Founding Robotics Engineer
New York, New York County, New York, 10261, USA
Listed on 2026-03-04
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Engineering
Robotics
We are Starlife, a humanoid robotics company turning physical jobs into remote work. We believe that instead of replacing jobs, humanoids can be a vessel to create jobs, unlocking a world where anyone can do any physical job from anywhere, starting with healthcare reception
Within 11 weeks, we went from an idea to a deployed robot and secured a $3M pre-seed round. We are moving at an incredible pace, and we are looking for a fellow pioneer to join us.
Your MissionBuild the physical humanoid robot that will become the body through which human intelligence reaches into the physical world - reliable, lovable, and manufacturable at scale.
What You’ll Achieve in Your First 12 MonthsYou are in charge of making these things happen:
Design a semi-humanoid humanoid (wheel-base + 2 arms) with BOM under $2,500 and assembly time under 2 hours.
Deliver 5-DOF arms with 3-finger grippers, 2kg payload capacity, sub-centimeter positioning accuracy, and backdrivable joints for safe teleoperation.
Craft a human-robot interaction to achieve 50%+ end-user preference over on-site staff, validated through structured user testing.
Achieve reliability of 500+ hour MTBF across deployed fleet through robust mechanical design, reliable software, sensor integration, and fail-safe systems.
Establish repeatable manufacturing process with documented assembly procedures, quality checks, and component sourcing for 50+ unit production runs.
We are looking for a world-class engineer who embodies these five core competencies:
Mechatronics & Integration
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You've built robots from scratch, integrating motors, sensors, actuators, and compute into cohesive systems.Design for Manufacturing
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You design with cost, assembly time, and supply chain in mind. You understand tolerances, material selection, and scalable production.Rapid Prototyping
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You go from idea to physical prototype in days. Expert in CAD, 3D printing, quick-turn fabrication. Comfortable with ambiguity.Embedded Software & AI
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You write reliable firmware and deploy ML on edge systems. Comfortable with real-time constraints and low-latency code.Human-Robot Interaction Intuition
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You have instinct for what makes robots feel trustworthy vs. creepy. You understand the uncanny valley and design around it.First-Principles Thinking
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You question assumptions others take for granted. You invent novel solutions rather than copying existing approaches.Radical Ownership
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You see a problem and start solving it. You don't wait for permission. You own outcomes, not tasks.
We are not offering a typical role. We are on a mission to fundamentally change the fabric of society and are offering the unique opportunity to do your life's work. Read our manifesto and our thoughts on the future of work.
Write Human History: Become part of the founding team that will hasten the arrival of humanoid robots and fundamentally change the nature of work.
Radical Autonomy: You will have an exceptionally high level of ownership and responsibility to build the core of our company.
Insane Learning Curve: You will be solving some of the hardest challenges in robotics, AI, and software at a pace that is impossible anywhere else.
Significant Ownership: A meaningful stake in the company with a total compensation of $170K-$350K, health insurance, and free housing in our hacker house.
We’re Satrajit and Leander. We’ve worked on robots at CMU, NASA JPL & Lockheed Martin ATL and built Floy (radiology AI, 270+ partner clinics, $14M raised). We’re backed by world-class investors including Outlander (first check in Lyft and Scale AI), Amar Shah (Co-founder, Wayve), and Thomas Wolf (Co-founder, Huggingface).
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