Member of Technical Staff - Robotics Hardware

Warp • South San Francisco, CA

3d

About The Position

Warp Sciences is building scientific infrastructure in the United States to accelerate medicine discovery by bringing together AI, robotics, and life sciences in increasingly automated laboratories. The company builds infrastructure for research teams rather than maintaining a proprietary drug pipeline. Its systems combine AI, robotics, commercially available labware, and purpose-built machines to handle reagents and conduct experiments with minimal human intervention.

The Member of Technical Staff, Robotics Hardware will help build the physical infrastructure of autonomous science. Working across chemistry, AI, software, and hardware, this multidisciplinary role identifies and defines high-impact laboratory automation opportunities and owns the design and implementation of robotics and automation solutions from start to finish.

Requirements

• 7+ years of cradle-to-grave hardware design experience, preferably across multiple engineering domains.
• Hands-on mechanical intuition and comfort building and working in the physical world.
• A demonstrated record of delivering complex hardware projects that work in real-world conditions.
• Strong debugging skills for integrated electrical, mechanical, and software systems.
• Ability to use digital and physical tools to accelerate work and improve quality; examples include FEA, CAD, 3D printing, laser cutting, sheet-metal bending, mills, and lathes.
• Strong mechanical design and engineering fundamentals, including tolerance stackups, material properties, statics, dynamics, free-body diagrams, kinematic constraints, actuator selection and sizing, thermals, and electronics packaging.
• Experience managing and leveraging vendors, with attention to clear communication about costs, lead times, and bottlenecks.
• Knowledge of design-for-assembly and design-for-manufacturing fundamentals, plus direct experience with manufacturing methods and their strengths and limitations, such as CNC machining, sheet metal, overmolding, casting, and injection molding.
• Ability to work effectively in ambiguous environments and add structure when there is no clear path forward.

Nice To Haves

• Robotics hardware experience, including actuator selection, sizing and implementation; mechanism design; sensor selection and integration; communication protocol trade-offs; off-the-shelf robotics hardware; or firmware.
• Knowledge of the strengths and limitations of AI-trained policies and traditional automation, and experience adapting tasks and physical environments to make automation successful.
• Ability to integrate software learnings into hardware design and hardware learnings into software architecture choices.
• Experience building hardware or software for physical-AI data collection, such as teleoperation, UMI, or kinesthetic teaching.
• Experience building and managing data collection efforts.
• Working knowledge of electronics and designing basic custom PCBs.
• Prior startup experience and enthusiasm for working on small teams.
• Experience with design for reliability and functional safety, including FMEA or HIRA/HAZOP.
• Accelerated lifecycle testing experience.
• Organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, or biotech experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and build mechanisms, end effectors, workcells, data collection systems, and custom machines for automating scientific workflows.
• Build physical data collection systems for chemists to use in the chemistry lab.
• Work with chemistry, AI, hardware, and software stakeholders to define the appropriate scope and trade-offs for robotic systems.
• Evaluate when to use simulations, prototypes, off-the-shelf hardware, or custom-built solutions.
• Prioritize work and its scope in view of the broader organization's risk profile; question assumptions and work as part of a team.
• Manage vendors and use outside design resources when appropriate, practical, or expedient.
• Help define a high-agency, high-performance engineering culture.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed