Mechatronics Engineer, Robotics Hardware

FieldAI • Irvine, CA

10h • Onsite

About The Position

FieldAI's Irvine team focuses on embodied AI and its application to real robots, sensors, and field deployments. Located in Southern California's robotics hub, the team develops risk-aware, reliable, and field-ready AI systems to tackle complex robotics challenges and realize the full potential of embodied intelligence. Unlike purely data-driven or transformer-only approaches, FieldAI combines rigorous engineering with learning systems that have been proven in globally deployed solutions, delivering results and continuous improvement through real-world robot operations. The Hardware Team specifically designs and integrates perception and compute payloads for autonomous robotics systems operating in challenging environments. Their work covers the entire hardware stack, including sensing systems (LiDAR, cameras, TOF, IMU, GPS), embedded compute (CPUs, GPUs, microcontrollers, Linux, ROS), electrical systems (power distribution, communication), and mechanical components (structures, thermal regulation, ingress protection). The team is involved in both development (research, design, prototyping, testing) and operations (production, testing, QA, debugging), with a focus on enhancing core capabilities, system reliability, and system scalability. As a growing team, they are also establishing operational systems and procedures from the ground up.

Requirements

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Mechatronics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.
• Proficient with SolidWorks or equivalent mechanical CAD platforms, with experience designing enclosures, mounts, and structural packaging.
• Experience with PCB schematic and layout tools (KiCAD, Altium, or equivalent), particularly for power regulation and communication systems.
• Hands-on experience with motors, actuators, drives, and feedback control systems.
• Familiarity with thermal mitigation strategies and structural design for rugged, outdoor-operating hardware.
• Comfort working across the mechanical-electrical boundary — wire routing, PCB placement, thermal paths, ingress protection.
• Experience working with external fab shops and hands-on assembly, bring-up, and integration of hardware.
• Comfort with hardware debugging tools (oscilloscopes, power monitors, logs, analyzers) to diagnose failures to root cause across mechanical, electrical, and firmware boundaries.
• Ability to work across mechanical, electrical, and autonomy domains to deliver robust, integrated hardware.
• Willingness to support hardware in the field and iterate designs based on real-world failures.

Nice To Haves

• Experience taking systems from prototype to large scale production.
• Experience developing systems for harsh field environments.
• Experience working on robotics deployed in real world settings such as autonomous vehicles, drones, or ruggedized robots.
• Background in motor control, servo systems, or robotic manipulation/locomotion hardware.
• Experience with robotic arms, manipulators, or multi-robot collaborative systems.
• Fluency across mechanical, electrical, and software systems.

Responsibilities

• Design packaging and mounting solutions for electronics compute boxes on large vehicle platforms.
• Integrate sensor suites (cameras, LiDARs, GPS, IMU) with the platform.
• Investigate and solve thermal and structural challenges for autonomy hardware in rugged outdoor environments.
• Work with external fabrication shops to produce mechanical hardware and perform hands-on assembly, bring-up, and integration onto wheeled platforms.
• Design PCBs for power regulation/distribution and wired communication systems.
• Evaluate and integrate sensors (cameras, LiDARs) and test new onboard computers.
• Perform mechanical-electrical integration, including wire routing, PCB placement, and thermal path management.
• Bring up and validate electrical hardware, diagnosing failures to root cause.
• Design and integrate actuation systems (motors, drives, actuators) with mechanical structures and electrical control systems.
• Support tuning and validation of control loops (motion, actuation feedback) for mechatronic subsystems.
• Diagnose issues that span mechanical, electrical, and firmware boundaries.
• Integrate mechanical and electrical hardware onto large wheeled platforms from CAD through installed, running hardware.
• Support deployed hardware in the field, diagnosing real-world failures and feeding fixes back into design iterations.
• Contribute across full-stack robotics hardware, working with mechanical, electrical, and embedded engineers.
• Collaborate with the autonomy team on hardware decisions and safety-critical systems.
• Potentially contribute to special projects integrating multiple modalities, such as robotic arms with wheeled vehicles or multi-robot collaborative efforts.

Benefits

• Generous salary range
• Consideration of individual background and experience for final compensation
• Potential for base pay variation based on role scope, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and market

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree