Mechanical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics

OpenAI•San Francisco, CA

7d•$318,000 - $423,000•Onsite

About The Position

OpenAI’s Robotics team is seeking a senior individual-contributor Mechanical Engineer to lead printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) test fixtures and infrastructure for advanced robotic systems. The role independently translates evolving requirements into working fixtures, makes technical tradeoffs, and owns delivery from concept and detailed design through fabrication, validation, deployment, and reliable operation. The work combines development-lab activity with deployment at contract manufacturers. It involves building precision mechanical systems for board programming, functional testing, and characterization, such as board nests, probe plates, connector interfaces, alignment features, clamps, enclosures, and thermal interfaces. The engineer partners with electrical, firmware, software, manufacturing, and reliability teams to make fixtures repeatable, protective of delicate assemblies, and maintainable as board designs evolve. The role is based in San Francisco, California, with in-person presence required four days per week. Travel to contract-manufacturer sites is part of the role, timed according to build and deployment needs.

Requirements

Demonstrated ability to independently deliver significant precision-fixture or equipment projects from ambiguous requirements through detailed design, fabrication, validation, and sustained use.
Strong 3D CAD and released-drawing capability, including complete fabrication and assembly packages, bills of materials, and revision control.
Strong fundamentals in GD&T, tolerance analysis, locating schemes, stiffness, compliance, contact forces, and load paths.
Hands-on ability to work with fabrication partners, assemble and measure fixtures, diagnose failures, and iterate hardware in a lab or manufacturing environment.
Ability to define and execute fixture acceptance checks for alignment, force, repeatability, wear, and safe operation, using evidence to distinguish fixture problems from product variation.
Ability to communicate interfaces and tradeoffs across electrical, software, manufacturing, and operations teams and support deployment and troubleshooting at contract manufacturers.

Nice To Haves

Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Prior PCBA test-fixture experience with board nests, probe or bed-of-nails fixtures, connector mating, and protection of delicate electronic assemblies.
Experience with ESD-aware tooling, thermal interfaces, actuated fixtures, interlocks, or structural and thermal simulation.
Experience with NX, SolidWorks, Creo, or equivalent tools; robotics hardware; or fixture replication and new-product builds at contract manufacturers.

Responsibilities

Own the mechanical architecture of PCBA test stations, including frames, board nests, datum schemes, access, guarding, ergonomics, and serviceability.
Design probe and bed-of-nails fixtures, connector-mating mechanisms, board supports, clamps, and interchangeable tooling for programming, functional testing, and characterization.
Use first-principles analysis and simulation to assess stiffness, probe and insertion forces, board deflection, tolerance stacks, thermal growth, and fixture life; validate key predictions on hardware.
Develop locating and compliance features that accommodate board and assembly variation, protect components and solder joints, and preserve contact repeatability across loading cycles and board revisions.
Partner with electrical engineers on test-point access, probe selection, connector engagement, ESD provisions, cable routing, cooling, and interlocks; define motion and sequencing constraints with software and controls partners.
Build, assemble, instrument, and debug fixtures in the lab. Establish acceptance checks for alignment, force, board strain where needed, contact repeatability, and cycle life; distinguish fixture problems from board failures.
Design safe loading, pinch-point protection, hard stops, and operator access for manual or actuated fixtures. Make wear components easy to inspect, clean, and replace.
Manage fabrication partners and component vendors. Release CAD, drawings, bills of materials, tolerance analyses, assembly instructions, inspection plans, and maintenance procedures.
Own fixture deployment and acceptance at contract manufacturers, including assembly and alignment checks, correlation with lab fixtures, operator training, and troubleshooting. Support replication, board-revision changes, and maintenance through released documentation.
Deliver reusable PCBA fixtures that meet agreed alignment, contact, board-support, and loading requirements, demonstrating repeatability and protection of the assembly under test.
Validate fixture wear and cycle life, identify sources of intermittent contact or board loading, and improve contact-related failures, changeover time, and serviceability against agreed targets.
Deploy and accept fixtures at contract manufacturers with documentation that enables others to reproduce and sustain them.