Staff Robotics Engineer

Agility Robotics is a pioneer. Our robot, Digit, is the first to be sold into workplaces across the globe. Our team is differentiated by its expertise in imagining, engineering, and delivering robots with advanced mobility, dexterity, intelligence, and efficiency -- robots specifically designed to work alongside people, in spaces built for people. Every day, we break through engineering challenges and invent new solutions and capabilities that will one day make robots commonplace and approachable. This work is our passion and our responsibility: our mission is to make businesses more productive and people’s lives more fulfilling.

Location:
This position is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with regular travel to our headquarters in Salem, OR, typically one trip  per month on average.

About Agility Robotics
Agility Robotics is pioneering the development of humanoid robots built for real-world work.  Our mission is to create robots that integrate seamlessly into human environments, addressing complex challenges across logistics, manufacturing, and beyond.  As we advance our next-generation platforms, we’re seeking a Staff Robotics Hardware Architect to help define and develop high-performance, system-integrated hardware architectures for humanoid robots.

About the Role
As a Staff Robotics Hardware Architect , you’ll be a key technical contributor to the design, modeling, and integration of Agility’s humanoid robotics platforms. This role bridges deep system-level hardware understanding with simulation-driven analysis, combining architecture ownership with rigorous modeling of kinematics, dynamics, and physical interactions to support performant, reliable, and scalable designs.

You’ll partner closely with mechanical, electrical, firmware, controls, software, and systems engineering teams to guide architectural decisions grounded in physics, trade space analysis, and real-world constraints.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development and evolution of system-level hardware architecture for Agility’s humanoid platforms, focusing on performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Model robotic system behavior using Python-based tools to inform design tradeoffs, spanning kinematics, multibody dynamics, actuation physics, thermal loading, and structural behavior.
• Lead or support trade studies on key architectural decisions (e.g. actuator schemes, joint topology, sensor placement, compute integration), balancing competing constraints such as mass, complexity, manufacturability, and safety.
• Build and maintain analytical and parametric models to simulate full-body behavior, validate architecture choices, and identify failure modes or performance bottlenecks early in development.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including controls and software, to ensure modeling aligns with real-world system performance and that hardware/software integration supports intended use cases.
• Support requirements decomposition and traceability in partnership with systems engineering and V&V teams.
• Participate in FMEA/FMECA, safety reviews, and hazard analysis activities related to hardware systems.
• Contribute to architecture and design reviews, documentation, and technical mentorship within the hardware team.

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in robotics hardware design, architecture, or simulation, with deep exposure to integrated electromechanical systems.
• Strong background in multibody kinematics, dynamics, and mechanism-level physics.
• Proficiency in Python, including numpy/scipy, symbolic modeling (e.g. SymPy), and numerical methods for system simulation and trade studies.
• Demonstrated experience developing or contributing to hardware architecture in robotics systems, particularly high-DOF or legged platforms.
• Familiarity with physics simulation tools such as MuJoCo, Gazebo, PyBullet, or similar, and how to interface them with hardware/system design workflows.
• Working knowledge of electromechanical actuation, sensors, embedded compute, and hardware/software interfaces.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work cross-functionally across disciplines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with humanoid or bipedal robotic systems.
• Exposure to thermal modeling, fatigue estimation, and energy efficiency tradeoffs.
• Experience interfacing with ROS2 or real-time control architectures.
• Familiarity with functional safety concepts and system-level risk analysis.
• Master’s or PhD in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.

Benefits 

• 401(k) Plan: Includes a 6% company match.
• Equity: Company stock options.
• Insurance Coverage: 100% company-paid medical, dental, vision, and short/long-term disability insurance for employees.
• Benefit Start Date: Eligible for benefits on your first day of employment.
• Well-Being Support: Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Time Off:
  • Exempt Employees: Flexible, unlimited PTO and 10 company holidays, including a winter shutdown.
  • Non-Exempt Employees: 10 vacation days, paid sick leave, and 10 company holidays, including a winter shutdown, annually.
• On-Site Perks: Catered lunches four times a week and a variety of healthy snacks and refreshments at our Salem and Pittsburgh locations.
• Parental Leave: Generous paid parental leave programs.
• Work Environment: A culture that supports flexible work arrangements.
• Growth Opportunities: Professional development and tuition reimbursement programs.
• Relocation Assistance: Provided for eligible roles.

Agility Robotics is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits unlawful discriminatory practices, including harassment. Therefore, it is the policy of Agility Robotics to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Agility Robotics prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.

Agility Robotics does not accept unsolicited referrals from third-party recruiting agencies.  We prioritize direct applicants and encourage all qualified candidates to apply directly through our careers page.  If you are represented by a third party, your application may not be considered.  To ensure full consideration, please apply directly.

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