About the roleWe're looking for a Founding Manufacturing Engineer to be the backbone of how Gradient Robotics turns designs into hardware. This is intentionally a hands-on founding role. You'll own the machine shop end to end while partnering closely with engineers on whatever is highest leverage at any given moment. This is a role for someone who loves turning drawings into precision parts: you'll see a difficult geometry, figure out the fixturing and toolpaths to nail it, and share what you learned so the next part comes out faster. You'll touch nearly every part we build, which means real ownership and room to grow quickly. The impact is significant: you'll keep the in-house shop on critical-path work and turn parts around in hours instead of weeks, while making sure nothing blocks the engineering team from iterating.
Responsibilities- Own the machine shop: operate and maintain our metal manufacturing equipment, including the drill press, CNC router, CNC mill, sheet metal brake, and band saw
- Own CAM and workholding: run Fusion 360, design fixturing and soft jaws, and hold aerospace-style tolerances on aluminum and steel parts
- Be an extension of the engineering team: give design feedback that improves DFM and DFA, and help engineers design parts that are faster and cheaper to make
- Own outsourced machining: manage external vendors for harder geometries (roughly 2-week lead times) so the in-house shop stays focused on critical-path work
- Build repeatable processes so common parts run without rework, and document setups, fixtures, and tooling so nothing needs to be figured out twice
Minimum Qualifications- Hands-on CNC machining experience (3-axis minimum; multi-axis a plus)
- Strong CAM and feeds-and-speeds intuition for aluminum and steel
- Experience with metrology (CMM, height gauge, etc.) and GD&T
- Relentless finisher: nothing you own leaves the shop out of spec, no part goes missing, no deadline slips quietly
- Systems-minded: your instinct after making something twice is to fixture it, template it, or document it
- Able to work on-site in San Francisco 5 days/week (6 days/week if needed during crunch time), embedded in the team
Preferred Qualifications- Experience at a hardware, robotics, or aerospace company
- Experience managing outside machine shops and vendor relationships
- Comfort using AI tools to multiply your own output
