Manufacturing and Test Engineer
About Noble Machines
Noble Machines builds multipurpose robots to support human workers in the world's toughest jobs - turning dangerous work from a necessity into a choice. Our work demands reliability, robustness, and readiness for the unexpected - on time, every time. We're assembling a mission-driven team focused on delivering real impact in heavy industry, from construction and mining to energy. If you're driven to build rugged, reliable products that solve real-world problems, we'd love to talk.
Position Overview
At Noble Machines, building robots is a team sport. As a Manufacturing and Test Engineer, you'll have a lead role on the technical path from our pilot line to low-volume production and beyond. As an early leader of this capacity, you'll shape how our robots are assembled, calibrated, tested, and released - and build the foundation of our future manufacturing capability.
This is a hands-on role with broad scope and impact that directly affects our customers. You'll move between process improvements, fixture design, test development, and troubleshooting on the floor. The product and process will evolve together: you'll establish a workable approach, learn from each build, and add the controls and automation that production actually needs. You'll set priorities, make tradeoffs, and turn individual engineering successes into a reliable process that a growing team can repeat. You'll work with cutting-edge robotics systems and software and implement the processes that enable continued development.
Responsibilities
- Be part of the team that owns continuous improvement across manufacturing, testing, and supplier quality. Be pragmatic about what is needed today and what to build for tomorrow. You will take ownership of making production better every day.
- Own the manufacturing and production test roadmap for low-volume production; define milestones, readiness criteria, risks. Work directly with company leadership to define priorities and resources needed to be successful.
- Develop the assembly flow, station layout, fixtures, and capacity plan for subsystem and full-robot builds; choose practical manual processes and introduce automation where it improves quality or throughput.
- Own production test coverage, measurement methods, calibration, acceptance criteria, and test station architecture with design and software engineers; distinguish product failures from test system issues.
- Use our MES to establish controlled work instructions, build records, inspection points, and traceability; keep parts lists, hardware revisions, test configurations, and engineering changes aligned.
- Lead root-cause investigations across mechanical, electrical, software, and process issues; verify corrective actions and feed manufacturability, assembly, and test results back into the design.
- As the team grows, mentor fellow manufacturing engineers and teammates across other functions on manufacturing best practices; establish effective troubleshooting and process development practices and stay directly involved in critical builds and line bring-up.
Requirements
- 4+ years of relevant experience in manufacturing engineering, test engineering, or NPI for complex electromechanical hardware.
- Degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, mechatronics, manufacturing engineering, related fields, or equivalent practical experience in manufacturing.
- Demonstrated ownership of a product or process transition from prototype or pilot builds into repeatable production, preferably at low to mid volumes.
- Hands-on experience developing assembly processes, fixtures, production tests, and calibration methods; strong troubleshooting across mechanical and electrical interfaces.
- Experience with test instrumentation, data acquisition, and scripting or programming, such as Python, to develop or improve production test systems.
- Proficiency in CAD, engineering drawings, tolerances, and design for manufacturing, assembly, and test.
- Ability to lead technical decisions across teams and deliver practical results in a dynamic environment with evolving requirements.
Nice to Have
- Experience with robotics, motion systems, or full-system functional testing.
- Experience establishing a manufacturing or test capability at an early-stage hardware company.
- Experience with PLM and MES systems, serialization and traceability, and supplier process development.
- Experience working with suppliers and outsourcing to contract manufacturers.
- We encourage you to share a public portfolio or examples of hardware, fixtures, tests, or process improvements you have built. Please describe your individual contribution and share only material you are permitted to disclose.
California Pay Transparency Statement
Expected annual base salary range for this Sunnyvale position: $150,000 – $170,000. Compensation will reflect relevant experience, skills, and expertise. The total rewards package may also include equity, healthcare benefits, retirement contributions, and performance incentives.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Noble Machines welcomes candidates from all backgrounds. We make employment decisions based on business needs, role requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to any status protected by applicable law. We are committed to a diverse team and an inclusive workplace.
