Engineering Manager, Hardware Integration

About the role

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Engineering Manager to lead Hardware Integration at Apptronik. You will be at the forefront of bringing our humanoid robot platform to life, ensuring every physical subsystem—from high-performance actuators to complex sensor suites—is meticulously integrated into a cohesive, functional system. This is a critical leadership role for an engineer who excels at bridging the gap between individual component design and a fully realized, top-level robotic platform.

Responsibilities

• Team Leadership: Build, lead, and mentor a specialized team of engineers and technicians focused on the physical integration and assembly of complex humanoid robotic systems.
• Prototyping & Concept Derisking: Lead rapid prototyping initiatives to validate novel hardware concepts before committing to full-scale integration. Design and execute targeted derisking experiments for critical electromechanical subsystems to identify and mitigate physical interface, thermal, or kinematic risks early in the development cycle.
• Hardware Bring-Up: Direct prototype hardware integration, guiding the team through physical assembly, initial power-on, and the transition of new hardware designs from the bench to the platform.
• Kinematic & Dynamic Calibration: Develop and release calibration schemes to ensure the robot's physical assembly is precisely aligned with its digital and control models.
• Design for Integration (DfI): Collaborate with mechanical and electrical design teams to ensure sub-assemblies are optimized for modularity, ease of integration, and long-term reliability.
• Lead HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) Testbed Development: Design and build hardware-in-the-loop testbeds to enable rapid iteration cycles and facilitate integration and bring-up tasks, as well as future testing activities.
• Configuration Management: Serve as the primary owner for hardware configuration, including revision control and the creation/maintenance of accurate Top-Level System Bills of Materials (BoM) for the robot and auxiliary equipment.

Requirements

• Leadership: 2+ years in a direct management or technical lead role, with a proven track record of mentoring multi-disciplinary teams.
• Prototyping Expertise: Deep, hands-on experience with rapid prototyping techniques, building proof-of-concept mockups, and developing empirical test plans to validate early-stage hardware.
• Configuration Mastery: Direct experience managing complex BoMs and hardware versioning within a fast-paced R&D or production environment.
• Systems Thinking: Strong ability to troubleshoot interface issues between mechanical, electrical, and firmware layers during the integration phase.
• Communication: Exceptional leadership and problem-solving skills, with the ability to coordinate across diverse engineering departments.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
• Experience: 6+ years of hands-on hardware engineering experience, specifically focused on complex robotics systems.

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times.
• Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen.
• Hearing and speech to communicate.