OpenAI

Manufacturing Engineer, Motors & Actuators

OpenAI$110K — $130K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of experience in manufacturing engineering or related fields
  • Proven track record of developing and improving manufacturing processes
  • Familiarity with electromechanical systems and prototyping
  • Strong CAD skills for tooling and fixture design
  • Knowledge of automated assembly and inspection technologies
  • Experience with process capability studies and structured experiments
  • Interest in leveraging AI for engineering efficiencies

Responsibilities

  • Lead development of processes for stators, tooling, or prototypes from concept to execution
  • Design and deliver custom tooling and fixtures for winding and assembly
  • Execute builds of actuator designs with a focus on quality and timeline
  • Integrate and troubleshoot manufacturing equipment and workflow
  • Analyze and resolve defects and bottlenecks to improve build efficiency
  • Create and maintain documentation on processes and tooling
  • Collaborate with designers to enhance manufacturability while adhering to specifications

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work in a dynamic engineering environment in San Francisco
  • Hands-on involvement with cutting-edge electromechanical systems
  • Collaborative team atmosphere focused on problem-solving
  • Career development opportunities in advanced manufacturing
  • Potential involvement with AI tools and innovations in engineering
Full Job Description
About the Role

We are seeking Manufacturing Engineers to lead the development of processes, tooling, and prototype builds for custom motors and actuators. You will own a primary area as a Stator Process / Manufacturing Engineer, Tooling / Fixture Engineer, or Prototype Manufacturing Engineer, taking that work from early development through validation and repeatable execution in close partnership with mechanical, electromagnetic, electrical, test, quality, and supplier teams.

These roles focus on the development, integration, and validation of electromechanical manufacturing capabilities, including stator winding processes, assembly and inspection tooling, and actuator prototype builds. You will help translate engineering designs into reliable hardware while establishing scalable processes, equipment, and build practices for future robotic platforms.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA, and requires in-person presence 5 days a week.
In this role, you will

Each opening focuses on one of the three specialties below, with shared responsibility for reliable processes and hardware.
  • Stator Process / Manufacturing: develop and validate stacking, winding, termination, and potting processes. Establish process parameters, work instructions, and defect controls that produce consistent results across trained operators.
  • Tooling / Fixture: design and deliver winding tools, assembly fixtures, inspection gauges, and bench equipment, from CAD and drawings through fabrication, commissioning, and troubleshooting. Improve setup time, labor, and repeatability.
  • Prototype Manufacturing: plan and execute builds of existing actuator designs, from parts readiness and work instructions through inspection, approved rework, and delivery of complete actuator assemblies ready for robot integration. Resolve supplier and process issues, track failed parts, and use labor and yield data to improve subsequent builds.
  • Integrate and troubleshoot equipment within your specialty, working through operator workflow, material flow, and controls or test interfaces.
  • Resolve defects and bottlenecks through measurements and controlled trials. Demonstrate improvements in build time, repeatability, yield, and quality against defined acceptance criteria.
  • Release clear process and tooling documentation, maintain revisions, and train technicians and operators to reproduce successful results.
  • Work with mechanical designers to improve manufacturability while preserving approved magnetic, electrical, and safety requirements. Own the tooling designs and drawings needed to build and inspect the hardware, and coordinate product geometry, tolerance, and drawing changes with the product-design owner.
You might thrive in this role if you
  • Have personally developed, built, or improved manufacturing processes, tooling, or electromechanical assemblies, and can explain the engineering decisions and results you owned.
  • Move comfortably between hands-on troubleshooting, technical analysis, and working with technicians, operators, and suppliers.
  • Use measurements and experiments to distinguish part variation, tooling problems, process settings, and operator effects.
  • Choose equipment and automation with sound judgment about production rate, flexibility, cost, safety, and maintainability.
  • Set practical build or development priorities, communicate blockers early, and work across design, controls, test, quality, and operations to resolve them.
Preferred qualifications

Relevant experience depends on the specialty:
  • Stator Process / Manufacturing: stacking, winding, termination, potting or cure processes, and winding or handling tooling.
  • Tooling / Fixture: fixture design, CAD and manufacturing drawings, metrology, equipment commissioning, and repeatability studies.
  • Prototype Manufacturing: electromechanical assembly, build planning, parts readiness, inspection, rework, testing, and delivery of complete hardware builds.
  • Motor, stator, actuator, or comparable electromechanical manufacturing experience.
  • Automated assembly, inline inspection, end-of-line testing, or equipment fault recovery; familiarity with sensors, PLCs, I/O, or pneumatics.
  • Process capability, measurement-system studies, and structured experiments.
  • Interest in using AI to simplify repetitive engineering work, with sound review of its outputs.


About OpenAI

OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory consisting of the for-profit corporation OpenAI LP and its parent company, the non-profit OpenAI Inc. The company was founded in 2015 by a group of technology leaders, including Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, and John Schulman. OpenAI's mission is to develop and promote friendly AI for the betterment of humanity. The company has developed a number of cutting-edge AI technologies, including GPT-3, a language processing system that can generate human-like text. OpenAI has received funding from a number of high-profile investors, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
Learn more about OpenAI
Size
100 employees
Industry
Founded
2015

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