Hiring: Senior Mechanical Engineer
At Cargo, we’re backed by some of the best robotics investors in the Valley to transform a massive legacy industry and we’re more than doubling our engineering team to satisfy overwhelming customer demand.
If you’re an exceptional mechanical engineer with a passion for robotics, we want to talk to you. See the JD and instructions on how to get in touch with us below.
About us
Cargo Robotics is creating the logistics infrastructure of the next 100 years by automating the entire delivery chain with containerized physical AI, starting at the delivery van.
Every day, millions of delivery drivers spend hours loading, organizing, and searching for packages in their vehicles. It's physically brutal, wildly inefficient, and one of the most important unsolved problems in global logistics. Our founders worked undercover at UPS and FedEx before starting Cargo, and their experience living these problems firsthand shapes everything we build.
Our first product is the X1 Robotic Cargo Bay, which turns every delivery vehicle into a robotic warehouse. This is the first step to build fast, flawless, and fully automated logistics networks of the future.
We're backed by leading robotics investors and building alongside teammates from Tesla, NASA JPL, Lockheed Martin, Saildrone, Machina Labs, Roam Robotics, Stanford AI Lab, Stanford, Georgia Tech, and Caltech. We are doubling our engineering team and accelerating to meet overwhelming demand from some of the world’s largest logistics companies.
The role
We're looking for a versatile Senior Mechanical Engineer who loves building real hardware and takes ownership of their work from concept to customer deployment. You’ll play a central role on our hardware team developing key mechanical subsystems from concept through prototype and test through manufacturing, deployment, and production scale up. We are a small team, and every engineer owns significant portions of the product. We’re also a user and product-centric company, so expect to deliver some actual parcels in your first week at work!
Get ready, there’s lots to build :)
What you’ll do
Develop core mechanical subsystems from concept through production: including end effectors, transmissions, actuated structures, and user-facing mechanical systems
Collaborate with electrical, software, controls, manufacturing, and operations
Codify promising designs with detailed engineering analysis, develop functional requirements and test plans, anticipate and eliminate failure modes before they occur
Refine designs to increase reliability while cutting cost and weight.
Drive transition to production: lead pilot builds, develop production-level manufacturing and assembly documentation, visit and qualify international suppliers
Help recruit, mentor, and manage as we scale up the team
Work hard and ship fast modeling ownership, integrity, hands-on building, and a production mindset
Directly support and debug our pilots and customer deployments in the US and abroad, and tackle any and all mechanical and production issues on the way to 10’s, 100’s and 1000’s of X1 units operating continuously
Personal characteristics: you are
Biased toward action: take initiative and get stuff done
Driven and gritty: can take punches and keep on going
A quick study: learn fast and teach those around you
Calm in chaos: keep your composure and work through the hurricane
Self-aware and low ego: take and give feedback with grace
You need to bring this:
BS or higher in ME, 5+ years experience developing complex mechanical systems
At least one cycle owning a complex mechanical system from prototype to volume production
Expert-level CAD (SolidWorks preferred)
Strong mechanical intuition and hands-on build skills (machine and wood tools, etc.)
Significant analytical depth: statics, dynamics, FEA, tolerance analysis, fatigue, vibration
DFM/DFA, BOM ownership, production documentation, and manufacturing processes
Experience driving transition from prototype to production including FMEA, DFM/A, BOMs, drawings, test and qualification procedures
Experience diagnosing real-world failures and working with manufacturers to redesign systems for increased reliability, serviceability, and long cycle life
We’d love if you also have this:
Robotics, manipulation, or end-effector design experience
Experience managing product life cycle and navigating supply chain process
Electrical integration, wiring, and cable routing experience
Familiarity with electronics prototyping (Arduino/ESP, etc.)
In your first year
You'll own one or more production robotic subsystems, ship hardware into customer deployments, improve designs through field feedback, visit suppliers, and play a direct role in scaling production from pilots to large commercial fleets.
Compensation and benefits
Competitive salary and meaningful early-stage equity
Company-sponsored medical and dental
401(k) with company match
Unlimited PTO
Free lunch every day :)
How We Work
We're an in-person team in Menlo Park. Building world-class hardware requires rapid iteration, hands-on collaboration, and frequent testing. We’ve got an inspiring industrial office space with an outdoor picnic area and palm trees, and you’ll love coming in every day!
On-site 5 days a week (Menlo Park)
We’re a small team with a big mission, and are passionate about building the future. This takes a lot of time and focus, but we believe it’s also important to invest in the other parts of your life as well to maintain a fast pace long term.
We work in person 5(+) days per week from our office in Menlo Park (industrial loft feel with high ceilings and tons of natural light). We believe this is important to enable tight collaboration and fast iteration.
Apply
Does this sound like you? If you’re excited about Cargo’s mission and think you can rock this role, then we’d love to meet you! Please submit your resume and a brief note highlighting why you are interested in joining Cargo to jobs@withcargo.com.
We also value generalists with the motivation to learn and solve important problems, so we’d love to hear from you even if you don’t have every qualification.
