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Mechanical Thermal Principal Design Engineer in San Francisco

45 active opportunities · Updated October 2026

Explore current mechanical thermal principal design engineer jobs in San Francisco. Filter by work mode, employment type, experience, department, date posted and distance.

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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the Team OpenAI is building the infrastructure foundation for the next generation of AI. The Data Center Engineering team defines the strategy, reference architectures, technical requirements, and delivery standards for the large-scale data centers that support OpenAI research, products, and infrastructure partners. As a Data Center Controls Network Engineer, you will design, validate, and scale the controls and OT network architectures that support high-density AI data centers. You will work across controls systems, OT infrastructure, telemetry, commissioning, deployment, and operations, partnering with mechanical, electrical, IT/networking, security, and external delivery teams. About the Role We are seeking a mid to senior OT Network Engineer with a strong controls systems background to lead the design and operation of resilient, secure, and scalable OT network architectures for high-density AI data centers. This role translates compute, power, cooling, and operational requirements into practical OT network designs, evaluates vendor solutions, and drives technical decisions across controls infrastructure, telemetry, commissioning, and operations. The ideal candidate has strong hands-on experience in mission-critical OT environments, including industrial networking, virtualized infrastructure, and OT network operations, with expertise in routing, switching, segmentation, firewall policy, time synchronization, monitoring, and network lifecycle support. Key Responsibilities Define controls, automation, and OT network requirements for AI data center campuses. Develop reference architectures, engineering standards, and reusable design templates. Review and develop basis-of-design and functional design documents, including OT network diagrams, IP/VLAN schemes, telemetry architectures, data flow diagrams, and commissioning requirements. Design OT and infrastructure network architectures, including physical topology, logical topology, IP addressing, subnetting, VLA

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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the Team OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops AI-native silicon and system-level solutions for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. Building on efforts like Jalapeño, the team is developing future generations of AI-native silicon and tightly integrated systems to power the next generation of frontier models. By co-designing chips, systems, tools, and methodologies, the team helps deliver faster, more efficient, and production-ready hardware for OpenAI’s supercomputing platform. About the Role OpenAI's Hardware organization builds supercompute platforms from silicon and boards to full rack-scale systems to power advanced AI workloads. This role owns end-to-end quality for high-speed interconnect hardware across the product lifecycle: early design influence, supplier/contract manufacturer readiness, qualification, ramp, and fleet quality in lab and data center environments. You will be the quality lead for advanced interconnect components and assemblies, including high-speed copper cables, cable cartridges, patch panels, backplane/cable-backplane solutions, high-speed connectors, and related electro-mechanical interfaces. You will partner closely with electrical, mechanical, SI/PI, systems, reliability, operations, and external vendors to prevent escapes and drive rapid, data-driven containment and corrective action. In this role you will: Own quality for advanced interconnect components and assemblies: high-speed connectors, high-speed copper cables, cable cartridges (e.g., cable cassette style assemblies), patch panels & optics, and backplane/cable-backplane interconnect solutions. Drive quality-by-design: participate in design reviews, DFM/DFx, tolerance stacks, material and plating selections, connector mating strategy, strain relief, and assembly methods to reduce variation and field failures. Define and track quality and reliability metrics (DPPM, yield, escapes, RMA/FRACAS trends, Cpk/Ppk where applicable) for interconnects across NPI and m

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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the Team OpenAI is building the infrastructure foundation for the next generation of AI. The Data Center Engineering team defines the strategy, reference architectures, technical requirements, and delivery standards for the large-scale data centers that support OpenAI research, products, and infrastructure partners. As a Data Center Infrastructure Engineering Program Manager, you will help turn complex infrastructure strategy into executable programs across electrical, mechanical, controls, network, hardware, construction, commissioning, deployment, and operations workstreams. You will partner with research, hardware engineering, data center engineering, site development, supply chain, security, EHS, finance, legal, operations, and external delivery partners to bring OpenAI's infrastructure vision to life. About the Role We are looking for an Engineering Program Manager (EPM) to lead assigned infrastructure programs focused on production and non-production network integration, controls coordination, and the design and deployment of data hall or whitespace facilities. The EPM will support functional Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs) across network, controls, structural, electrical, and mechanical disciplines. Key responsibilities include coordinating assigned workstreams and program controls, maintaining risks and interfaces, and supporting readiness within the network and data hall deployment track. The ideal candidate thrives on bringing structure to complex environments characterized by ambiguous technical requirements, large partner ecosystems, tight deadlines, and high operational stakes. This individual must be adept at keeping teams aligned on decisions, risks, dependencies, schedules, and readiness criteria, and escalating gaps or decision points when needed. Candidates should have a proven track record of managing technically challenging engineering programs across major lifecycle phases, including design, validation, procurement, construction, c

