Product Design Engineer

About the company

Efference provides high-performance perception and compute infrastructure for training and deploying robot models in the cloud. Our vision is to make robotic deployments scalable with shared compute.

We approach the problem by owning the entire path from the image sensor to the datacenter GPU. We shrink the load at the sensor, fix the uplink so robot traffic is fast and reliable, and clock synchronize the system so observations arrive time-aligned, ready for inference.

About the role

You'll support our senior design lead on Mono, Stereo, and Node, bringing engineering analysis and hands-on testing to product development. Your work will focus on mechanical and thermal modeling, process engineering support, and integrating our hardware onto robots and data collection platforms. You'll also design mounts, accessories, and selected product details, then validate them through prototypes and tests.

What you’ll do

• Support the senior design lead with CAD, engineering calculations, tolerance analysis, and prototype evaluation for Mono, Stereo, and Node.
• Build mechanical and thermal models to assess heat dissipation, stiffness, mounting loads, and vibration; check assumptions against physical measurements.
• Plan and run bench and on-robot tests, instrument prototypes, analyze results, and use the findings to improve thermal performance, mechanical reliability, and mounting repeatability.
• Integrate cameras and networking hardware onto robots, wearable systems, and data collection rigs, resolving sensor placement, fields of view, antenna clearance, cable routing, and service access.
• Design and prototype mounts, accessories, fixtures, and selected enclosure details, refining them with the senior design lead and feedback from installation and use.
• Help the manufacturing and process engineering team improve assembly, calibration, and test workflows through fixtures, work instructions, tolerance studies, and investigation of build variation.

What we are looking for

• Strong fundamentals in mechanics, heat transfer, geometry, and tolerances, with the ability to use calculations and models to guide practical design decisions.
• Proficiency in 3D CAD and technical drawings, with experience developing mechanical parts, mounts, or fixtures that can be built and assembled.
• Hands-on experience instrumenting and testing hardware, analyzing data, and comparing measured behavior with engineering predictions.
• Experience integrating hardware under mechanical, electrical, and thermal constraints, including attention to installation, cable management, and maintenance.
• Ability to work closely with a senior designer and manufacturing engineers, document assumptions and test results, and turn feedback into reliable product and process improvements.

Nice to Have

• Experience with UMI or similar robotics data collection platforms, including hardware setup, sensor mounting, and integration.
• Experience designing or testing human wearables, with attention to attachment, fit, comfort, and motion during data collection.
• Mechanical design or integration experience in robotics, including motors, actuators, end effectors, or camera and sensor mounts.
• Experience with thermal simulation, finite element analysis, manufacturing fixtures, or repeatable assembly and calibration processes.