Job description

About Tutor We believe robots will be the next chapter in making physical labor safer and more affordable. But, nearly nine out of ten American factories and warehouses don’t have a single robot. Tutor Intelligence is changing that. We build robots that go straight into real factories and warehouses, to do real work, with real impact. Our robot Cassie does back-breaking work, moving boxes, pallets, and bulk goods for family-owned manufacturers to some of the largest brands in the world. Our robot Sonny does handwork, using two arms to achieve human-like dexterity in picking and packing. Every robot learns on the job, and each one we deploy makes the next one more capable, more affordable, and faster to put to work. Founded at MIT and headquartered in Watertown, MA, we do it all in-house: the robotics hardware, the machine learning, and the field deployment and service. We’re a team of researchers, engineers, technicians, operators, and sellers who love building things and solving hard problems. Our mission is grand: robots everywhere, for the common good, raising the standard of living across North America, and then the world. The Role Our robots are built from hardware we design and hardware we buy, and many of our suppliers are in China. We're looking for an engineer to evaluate that hardware, integrate it into our robots, and work directly with the suppliers who make it. This is an engineering role. You will measure suppliers' hardware on the bench, review their designs, find where they fall short, and work with their engineers, in Mandarin, on the fix. You will be based in Watertown and spend a large part of your time at supplier sites. As this work grows, there is room to hire and lead other engineers doing it. What You'll Do Evaluate new hardware: Characterize arms, actuators, sensors and other components on the bench, including torque, stiffness, backlash, thermal behavior and electrical noise Review suppliers' designs: Read their drawings and schematics, find the weak points, and propose changes Integrate and test: Design the mounts, harnesses and interfaces that put new hardware on our robots, then test until it holds up Work with suppliers' engineers: Spend time at their sites, agree on changes, and keep the work moving between visits Carry our requirements: Make sure the people building for us understand what we need and why Build prototypes: Run small prototype builds and bring what you learn back to the design team Travel: Spend roughly a third to half of your time in China What We're Looking For Depth in mechanical or electrical engineering: You have designed hardware that shipped, and you can explain the design decisions you made Working ability in the other discipline: A mechanical engineer who can read a schematic and probe a board, or an electrical engineer who can read a drawing and reason about loads and tolerances Experience developing hardware with suppliers or factories in China: You have taken a product from prototype toward production with them Fluent Mandarin and English: You can hold a technical discussion and write a specification in both Strong test and measurement habits: You build test setups, take measurements, and write up what you found Willing to travel: Long and frequent trips are part of the job Nice to Have Experience with robot arms, actuators or motor drives Firmware or embedded experience Experience hiring or leading engineers Time spent living and working in China Why Tutor? Whether you’re designing robots, closing deals, running deployments, or creating the processes that help us scale, your work doesn’t sit on a shelf. It shows up on real production floors, making physical work safer and more affordable. Our team of 160+ is driven by curiosity and a genuine love of building. Everyone here takes real ownership, learns fast, and holds a high bar while having each other’s backs. If you love hard problems and creating things that didn’t exist before, you’ll fit right in. Benefits We take care of our team so they can do their best work. At Tutor, you’ll get: Fully employer-covered health insurance, so you’re protected without the premium. A managed 401(k) to help you plan for the future. Generous time off: unlimited PTO and all federal holidays off for full-time salaried employees, and 16+ days of accrued paid time off plus 1.5x pay on federal holidays for hourly employees. Regular in-office meals and team social events throughout the year. As Tutor grows, so will our benefits. We’re continuing to invest in ways to support our team at work and beyond. Tutor Intelligence is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds.

Requirements

Must-haves

Evaluate new hardware: Characterize arms, actuators, sensors and other components on the bench, including torque, stiffness, backlash, thermal behavior and electrical noise
Review suppliers' designs: Read their drawings and schematics, find the weak points, and propose changes
Integrate and test: Design the mounts, harnesses and interfaces that put new hardware on our robots, then test until it holds up
Work with suppliers' engineers: Spend time at their sites, agree on changes, and keep the work moving between visits
Carry our requirements: Make sure the people building for us understand what we need and why
Build prototypes: Run small prototype builds and bring what you learn back to the design team
Travel: Spend roughly a third to half of your time in China
Depth in mechanical or electrical engineering: You have designed hardware that shipped, and you can explain the design decisions you made
Working ability in the other discipline: A mechanical engineer who can read a schematic and probe a board, or an electrical engineer who can read a drawing and reason about loads and tolerances
Experience developing hardware with suppliers or factories in China: You have taken a product from prototype toward production with them
Fluent Mandarin and English: You can hold a technical discussion and write a specification in both
Strong test and measurement habits: You build test setups, take measurements, and write up what you found
Willing to travel: Long and frequent trips are part of the job

Nice-to-haves

Experience with robot arms, actuators or motor drives
Firmware or embedded experience
Experience hiring or leading engineers
Time spent living and working in China

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

gomachine learning

Platform: lever
Effort: quick

Benefits

Benefits detected in the listing.

Health Insurance

401(K)

Pto

Paid Time Off