Actuator Gear Design Engineer

OpenAI
San Francisco
Workplace: OnsiteFull timeUSD 266,000 - 380,000 annuallyFunction: Design (Product/UX/UI/Visual)Experience: 5+ yearsEducation: bachelorsSkills: ["Cross-functional collaboration","Engineering rigor","Hands-on debugging","Prototyping","Ownership"]

Lead the development of custom actuator gearing for advanced robotic systems, owning design from early architecture through prototype validation and system integration. Partner across mechanical, electrical, controls, firmware, and reliability teams to optimize torque density, bandwidth, efficiency, thermal performance, and reliability. Develop integrated sensing/encoder strategies, build and debug prototypes, create test and characterization methods, and transition designs to scalable manufacturing with suppliers.

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FursaFursa
OpenAI
OpenAI
2 days ago

Actuator Gear Design Engineer

āœ“ Verified Job

Canonical indexed version, validated from employer's careers page.

Source: Company careers pageValidated by: Fursa AI
Last checked: 4 hours agoStatus: Live

Job Summary

Lead the development of custom actuator gearing for advanced robotic systems, owning design from early architecture through prototype validation and system integration. Partner across mechanical, electrical, controls, firmware, and reliability teams to optimize torque density, bandwidth, efficiency, thermal performance, and reliability. Develop integrated sensing/encoder strategies, build and debug prototypes, create test and characterization methods, and transition designs to scalable manufacturing with suppliers.
Location: San Francisco
Workplace: Onsite
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Design (Product/UX/UI/Visual)
Seniority: Mid level

Key Responsibilities

  • ā€¢Lead the architecture, design, and integration of custom robotic actuator gearing.
  • ā€¢Define actuator requirements and conduct system-level trade studies across performance, robustness, thermal behavior, reliability, manufacturability, and cost.
  • ā€¢Design precision electromechanical assemblies with focus on tolerances, alignment, load paths, sealing, wear, and serviceability.
  • ā€¢Integrate actuators into robotic systems and partner with controls, firmware, electrical, and robotics software teams to optimize closed-loop performance.
  • ā€¢Build and validate prototypes via hands-on bring-up, develop test methodologies and characterization infrastructure, and analyze data to improve designs and reliability.

Pay and Benefits

Salary: USD 266,000 - 380,000 annually
Equity and Bonus:Equity

Key Requirements

  • ā€¢5+ years of experience designing gear systems, robotic actuators, or precision mechatronic hardware.
  • ā€¢Experience developing transmission elements for robotics, automation, aerospace, automotive, or other high-performance dynamic systems.
  • ā€¢Strong understanding of motors, transmissions, bearings, encoders, structural design, thermal management, and precision mechanical integration.
  • ā€¢Familiarity with actuator sensing architectures, including encoder integration and calibration strategies.
  • ā€¢Proficiency with CAD and PLM tools such as NX and Teamcenter (or equivalent systems).
Experience:5+ yearsRoboticsAutomationAerospaceAutomotiveMechatronics
Education:Bachelor's
Skills:Cross-functional collaborationEngineering rigorHands-on debuggingPrototypingOwnership
Tech Stack:CADPLMNXTeamcenterEncodersBearingsMotors

Company Brief

OpenAI
Develops and deploys advanced generative AI models (including ChatGPT and DALLĀ·E) and AI infrastructure, providing APIs and consumer products to accelerate safe AGI for broad benefit.
Industry: AI & Machine Learning
Company Size: Enterprise (1,001+ employees)
Revenue: USD 1B+
Growth: Scaleup
Valuation: Hectocorn (USD 100B+)
Funding: Series E+
Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
Founded: 2015
Glassdoor
Glassdoor: 4.4
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