AWSRestAIGo
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ High-confidence listingCompany trend -79.2%
Quick readStrong listing-quality and freshness signals

About the Team OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops silicon and system-level solutions designed for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. The team builds next-generation AI-native silicon and systems while working closely with software, research, and manufacturing partners to co-design hardware tightly integrated with AI models. In addition to delivering systems for OpenAI’s supercomputing infrastructure, the team develops the tools, methodologies, and strategic partnerships needed to accelerate hardware innovation. About the Role We’re seeking an experienced Hardware Strategic Sourcing Manager to own sourcing strategy and supplier partnerships for fiber and optical interconnect components across OpenAI’s next-generation AI infrastructure. Reporting to the Head of Partnerships & Strategic Sourcing, you will lead sourcing across fiber cable assemblies, internal optical harnesses, fiber shuffles, optical backplane assemblies, connectorized and standalone passive optical assemblies, fiber-array units (FAUs), fiber-to-chip and coupling interfaces, detachable connectors, optical routing, and assigned optical packaging, assembly, and test services. You will work closely with electrical engineering, optical engineering, systems engineering, mechanical and packaging engineering, quality, rack integration, data-center deployment,manufacturing, supply chain, finance, legal, and program management teams to translate demanding bandwidth, signal integrity, reliability, and scale requirements into resilient supplier partnerships and scalable commercial strategies. Your work will directly support the performance, reliability, manufacturability, and scale of the high-speed optical connectivity required for OpenAI’s next-generation AI systems. In this role, you will: Develop and execute a comprehensive sourcing strategy for fiber and optical interconnect components supporting high-bandwidth AI systems and infrastructure. Own sourcing across optical fiber cable assembli

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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ High-confidence listingCompany trend -79.2%
Quick readStrong listing-quality and freshness signals

About the Team Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and pushing towards AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world settings. Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the constraints of physical systems to improve peoples’ lives. About the Role We’re looking for a Robotics Control Systems Engineer to take on a foundational role within our robotics team. You’ll help architect, implement, tune, and verify the control infrastructure that enables intelligent, reliable, and responsive robot behavior. This is a deeply hands-on role focused on real-time systems, actuation, dynamics, low-level hardware interaction, and whole-robot performance. You’ll spend significant time working directly with robots onsite: debugging behavior, tuning subsystems, running experiments, and providing feedback across mechanical, electrical, and software teams. This role is based in San Francisco, CA, and requires in-person 5 days a week. In this role, you will: Design and implement real-time control algorithms for robotic systems, including motion control, feedback loops, state estimation, actuator control, and subsystem tuning. Define the control architecture from low-level actuators and hardware interfaces through whole-robot behavior and policy. Identify and characterize actuator, hardware, and software parameters through rigorous experimentation, testing, commissioning, and verification. Work with machine learning engineers to implement reinforcement learning models. Collaborate across mechanical, electrical, and software teams to integrate control logic with sensing and actuation hardware. Help inform the mechanical and electrical design to maximize capability and flexibility. Create the control system architecture; determine the correct level of abstraction from actuators all the way up to whole-robot

AWSRestMachine LearningAI
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time· Remote
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About Team Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and advancing toward AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world environments. Working across the full model and systems stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the physical constraints of real-world systems to improve people’s lives. About the Role We are looking for a TPM to drive development and integration of a range of sensor systems for robotics. This role will drive cross-functional alignment across requirements, engineering design, integration, validation, manufacturing, supply chain, and release processes, helping turn complex sensor-system needs into clear plans, decisions, and milestones. Location and in-person expectations: This role is based in San Francisco, CA and requires in-person presence 4 days a week. In this role you will: Drive requirements alignment across engineering design, integration, testing, and validation for camera modules, LiDAR, IMUs, RADAR, proximity sensors, audio components and the systems they interact with. Coordinate the integration of modules including electrical, mechanical, harnessing, and software interfaces with the full robotic system with deep understanding of timelines to drive the respective PCBAs, enclosures, build and test fixtures, connectors and cables. Establish effective cadences for technical reviews, BOM readiness, change management, production releases, approvals, and decision tracking. Align harnesses, fasteners, assembly fixtures, test fixtures, and documentation so cross-functional teams can execute against a clear plan. Lead validation planning around functional, reliability, NVH failure modes, including testing needs, schedules, and exit criteria. Partner with manufacturing and supply chain to manage handoffs, lead times, dependencies, and production readiness. Drive tradeoff decisions across cost, qua

