Senior Member of Technical Staff: Mechanical Engineering — Actuation (Robotics)

Location: Cambridge, MA, United States

Company

hirify.global is developing general-purpose robots for use in homes, workplaces, factories, farms, and other environments.

What you will do

• Design actuator mechanical subsystems, including gear trains, transmissions, housings, bearings, shafts, output interfaces, sensors, and motor packaging.
• Perform component sizing and validation using hand calculations, FEA, tolerance stack-ups, structural and fatigue analysis, stiffness, backlash, and thermal analysis.
• Own designs from concept through DFM/DFA, prototype builds, production release, and collaboration with manufacturers and suppliers.
• Partner with controls, electrical, firmware, and manufacturing teams to integrate actuators into the humanoid robot platform.
• Lead design reviews, hardware bring-up, bench and dynamometer testing, performance characterization, and failure root-cause analysis.
• Establish actuator design standards and mentor engineers.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience delivering precision electromechanical or actuator products from concept through production, or an MS degree plus 3 years of experience.
• Deep expertise in actuator and drivetrain design, including planetary, harmonic, or cycloidal gear trains, bearing selection and preload, shaft and housing design, backlash, and stiffness.
• Strong proficiency with 3D CAD such as SolidWorks, CATIA, or NX, along with GD&T and tolerance analysis.
• Experience using hand calculations and FEA for structural, fatigue, and thermal design decisions.
• Hands-on experience building, instrumenting, and testing hardware, including dynamometer or bench characterization and systematic troubleshooting.
• Employment authorization verification through E-Verify is required after receiving an offer.

Nice to have

• Experience with robotic systems, especially humanoid or manipulation robots.
• Experience designing high-torque-density actuators with frameless or BLDC motor integration.
• Experience with custom planetary, harmonic, or cycloidal gearbox design, KISSsoft or similar gear analysis tools, and high-volume manufacturing of precision mechanical components.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive total compensation with salary, annual cash bonus, and company equity.
• Company-subsidized insurance programs and a 401(k) with company match.
• Flexible PTO and daily lunch.
• Collaborative, humble environment focused on combining technical skills with creative vision.