Member of Technical Staff: Quality Engineer

Walden Robotics•Cambridge, MA

11d•$213,000 - $284,000

About The Position

As a Member of Technical Staff, the Quality Engineer will define Walden Robotics' quality systems and help build the team that operates them. The role co-designs the Quality Management System with manufacturing, hardware, supply chain and operations, establishing standards that support high-quality robots, increased throughput, and early detection of issues. This is an opportunity to shape quality processes before production begins and define how Walden robots are built, tested and supported as the company grows. The position combines hands-on quality work with strategic system-building. Work includes measuring parts, performing inspections, and investigating root causes at the bench and on the production line, in collaboration with manufacturing engineering, mechanical and electrical design, sourcing and field operations. Initial priorities include the core quality system, receiving inspection and pre-shipment inspection. Supplier and field quality are also covered until dedicated staff are hired. The role scales quality rigor to the product's stage, using lighter controls for prototypes and stronger controls where safety or customers are at stake, and establishes standards through influence rather than authority.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in mechanical, manufacturing, industrial, electrical or quality engineering, or equivalent experience.
At least 8 years of quality engineering experience with electromechanical hardware in robotics, automation, automotive, aerospace or medical devices.
Track record of building or substantially rebuilding a Quality Management System, including writing procedures that people follow.
Advanced proficiency with DFMEA and PFMEA, control plans, FAI, MSA/Gage R&R, SPC, structured root cause analysis, GD&T and drawing interpretation.
Supplier quality experience, including audits, PPAP or FAI packages, sampling plans and SCARs.
Experience running quality programs across teams and mentoring engineers and technicians.

Nice To Haves

Experience with quality standards such as ISO 9001, IATF 16949 or AS9100.
Quality experience with cable harnesses (IPC/WHMA-A-620), PCBAs (IPC-A-610), or actuators and gearboxes.
Startup or NPI experience moving products from prototype to first production.
Familiarity with functional or machinery safety standards such as ISO 10218 or ISO 13849 for robots working near people.
Experience with PLM, eQMS or ERP systems, and demonstrated use of AI tools to accelerate engineering work.

Responsibilities

Participate in DFM/DFA and design reviews to identify tolerance, inspection and assembly risks early.
Partner with design engineers on DFMEAs and lead PFMEAs with manufacturing engineering; translate them into control plans, inspection plans and in-process checks.
Define end-of-line and pre-shipment acceptance criteria and partner with the test team on robot release testing, including harness integrity and torque verification.
Conduct first article inspections and support EVT, DVT and PVT build readiness and pilot build reports.
Establish supplier quality requirements and help qualify suppliers of machined parts, actuators, harnesses and PCBAs, including overseas suppliers.
Establish receiving inspection, including sampling plans and acceptance criteria tied to critical-to-quality features.
Drive supplier corrective actions to verified root cause and closure.
Work with field operations and robot operators to log, triage and trend failures from deployed robots.
Lead structured root cause analysis using methods such as 8D, 5 Whys and fishbone, and verify that corrective fixes hold.
Set post-repair inspection standards to ensure repaired robots are verified before returning to operation.
Co-design a startup-appropriate Quality Management System with manufacturing, hardware, supply chain and operations, with a structure that can support future certification.
Write and release procedures covering document control, nonconformance, corrective and preventive action, calibration, internal audit, training records, and complaints and RMAs.
Establish document and record control so teams use current released revisions.
Set up traceability for serialized parts, supplier lots and as-built records linking each robot's hardware, firmware and configuration.
Participate in the engineering change process and ensure changes are assessed for quality, inspection and supplier impacts, validated, and incorporated into documents, inventory and production.
Define quality KPIs, including first-pass yield, NCR aging, CAPA closure time, field escapes and supplier PPM, and report them to leadership.
Help define the quality function's structure and hiring sequence as the company grows, including how roles work with manufacturing, design and supply chain.
Help hire quality engineers, supplier quality engineers and inspection technicians by writing role definitions and conducting interviews.
Mentor and train new team members and teach quality tools and practices to engineers across the company.
Promote a culture in which quality is everyone's responsibility, problems are surfaced early and fixes are verified at root cause.