Lead Mechanical Engineer

ABOUT HAPTICA Haptica is building the standard for touch in robotics.

We build pneumatic-based tactile sensing wearables for robots and people that are natively bi-directional. The same hardware that senses contact can push back with force. Haptica integrates across grippers, robot hands, and human hands. Teleop teams use Haptica to give operators low-latency haptic feedback that replicates the forces a robot exerts on an object. Data and learning teams use Haptica to capture the tactile layer that's missing from every robot-learning stack — whether they're training policies, collecting data at scale, or deploying a specific task.

Haptica was founded by Dr. Cosima du Pasquier and Paola Peraza Calderon in 2026 and is backed by top tier investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Leitmotif, NVP Capital, and Sarah Smith Fund. Haptica’s advisors include famed roboticist Rodney Brooks, Benchmark Capital co-founder Andy Rachleff, and haptics expert Allison Okamura.

We’re a small and mighty team of builders driven to unlock touch as the new frontier. The next 6 months for us are all about building high quality hardware, quantifiably establishing the impact of tactile data on learning policies, and hiring A-players that can help us scale in 2027.

ABOUT THE ROLE We are looking for a Lead Mechanical Engineer to join our hardware team and help take our glove from a working prototype to something we can build in small batch manufacturing. We have a strong internal baseline already, and need someone to level up even higher. We’re looking for someone with experience working in startup environments, who has gone through the product development cycle - from product design to DFM, to manufacturing with outside vendors and in Asia - and is excited to take a lead role in our team, while still contributing to the engineering. We want you to grow along Haptica in this role. You'll join a passionate and talented hardware team. We currently have one mechanical engineer, one firmware and controls engineer, a contract electrical engineer and a fractional hardware lead. We’re small now, but we want you to be excited about setting the bar and building out our team further. Expect to work closely with Cosima (CEO), to ensure that our technology delivers the level of reliability, robustness, and comfort that the world's best robotics companies are looking for.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Own Haptica's build end-to-end. This means help with planning internal and external builds, own assembly SOPs, jigs and fixtures, kitting, and BOM and inventory. You will own both internal assembly as well as scaling up EVT/DVT builds with external partners.

• Integrate Haptica with customers. Partner with major robotics companies to deploy Haptica hardware with external platforms. Drive the ME roadmap that makes integrating Haptica easy and reliable with robotic hands and grippers of all kinds.

• Build out our test program. Help us make sure that what we build will last! This means laying out standard ASTM/ISO testing protocols (peel, cycle, abrasion, environmental) to be run in house or externally. You own the testing planning that heavily informs design decisions and fulfills customer standards.

• Partner with supply chain vendors. Work directly with contract manufacturers in the US and in Asia to transition from manual assembly to small batch production. Help us define scope, testing, feedback on manufacturability, and balance quality with both speed and cost constraints.

• Set the standards for process and documentation. As we grow, how we write PRDs, BOMs, and SOPs will be increasingly important. Help us set a high bar and make the Haptica team unusually excellent at handing off work from design to manufacturing.

• Mentor and lead. Expect to work closely with engineers earlier in their career and build out a function where learning from each other and from our customers is a priority.

WHO YOU ARE

• You have 3 to 5+ years in mechanical product design. MSc or equivalent in Mechanical Engineering.

• You've brought at least 1 product from concept to production and worked at a startup, or comparable fast-paced environment.

• You’re a leader. We want you to bring high technical standards and an above-average communication skillset. You naturally force multiply everyone around you.

• You're excellent at CAD (Onshape preferred, SolidWorks or Fusion are ok) and bring good habits around top level assemblies and versioning.

• You understand the standards that robotics companies need to uphold to deploy in production, and have experience designing and running test protocols to ASTM or similar.

• You're comfortable with mechatronics. You've worked with sensors and custom boards, you can flash firmware and make small changes. You can use a multimeter and a scope to find a problem before handing it to an EE.

• You're a hands-on prototyper. You're good at 3D printing, operating a desktop CNC, machining, and managing fixtures to create an enhanced product.

• You have experience working with manufacturing partners overseas and understand the process of getting quotes, calibrating timelines, and adjusting design for manufacturability.

BONUS IF

• You have experience in pneumatics or fluidics (valves, manifolds, sealing, leak testing).

• You have experience in softgoods, sewn goods, textiles or wearables.

• You've owned or managed DFM at a larger company and grew a product to scale.

If you're excited about working at Haptica but don't meet every single requirement, we strongly encourage you to apply. We will always read your application and see if there's a fit.

Haptica is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status.