AWSRestAIRust
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the Team OpenAI is helping build the infrastructure that powers the next generation of artificial intelligence. Through Stargate, we are developing and operating large-scale AI compute campuses that require world-class execution across data center design, construction, commissioning, and operations. The Infrastructure Operations team is responsible for bringing AI infrastructure online and ensuring it operates reliably at scale. We partner closely with hardware, network, deployment, construction, and operations teams to deliver mission-critical environments capable of supporting frontier AI workloads. As our footprint expands, operational excellence becomes increasingly important to ensuring safe, reliable, and efficient campus operations. About the Role We are seeking a Facilities Operations Manager to support the commissioning, operational readiness, and long-term operation of next-generation AI data center campuses. This role sits at the intersection of construction, commissioning, hardware deployment, and facilities operations. You will be responsible for ensuring mission-critical infrastructure is prepared to support hardware deployment, transitioned successfully into production operations, and maintained to the highest standards of reliability and availability. You will lead day-to-day operational execution across electrical, mechanical, controls, and supporting infrastructure systems while partnering closely with commissioning teams, site operators, vendors, and engineering organizations. This role requires a strong blend of technical depth, operational leadership, and cross-functional execution. Key Responsibilities Lead day-to-day operations of mission-critical facility infrastructure across AI compute campuses. Own operational readiness activities supporting new campus deployments and infrastructure expansion. Partner with commissioning teams to transition facilities from construction and startup into steady-state operations. Develop, implement, and

AWSRestAIRust
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the Team Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and pushing towards AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world settings. Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the constraints of physical systems to improve peoples’ lives. About the Role We're seeking talented Robotics Software Engineers to expand our robotics data collection and evaluation program. This highly technical role involves designing, implementing, and optimizing software solutions across diverse robotics hardware. You'll work closely and collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams; including software, hardware, research, and operations - to drive advancements in our robotic systems. This role is based in San Francisco, CA, and requires in-person 4 days a week. In this role, you will: Help develop and grow our data collection labs, owning the entire integration lifecycle, from identifying and sourcing new hardware to collaborating with mechanical and electrical engineers on setup, software integration, and operational deployment. Develop innovative robot control interfaces suited to a variety of morphologies, environments, and tasks. Collaborate closely with research and engineering teams to develop automation tools and machinery that facilitate the evaluation of advanced robotic policies. Lead the design and implementation of data collection, visualization, and quality control processes. You might thrive in this role if you: Have 5+ years of professional software engineering experience developing and shipping production-quality systems in robotics or hardware-integrated environments. Have extensive experience integrating and deploying industrial automation systems, off-the-shelf robotics platforms, or custom hardware into production environments. Bring hands-on experience delivering production-quality software

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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the Team Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and advancing toward AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world environments. Working across the full model and systems stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the physical constraints of real-world systems to improve people’s lives. About the Role We're looking for an experienced Electrical Engineer to help develop the next generation of robotic systems at OpenAI. This role spans the full lifecycle of hardware development, from early concept exploration and prototyping through circuit design, component selection, PCB layout, bring-up, integration, and deployment. Engineers in this role are expected to independently drive significant hardware efforts from initial concept through deployment. You will translate ambiguous goals into concrete engineering plans, make key technical decisions, coordinate closely with cross-functional partners, and own execution through the iterations required to deliver a successful system. Many of the systems we build are still being defined. You will work closely with mechanical, firmware, software, controls, and research teams to evaluate new ideas, develop novel hardware, and integrate it into robotic platforms. Success in this role requires strong engineering judgment, comfort operating in ambiguous spaces, and the ability to balance rapid experimentation with the discipline required to build reliable and scalable systems. The ideal candidate enjoys building things from first principles and is equally comfortable evaluating a new technology, debugging a prototype on the bench, reviewing PCB layout details, and driving system integration efforts. You should be able to move quickly when appropriate, but also know when investing in robustness, simplicity, or infrastructure will create leverage for future development. This role is

