Manipulation robots increasingly need to execute contact-rich grasping within cluttered containers, requiring compliant mechanisms that grip a wide range of items securely without damaging them. At Amazon, our end effectors must also survive continuous, high-cycle contact in facilities that run around the clock. Given the scale of our operations, these mechanisms must be simple to manufacture, deploy, and support. We are looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to own compliant grasping mechanisms and end-of-arm tooling from concept through production, with reliability, fatigue life, and serviceability designed in from the start.
The Manipulation Robotics team develops robotic workcells to pick, grasp, and move millions of items and packages across Amazon's fulfillment network. You will own these mechanisms end to end, and work closely with our scientists and controls engineers so the gripper's mechanical behavior is designed as part of the control strategy. These designs are judged over millions of cycles in the field, not on a first article that works in the lab.
Key job responsibilities
- Own the mechanical design of compliant mechanisms and end-of-arm tooling from concept through scale production, including sustaining support once fielded. Apply judgment about where to design for reuse and extension across applications.
- Design for high-cycle reliability, using fatigue analysis, tolerance stack-up, material selection, and failure-avoidance methods (DFMEA/PFMEA, fault-tree analysis).
- Guide a team of engineers to produce mechanisms that are serviceable, producible, and cost-effective at fleet volumes. This includes field-replaceable or modular designs, design for manufacturability and assembly, and GD&T.
- Characterize the mechanical behavior and response of compliant mechanisms, producing representative models that other disciplines can design against.
- Take designs through the full hardware cycle: requirements definition, CAD modeling, analysis, prototyping, design reviews, detailed drawings, supplier selection, verification, and production ramp.
- Partner with suppliers and contract manufacturers to select the right processes for high-volume production.
- Define durability and reliability validation for components and full mechanisms, in partnership with test engineering.
- Root-cause field failures and feed them back into design, creating mechanisms that prevent the same issue from recurring across programs.
- Mentor and develop other engineers, and raise the standard through design review and technical assessment.
A day in the life
Amazon offers a full range of benefits to support you and eligible family members, including domestic partners and children. Benefits can vary by location, the number of regularly scheduled hours you work, length of employment, and job status such as seasonal or temporary employment. The benefits that generally apply to regular, full-time employees include:
1. Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage
2. Maternity and Parental Leave Options
3. Paid Time Off (PTO)
4. 401(k) Plan
If you are not sure that every qualification on the list above describes you exactly, we'd still love to hear from you! At Amazon, we value people with unique backgrounds, experiences, and skillsets. If you're passionate about this role and want to make an impact on a global scale, please apply!
About the team
We are a small, high-ownership team building robotic workcells, from early-stage R&D through products fielded 24/7 in Amazon fulfillment centers. We work at the hard edge of grasping: contact-rich tasks, deformable and variable items, and mechanisms that must survive millions of cycles at fleet scale. Our people own problems end to end, and scientists work shoulder to shoulder with mechanical, electrical, software, and controls engineers in a fast-moving, highly empowered environment where research ideas turn into shipped systems.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent
- 7+ years of mechanical design experience taking electromechanical products from concept through scale production
- Extensive experience designing mechanisms that integrate actuators, sensors, and moving assemblies
- Proficiency with 3D CAD and 2D detailed drawings, including GD&T (ASME Y14.5).
- Extensive experience designing for manufacturability and assembly, and tolerance analysis.
- Experience with failure-avoidance and reliability methods such as DFMEA/PFMEA and fault-tree analysis.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience designing compliant, underactuated, or adaptive grasping mechanisms.
- Experience designing for high-cycle fatigue life and field serviceability, including modular or replaceable tooling.
- Modeling fluency for control use, including linear/non-linear FEA and low-order or pseudo-rigid-body models of compliant mechanisms.
- Experience with end-of-arm tooling, grippers, or custom mechanical interfaces for robotic systems.
- Experience owning designs from new-product introduction into sustaining engineering for fielded, high-utilization products.
- Familiarity with actuator selection and drivetrain design for compact mechanisms.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
USA, MA, North Reading - 137,300.00 - 185,700.00 USD annually
