Staff Mechanical Engineer, Technical Lead

Path Robotics•Columbus, OH

12d

About The Position

Path Robotics is seeking a hands-on Technical Lead for its Sensing and Embodied Intelligence team. The role guides the team’s contribution to manipulation products as the company expands from autonomous welding into factory automation. The position sets technical direction for sensing end-of-arm tooling, physical interfaces between robots, tools, sensors, and parts, and task design used to train manipulation models. It combines technical leadership with direct hardware design and implementation. The Technical Lead owns the full hardware lifecycle, from requirements and architecture through prototyping, validation, production release, deployment, and ongoing improvement. The role works across mechanical, electrical, software, and machine learning teams, mentors engineers, collaborates with vendors and the company shop, and drives improvements using root-cause analysis and field and reliability data. The position may support U.S. Government contract work and may involve export-controlled information or Controlled Unclassified Information, subject to applicable compliance requirements.

Requirements

Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
7+ years of experience in robotics, automation, or industrial hardware development, with systems deployed in the real world.
Track record of leading technical direction for a hardware product or subsystem from concept through deployment.
Deep experience designing end-of-arm tooling, grippers, or sensor-integrated robotic payloads.
Strong understanding of how mechanical design affects sensor calibration and performance.
Experience defining interfaces in electromechanical systems, including connectors, cabling, tool changers, and communication protocols.
Proficiency in SolidWorks or equivalent CAD, with PDM-based release workflows.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with imitation or demonstration-based learning and how data-collection design affects model results.

Responsibilities

Own the technical roadmap for sensing end-of-arm tooling, physical interfaces, and training task design.
Translate product goals and model-training needs into hardware requirements and interface specifications.
Lead design reviews and set standards for robustness, serviceability, and manufacturability.
Identify technical risks early and resolve them before they reach the field.
Lead design of end-of-arm tooling integrating cameras, 3D, force/torque, tactile, and proximity sensors.
Define sensor placement, calibration, and mounting to maintain accuracy under vibration, heat, spatter, dust, and repeated contact.
Drive tooling from concept through production release.
Define mechanical, electrical, and data interfaces between robots, tools, tool changers, sensors, fixtures, and workpieces.
Establish standards that allow tools and sensors to be swapped, serviced, and reused across platforms.
Align physical interfaces with hardware abstraction, calibration, and control architecture.
Design tasks, fixtures, parts, and environments for collecting demonstration and training data.
Define task variation, difficulty, and success criteria that represent real industrial work.
Partner with machine learning engineers to connect task design to model performance.
Own the full lifecycle of hardware, including requirements, design, prototyping, validation, deployment, and improvement.
Align hardware with product goals across mechanical, electrical, software, and machine learning teams.
Mentor engineers and develop sound engineering judgment across the team.
Work with vendors, suppliers, and the company shop to turn designs into hardware.
Drive root-cause analysis and design improvements based on field and reliability data.