PythonAWSRestAI
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About Team Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and advancing toward AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world environments. Working across the full model and systems stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the physical constraints of real-world systems to improve people’s lives. About Role We're a growing hardware company. As we scale, we also need a supply chain that evolves and stays nimble to the changing shape and direction our engineers designs. Today we need someone who understands the iterative process of R&D but is also ready to expand into new product introduction (NPI), and after that, high-volume manufacturing. We're hiring for where we're headed, not just where we are today. This role prioritizes judgment, adaptability, and analytical ability over years of experience alone. A strong candidate will be able to reason from first principles, quickly develop expertise in new commodities, and identify potential commercial or technical issues before they affect the program. While extensive tenure is not required, this is not an entry-level position; candidates should have a solid foundation in strategic sourcing, supplier management, and hardware manufacturing. Over time, you'll help us build out a full supply chain organization: buyers, global supply managers (GSMs), contract manufacturing leads, and specialists across categories like precision machining, gears and mechanical components, EMS/PCBA, electrical components, and contract/JDM manufacturing. Where this role goes - into a specific commodity, into people management, into ops - will depend on where you're strongest and where the business needs you most. This role is based in San Francisco, CA and requires in-person presence 4 days a week and up to 30% travel to vendor sites. In this role you will: Partner directly with engineering during R&

AWSRestAgileAI
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the Team Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and pushing towards AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world settings. Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the constraints of physical systems to improve peoples' lives. About the Role You will work at the cutting edge of OpenAI's robotics hardware, partnering with hardware and software teams to develop, build, test, and iterate on robotic systems. Working closely with engineers, you will build prototypes, execute experiments, fabricate fixtures, troubleshoot hardware, and help drive rapid iteration on new robotic technologies. Your practical problem-solving and technical judgment will help move projects from concept to reality. We are looking for versatile, hands-on generalists who enjoy solving problems across mechanical, electrical, fabrication, and experimental domains. The ideal candidate will have strong experience in high-velocity and early-stage hardware development environments, provide thoughtful feedback to engineering teams, and help improve both hardware and development processes. This role will help accelerate robotics development by enabling fast, high-quality iteration on new hardware concepts and systems. This role is based in San Francisco, CA, and is in-person 5 days a week. In this role, you will: Partner closely with engineers, researchers, and other members of the robotics team to support prototype development, experimentation, and hardware iteration. Build, modify, troubleshoot, and repair robotic systems and electromechanical assemblies spanning structural, electrical, sensing, and actuation subsystems. Design and fabricate fixtures, adapters, test equipment, and other prototype hardware that accelerate development efforts. Execute low-volume builds, engineering changes, and rework activities acro

AWSLinuxRestAI
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -73.6%

ABOUT BASETEN Baseten powers mission-critical inference for the world's most dynamic AI companies, like Cursor, Notion, OpenEvidence, Abridge, Clay, Gamma and Writer. By uniting applied AI research, flexible infrastructure, and seamless developer tooling, we enable companies operating at the frontier of AI to bring cutting-edge models into production. We're growing quickly and recently raised our $1.5B Series F , led by Altimeter Capital, Conviction Partners, and Spark Capital. Join us and help build the platform engineers turn to to ship AI products. THE ROLE Baseten's engineers want to work in an AI-first way. What's missing isn't enthusiasm — it's the platform underneath it. Today everyone assembles their own agent config, context files, and MCP servers, so the good patterns stay trapped in individual setups instead of becoming defaults everyone inherits. You'll build that platform: the agent configurations tuned to our monorepo, the context and tooling layer that makes agents competent in our codebase, the evals that tell us which approaches actually work, and the rollout mechanics that get a new engineer productive with agents in week one. You are not here to mandate how engineers use AI — you're here to make the good path the easy path. Success looks like teams adopting what you build because it beats what they'd cobble together themselves, not because a policy requires it. Platform engineer, not AI evangelist. Ship infrastructure, measure it, kill what doesn't work, let adoption be the referee. The playbook for AI-first SDLC doesn't exist at any company yet. You'll write ours. WHAT YOU'LL BUILD Agent substrate — Repo-level context infrastructure that makes agents competent in our codebase ( CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md conventions, architecture and domain context, and the tooling to keep it accurate as code moves). Internal MCP servers giving agents scoped access to CI, observability, incident tooling, deployment state, and docs. Shared skills, subagents, and hooks th

