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Staff Systems Engineer - Dexterity

Austin, TX

Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life. Our flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate thoughtfully with people, starting with critical industries such as manufacturing and logistics, with future applications in healthcare, the home, and beyond.

We operate at the cutting edge of embodied AI, applying our expertise across the full robotics stack to solve some of society's most important problems. You will join a team dedicated to bringing Apollo to market at scale, tackling the complex challenges like safety, commercialization, and mass production to change the world for the better.

JOB SUMMARY

 

We are seeking an experienced Staff Systems Engineer to to own the end-to-end architecture, integration, and lifecycle of our next-generation dexterous humanoid robot hands. This role sits at the intersection of mechanical design, embedded systems, sensing, controls, and software integration. You will be responsible for defining system requirements, driving cross-functional execution, and ensuring that our humanoid hands meet performance, reliability, safety, and manufacturability targets. This is a high-impact role with ownership from concept through deployment. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, with a successful track record of leading engineering design verification and product validation of electro-mechanical products, we’d love to speak with you. This position requires deep experience in robotics systems design, scaling complex systems, and the ability to balance technical vision with pragmatic execution.

 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES or KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

  • Define and maintain system-level requirements and specifications.
  • Develop and manage system architecture for dexterous humanoid hands (mechanical, electrical, sensing, actuation, firmware, controls).
  • Drive interface definitions between hand hardware and higher-level robot control systems.
  • Perform trade studies across performance, weight, cost, manufacturability, and reliability.
  • Lead system integration efforts across hardware, firmware, and control stacks.
  • Develop verification and validation (V&V) plans and test protocols.
  • Define performance benchmarks (force control, grip strength, dexterity, tactile feedback, latency, thermal limits).
  • Partner with mechanical, electrical, embedded, controls, AI, and manufacturing teams.
  • Lead Systems requirement definition and integration across all hardware, sensing, compute, power management and distribution, EE architecture, capabilities, and operator interfaces.
  • Design for real-time performance, fault tolerance, and reliability in a production environment
  • Coordinate prototype builds and design reviews.
  • Support supplier selection and qualification for actuators, sensors, and precision components.
  • Support compliance, safety standards, and field deployment readiness.
  • Design and develop requirements for real-time monitoring, data logging and remote diagnostics for production scale robot fleets
  • Drive and support root cause failure analysis and fault recovery mechanism to enhance uptime and performance

 

SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

  • Deep experience in designing and scaling complex hardware systems for real-time, high-DOF robotics applications.
  • Strong understanding of Precision actuation (BLDC, tendon-driven systems, harmonic drives, etc.), Embedded systems and real-time control, Sensor integration (tactile, force/torque, encoders) and Closed-loop control systems
  • Excellent cross-functional communication skills.
  • Experience with dexterous manipulation systems or anthropomorphic robotic hands.
  • Background in tactile sensing, impedance control, or compliant actuation.
  • Experience taking robotic hardware from prototype to production.
  • Knowledge of safety standards for collaborative robotics.
  • Strong grasp of robotics architecture patterns, perception, sensing, actuation, kinematics and dynamics.
  • Strong background in systems architecture, human machine interface design and experience with reliability engineering, including logging, telemetry, debugging, and automated test frameworks.
  • Knowledge of communications protocols, perception (camera) systems, tactile (touch) sensing and their implementation and application in robotics and robotic manipulation
  • Familiarity with human grasp taxonomies and principles of robotic manipulation
  • Well-informed on state-of-the-art in Machine Learning and its applications in robotics controls and robotics manipulation
  • Collaborative, communicative, and motivated by leading a tight knit team of expert engineers
  • Adaptable and comfortable with ambiguity in an R&D focused environment

 

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

Bachelor’s degree in engineering. Master’s and / or PhD degree in engineering preferred.

  • 10+ years in systems and/or software engineering with at least 5+ in complex robotics systems or autonomous systems
  • Demonstrated experience owning system-level architecture of robotic or mechatronic products.

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.

 

 

*This is a direct hire.  Please, no outside Agency solicitations. 

Apptronik provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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