Softgoods Product Design Engineer

About the role

1X is building humanoid robots for the home that handle chores and give people time back. Since 2014 we’ve solved the hard problems and are now shipping our flagship NEO, a home robot designed to move, learn, and operate alongside real people. The Softgoods team creates the touch‑facing textiles, foams, and elastomers that make NEO feel welcoming and safe. As a Product Design Engineer on this team you will own the full lifecycle of NEO’s softgoods components—from concept through mass production—working with industrial designers, materials scientists, and manufacturing engineers to translate a soft‑touch, welcoming feel into repeatable, high‑volume parts that meet safety, durability, cost, and quality targets.

Responsibilities

• Own the full lifecycle of NEO's softgoods components (textiles, foams, elastomers) from concept through mass production, delivering parts at production quality and on schedule.
• Deliver a soft‑touch, welcoming tactile experience that holds at scale, meeting defined feel and finish standards with a low defect rate.
• Ensure all touch‑facing softgoods meet safety and durability requirements, owning qualification and testing so parts pass validation before launch.
• Drive design‑for‑manufacturability and cost targets, hitting per‑unit cost goals and improving first‑pass yield as parts move from prototype to mass production.
• Qualify materials and manufacturing partners for new and exotic softgoods, bringing production‑ready material solutions to the program.

Requirements

• Experience: 5‑10 years (open to reviewing candidates who shine with less)
• Education: Bachelor of Science in engineering or related field, or equivalent experience
• A portfolio is required, showcasing professional work, personal projects, and passion projects.

Skills

• Take pride in doing things well and don't cut corners.
• Love thinking outside the box and finding creative solutions.
• Get excited blending tried‑and‑true methods with new technologies to solve problems the right way.
• Move fast, own work completely, treat time as irreplaceable, say what they mean, finish what they start, and hold themselves to a high standard.