PythonDockerKubernetesCI/CD
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -70%

We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Amsterdam. The Compensation team designs, manages, and evolves Plaid’s compensation strategy to attract, retain, and motivate world-class talent. We make sure compensation is fair inside the company and competitive in the market. We work on programs that connect directly to Plaid’s business goals and employee experience — using data and insight to make equitable, well-informed decisions. Our work spans cash and equity program design, annual and mid-year review cycles, benchmarking, and exec comp support. In this role, you will own compensation support for specific client groups and take the lead on cycle operations and comp tooling across the team. You’ll work alongside a sharp team and closely with Plaid’s Head of Total Rewards. You’ll have clear ownership of your domain from day one, with real exposure to equity program mechanics, exec comp, and board-level deliverables. Responsibilities: Own comp support for specific client groups — offers, promos, manager/HRBP questions — with a high bar for speed and accuracy Lead configuration and rollout of annual and mid-year compensation cycles in Workday and comp tooling Manage and maintain Plaid’s comp systems: Compa, Pave, and external survey tools (Compensia, Radf

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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the role We are building a higher education researcher motion that helps funded labs adopt OpenAI across core research workflows. This role will develop relationships with principal investigators, researchers, research software engineers, research computing teams, and university technology leaders, then translate high-value use cases into sustained Pro, Codex, API, and ChatGPT Edu usage. This is a hybrid business development and program management role. You will identify and qualify priority labs, design phased access and fellows programs, run pilots, remove technical and institutional blockers, and create repeatable paths from individual researchers to lab- and institution-level adoption. Additionally, this role will launch and manage a community of researchers with events, communications and support. In this role, you will: Build a pipeline of funded labs, research centers, and technical champions at priority R1 universities; qualify opportunities based on workflow value, funding path, influence, and expansion potential. Run discovery with researchers and university stakeholders to understand workflows, data and security needs, procurement constraints, and success criteria. Design and operate phased access and fellows programs, including eligibility, selection, offer mechanics, onboarding, office hours, community programming, and pilot goals. Translate research workflows into effective use of Pro, Codex, API, and ChatGPT Edu in partnership with Solutions, Product, and Education account teams. Manage pilots end to end, remove trust, funding, and technical blockers, and drive measurable activation, retention, and expansion. Turn early usage into product feedback, workflow documentation, peer proof, case studies, and repeatable enablement. Build clear handoffs and expansion paths from researcher to lab to institution; track fellow selection, activation, retained usage, workflow proof, conversion, and expansion. You might thrive in this role if you: Relevant exp

AWSRestAIGo
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📍 San Francisco, California, United States· Full-time
✓ Quality checkedCompany trend -79.2%

About the Team The OpenAI Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and pushing towards AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world settings. Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the constraints of physical systems to improve peoples’ lives. About the Role OpenAI Robotics depends on high-quality real-world robot data from a large, live operational environment. That environment has many deployed workcells, changing configurations, and little tolerance for downtime. We are seeking a Field Engineer to help keep that environment running well. You will own the day-to-day technical health of robotic workcells used in ongoing data acquisition operations, diagnose and resolve failures across hardware and software, and build the practical tools, documentation, and support workflows that make operators and technicians more effective. The work is close to the floor, close to the failure modes, and close to the research impact. This role sits at the intersection of software, robotics hardware, and live operations. The best people in it are practical, technically sharp, calm under pressure, and motivated by making real systems work reliably at scale. This role will be based in San Francisco, CA 5 days per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. In this role, you will: Serve as an engineering owner for keeping a fleet of robotic workcells online in daily operation. Diagnose, fix, mitigate, or escalate issues spanning mechanics, electronics, controls, software interfaces, logs, and configuration. Partner closely with technicians, operators, and engineering teams to improve scalable fleet support processes. Build or spec lightweight hardware and software tools that improve monitoring, diagnostics, recovery, and handoffs. Create documentation, SOPs, and diagnostic playbooks that turn en

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