Senior Mechanical Engineer, Actuators

About Maiden Robotics Every robotics company ends up becoming an actuator company before it can do its real work. We exist to fix that. Maiden designs and builds robot actuators (motors, gearboxes, drivers and firmware) around the robot they go into, and we're working with humanoid and robot arm teams in the US today. The role You'll take a customer's spec all the way to a physical product: concept, CAD, analysis, DFM, GD&T drawings, working with the shops, and the first built units on the bench. Our customers ask for hard things: low gear ratios that stay backdrivable, output bearings that hold up to real arm loads, low backlash, tight envelopes and mass budgets, sealed housings, and all of it at a price that works at volume. Your job is to turn those specs into parts that get made and work. What you'll do - Turn customer specs into actuator designs, then into physical parts - Design planetary gearboxes and actuator housings for torque classes from wrists to legs - Own DFM: design every part to be made at sensible cost, and work with CNC, turning and gear shops to get it right - Make production drawings with full GD&T, datums and fits that a shop can quote, make and inspect from - Select and size bearings, especially output bearings under bending loads - Run tolerance stacks for backlash, air gap and hot conditions - Design for heat, stiffness and sealing, including customer-specific enclosures - Build and test the first units, and feed what you learn back into the design What we're looking for - Previous actuator design experience: you've designed robot actuators or gearboxes that went from spec to real, built parts - Production experience: you've taken a mechanical product into production, not just prototypes - Strong DFM and GD&T: your drawings have been quoted, made and inspected - Strong on gears, bearings and tolerancing - You've worked directly with machine shops or gear suppliers - You can reason from first principles and check your own numbers - Bonus: motors, robotics, quasi-direct-drive actuators, or volume production How to apply Proof of work matters more than titles. Send us something you designed that got built: drawings, photos, test results, anything that shows what you made. Show more Show less