Lead Robotics Engineer

Arran Bridge is partnering with a confidential, early-stage robotics startup in the Boston area to hire their first Lead Robotics Engineer .

About the company:

The company is building mobile robots for heavy industry, automating a dirty, dangerous manual process that exposes workers to serious health hazards and creates a major production bottleneck. It's a large, overlooked market with a clear safety and sustainability impact.

About the role:

This is the company's first engineering leader, reporting directly to the CEO. You'll drive system architecture hands-on while leading a small team through prototyping, testing and field deployment. The role begins as the company closes its first funding round at the end of 2026.

What you'll do:

• Lead a team of 3 to 5 engineers, coordinating mechanical, electrical and software work and setting technical priorities
• Own system architecture decisions across the full robotic platform
• Lead hardware integration of sensors, actuators, power systems, compute and the core processing subsystem into a reliable platform
• Build and iterate on prototypes and validate them through field testing in real industrial settings
• Make pragmatic build vs buy and design trade-off decisions
• Establish engineering practices, documentation and processes that scale as the team and product grow
• Work directly with customers and partners to translate field requirements into technical solutions, including some travel to customer sites

What you'll bring:

• Deep, hands-on experience in robotics hardware and systems integration
• A track record of personally taking robotic products from prototype to deployment, especially in real factory or industrial environments
• The ability to lead across mechanical, electrical and software engineering workstreams

Nice to have, in some combination:

• Electrical systems integration across controllers, sensors and actuators
• Power electronics and BMS for robotics
• Programming commercial 6-DOF robotic arms
• SLAM and robotic navigation
• Computer vision for industrial or factory applications
• Industrial automation experience in manufacturing or heavy industry
• Familiarity with energy-based processing tools
• Experience at a well known robotics, autonomy, or hardware company, or at a high growth startup that shipped products at scale
• A graduate degree in robotics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering or a related field

Why this role:

• Build a category-defining product that meaningfully improves worker safety and sustainability
• Own core technology from the earliest stage, with direct influence over architecture, team and roadmap

Compensation:

• Salary range $180k+, negotiable
• Significant equity ownership
• Health insurance and other benefits
• Start date: Last Quarter of 2026

About Arran Bridge

Arran Bridge is a Maine-based People and Talent partner helping startups and growing companies plan their teams, build hiring systems and recruit critical hires. Applications go directly to Rory Shanks, founder of Arran Bridge, who will share full company details with qualified candidates and keep every applicant updated on where things stand.