and traceability with rapid hardware iteration.
• Clear communication across mechanical, electrical, software, controls, and manufacturing teams, with the ability to align stakeholders on risks and corrective actions.
• 7+ years of hardware testing or validation experience, including at least 2 years with robotics hardware components and systems.
• Bachelor’s or graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with sensors, instrumentation, DAQ systems, calibration, measurement traceability, automated or hardware-in-the-loop testing, and data collection and analysis.
• Experience using Python, C/C++, or AI coding tools; designing reliability, accelerated life, environmental, and hardware qualification tests; supporting EVT, DVT, PVT, pilot production, or sustaining validation; and applying root cause analysis, FMEA, or FEA.
• Experience executing product standards compliance certification campaigns.

Culture & Benefits

• Work is performed onsite in San Francisco within a robotics research and deployment environment.
• Employment is full time and includes equity.
• OpenAI is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities.
• Background checks are administered in accordance with applicable law, including fair-chance requirements for US-based candidates.