Mechanical Design Engineer, Hands Structures & Integration

ABOUT 1X

We’re building humanoid robots that work in home - doing the chores, handling the tasks, and giving people their time back. Simple, but it’s not.

To do this right, we have to solve robotics, AI, manufacturing - at the same time, at scale, in a form factor that has to be safe enough to live with your family. If you’re inspired by this, you’ll thrive here. We’ve been at this since 2014 and we’re at the point where the hard problems are behind us and the hard work is in front of us.

NEO is our flagship - a home robot designed to move, learn, and operate in the real world alongside real people. We’re not demoing it - we’re shipping it. We’re excited to meet you, if this excites you.

If you’ve spent your career working on problems that matter and want to see them actually reach the world - this is that moment. We’re scaling, we’re hiring with intention, and we need people who want to build something that will genuinely change how humans spend their time - safely creating abundance for all.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Hardware Engineering team designs and delivers the electromechanical systems that allow NEO to move, manipulate, and interact safely with the world. From structural components and precision mechanisms to complete robotic subsystems, the team owns hardware development from concept through production.

Working closely with electrical, controls, firmware, manufacturing, and robotics engineers, you'll help transform ambitious ideas into robust, manufacturable products that operate reliably in real-world environments.

YOUR CHARTER

Design and deliver lightweight, structurally optimized, highly integrated structures that enable NEO’s hands to perform reliably and be manufactured at scale.

You will design and develop structural components and assemblies that integrate actuators, electronics, mechanisms, sensors, wiring, and thermal hardware within extremely constrained mechanical envelopes.

You will use structural analysis, FEA, optimization, and physical testing to drive design decisions and develop hardware that balances stiffness, strength, mass, packaging, reliability, manufacturability, and cost.

KEY OUTCOMES

- Design and release structural components and assemblies that meet performance, reliability, cost, and manufacturability requirements

- Develop highly integrated structures that package actuators, electronics, mechanisms, sensors, wiring, and thermal hardware within tight space constraints

- Use structural FEA, first-principles analysis, and physical testing to drive design decisions and optimize structures for stiffness, strength, mass, and packaging

- Design and execute structural tests to validate assumptions, correlate analytical and FEA models, characterize failure modes, and drive design iterations

- Drive designs from concept through detailed design, prototyping, validation, and production release

- Design for high-volume manufacturing and drive DFM, DFA, tolerance analysis, and cost optimization throughout development

- Work closely with electrical, thermal, materials, test, and manufacturing teams to define interfaces and develop integrated mechanical solutions

- Work directly with suppliers and manufacturing partners to resolve DFM issues, validate production processes, and support production ramp

- Support hardware through production ramp and continuous improvement, identifying and resolving design, reliability, and manufacturing issues

KEY COMPETENCIES

- Strong mechanical engineering fundamentals with the ability to design practical, high-performance hardware

- Hands-on engineering mindset with experience building, testing, and refining physical prototypes

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to make sound engineering trade-offs

- Excellent collaboration skills across multidisciplinary engineering teams

- High attention to detail with a commitment to delivering reliable, production-ready designs

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

- Bachelor's degree …