🥋 Mechanical Design Engineer — Exterior & Form

Palo Alto, CA (On-Site)/Full-time

About the role

At Proception, we are engineering the next generation of highly dexterous humanoid manipulators. Our mission is to bring machines closer to human capability by merging innovative mechanical design, sensor integration, and intelligent control. We're looking for a full-time Mechanical Design Engineer to work on structural and actuation design for our humanoid upper body and hand systems—one who also has the eye and surfacing skills to own the exterior when design cycles call for it. Day to day, this is a core mechanical engineering role: mechanisms, prototyping, testing, iteration. Seasonally, you'll lead exterior and form work—covers, housings, and cosmetic surfaces—on top of the structures the team has built.

Requirements

• 01+ years of experience designing mission-critical mechanical systems for robotics or automation
• 02 Mastery of CAD (SolidWorks, Fusion), FEA, and precision design—including surfacing for curvature-continuous cosmetic geometry
• 03 Experience prototyping with your own hands—machining, printing, assembling, debugging
• 04 Fluent in tolerance stack-ups, material properties, thermal constraints, and load paths
• 05 Designed for real-world wear, slop, EMI, torque ripple, and backlash
• 06 Demonstrated eye for form: shipped parts or a portfolio showing engineering work that also looks intentional
• 07 Startup reflexes: you bias toward execution, learn fast, and document like it matters
• 08(+) Experience with humanoids, exoskeletons, prosthetics, soft robots, or tendon drives
• 09(+) Experience with testing and validation of mechanical systems
• 10(+) Working knowledge of CMF and finishing processes—anodization, bead blasting, molded textures, paint
• 11(+) Rendering skills (KeyShot, Blender)

Details & responsibilities

• 01 Design high-DOF robotic arms and hands for dynamic manipulation—mechanisms, structures, and compliant systems
• 02 Drive simulation, analysis, prototyping, and testing in a no-silos, build-it-yourself workflow
• 03 Iterate hardware based on test data, field failure, or system noise—fast
• 04 Lead seasonal exterior and form work: covers, housings, part breaks, and tendon/cable concealment over existing structures
• 05 Design cosmetic parts as structural parts: impact resistance, cycle life, and serviceable fastening
• 06 Define and qualify CMF—finish, texture, color, marking—with vendors for durability and repeatability
• 07 Produce renders for design reviews, investor materials, and launch
• 08 Collaborate tightly with controls, perception, and firmware teams to deliver integrated, elegant robots
• 09 Write clear, transferable documentation for scaling what works—and killing what doesn't

Compensation & benefits

• 01 Competitive salary and meaningful equity
• 02 Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
• 03 Work with world-class researchers and engineers in AI and robotics
• 04 High-ownership role with opportunity to lead mechanical and exterior design efforts
• 05 Help define and build next-generation embodied intelligence systems

Interested in this role?

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