Project Engineer
Sunnyvale, CA · Full-time · Travel ~15%
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 real impact in heavy industry, from construction and mining to energy and logistics. If you’re driven to build rugged, reliable products that solve real-world problems, we’d love to talk.
About the Role
The Project Engineer manages the path from lab capability to repeatable, measured, on-site performance. You integrate Moby’s software and hardware for a customer’s environment, prove it with acceptance tests and evidence, and run the deployment end-to-end with the customer. You also take on special projects, e.g., executive and trade-show demos, international robot shipments and site bring-up, customer training cohorts, and new test infrastructure – cross-functional efforts for which you author the playbook and procedures, architect and improve the process toward scalable standard operating procedures. This is a hands-on, high-ownership role for someone equally at ease building an integrated schedule, debugging a robot on a job site, and briefing a customer’s operations lead.
What You’ll Do
Deployments
- Site readiness: Survey customer sites (environment, lighting, floor and door geometry, network, power, infrastructure). Create the site survey report, listing the gaps to close and the requirements for go-live.
- Integration: Stage acceptance tests in Noble Machines’ lab under conditions that mirror the customer site, covering navigation, perception, and manipulation tasks.
- Test and evidence: Write a test plan for each milestone, run trials, log every run, and produce the evidence pack (metrics, video, fault log).
- Sim-to-real: Feed site data (maps, lighting captures, geometry) back to engineering, and validate fixes in simulation before field rollout.
- Power characterization: Build the duty-cycle and charging model for each deployment, and define on-site charging locations and schedules.
- Safety: Run on-site risk assessments, e-stop procedures, and operator training. Enforce exclusion zones during trials.
- Site operations: Work with the customer’s site team on readiness of tools and equipment (PPE, KVM carts, workbenches, crash carts, site safety training).
- Data outputs: Set up logging and a customer-facing KPI view, and train customer staff to read it.
- Field support: Triage hardware, firmware, and software faults, and lead root-cause analysis. Coordinate spares and RMAs with operations.
- Training: Deliver hands-on training to customer operators and site personnel on safe, effective robot operation.
Special projects
- Own time-boxed, cross-functional projects end-to-end: executive and trade-show demo builds, international shipments and post-transit bring-up (re-calibration, local power, network), customer training cohorts, test-bench and gantry setups, and new-variant pilots.
- For each project, define scope, success criteria, schedule, and owners. Close it with a short retrospective and a reusable playbook.
Schedule and cross-functional leadership
- Lead without direct authority across navigation, perception, manipulation, and controls engineering; hardware and field operations (spares, shipping, RMAs); safety/EHS; and the customer’s operations team.
- Run the cadence: daily stand-up during ramp-up, a weekly technical sync with the customer, and a weekly status and risk report to the TPM.
- Hold a RACI for each milestone. Manage the critical path and dependencies. Escalate blockers within 12 h, and any slip over 2 days within 24 h with a recovery plan.
- Make or drive scope, test, and schedule trade-offs, and document each decision.
- Turn field learnings, edge cases, and customer feedback into concrete product requirements. Build scalable deployment processes, tooling, and documentation as the customer base grows.
What You’ll Bring
- A BS or MS in Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, or Robotics Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent hands-on experience.
- 3+ years leading technical projects or programs, ideally customer-facing and involving robot or hardware deployments (AMRs, mobile manipulators, humanoids) or AI/ML hardware infrastructure.
- Schedule ownership: you have built and run an integrated schedule (critical path, dependencies, gates) with test discipline, clear KPIs, and data-backed reporting.
- Working proficiency in Python and/or C++ on Linux. You can read, debug, and modify code across the stack.
- Comfort with physical systems (wiring, sensors, mechanical troubleshooting) as well as software.
- You are AI-native and comfortable building and automating agents and workflows.
- Clear writing and calm, trust-building communication with customers under pressure.
- Strong ownership and the ability to work independently on ambiguous, high-stakes problems with shifting requirements.
- Willingness to travel (>=15%) to industrial and remote sites, domestic and international, and to do the physical tasks of fieldwork (lifting equipment, working outdoors, wearing required PPE).
Nice to Have
- Deployments in logistics, warehousing, or trailer loading/unloading, or in heavy industry (construction, mining, oil and gas, utilities).
- ROS 2, autonomy stacks, or fleet management. Linux administration, networking, and edge/on-prem deployment.
- Humanoid or whole-body control experience. Simulation tools (NVIDIA Isaac or similar).
- Robot safety practice (ISO 10218, ISO 13482, ANSI/A3 R15.08; risk assessment, e-stop). OSHA 10/30 or MSHA.
- Experience with international shipping and export (Incoterms, export classification, lithium battery transport).
- Data pipelines and dashboarding.
- Field service or startup pilot experience where you were the only project manager and engineer on site.
California Pay Transparency Statement
Under California’s Pay Transparency Act (SB 1162), the expected base salary range for this position in Sunnyvale, CA is $150,000 – $210,000 per year. Actual compensation depends on qualifications, experience, and technical expertise. Base salary is one part of total rewards, which may also include equity, healthcare, retirement contributions, and performance-based incentives.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Noble Machines is an equal opportunity employer. We make employment decisions based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law. We welcome applicants who need accommodations during the hiring process and will work with you to provide them.
