The Role
Atomic Machines is ushering in a new era in micromanufacturing with its Matter Compiler (MC) technology. The MC enables new classes of micromachines to be designed and built by offering manufacturing processes and a materials library that is inaccessible to semiconductor manufacturing methods. The MC promises to unlock MEMS manufacturing both for the many device classes that never could be made by semiconductor methods but also to open up entirely new classes. Furthermore, the MC is fully digital in the way 3D printing is digital, but where 3D printing produces parts of a single material using a single process, the MC is a multi-process, multi-material technology: bits and raw materials go in and complete, functional micromachines come out. The Atomic Machines team has also created an exciting first device – one that was only made possible by the existence of the Matter Compiler – that we will be unveiling to the world soon.
Our offices are in Emeryville and Santa Clara, California.
About this Role:
As a Product Engineer at Atomic Machines, you’ll play a pivotal role in turning novel micro-scale devices into manufacturable, reliable products. You’ll operate at the intersection of design, test, and process engineering—owning product definition, validation, and failure analysis from the earliest prototype through scale-up. This role is tightly integrated with our proprietary Matter Compiler (MC) platform, giving you a chance to shape what’s possible in digitally defined manufacturing.
What makes this opportunity stand out is the level of technical ownership and early impact. From your first months, you'll lead meaningful engineering efforts that directly affect product direction, reliability strategy, and customer readiness. You’ll engage with state-of-the-art failure analysis tools, contribute to critical design and validation reviews, and help shape the documentation and processes that support scale and repeatability.
This is a highly cross-functional role where success depends on your ability to translate customer and business needs into clear technical requirements, create structured validation and reliability plans, and drive alignment between design, test, process, and GTM. You’ll contribute both technically and strategically—owning critical execution in the near term while shaping productization processes that scale.
If you're drawn to hands-on problem-solving, excited to work on products that have no blueprint, and energized by both deep technical detail and cross-functional coordination, you’ll thrive here.
This position is full-time onsite in our Emeryville location and reports to the Director of Design Engineering.
What You’ll Do:
- Collaborate with the Go-To-Market (GTM) team to translate customer needs into clear, actionable technical requirements.
- Develop and maintain product data sheets with corresponding characterization plans and other customer-facing documentation.
- Lead design failure mode and effects analysis (DFMEA) and contribute actively to process FMEA (PFMEA) activities.
- Own failure analysis (FA) efforts for both component-level and subsystem prototypes, including execution of hands-on investigations and metrology.
- Define and drive roadmaps for comprehensive reliability testing, including environmental and mechanical evaluations.
- Develop and implement strategies for accelerated life testing to ensure long-term product robustness.
- Work cross-functionally with design, process, and manufacturing teams to ensure alignment between product architecture and platform capabilities.
- Define and own product-level validation strategies to ensure performance, reliability, and manufacturability from early development through scale-up.
- Participate in system-level design reviews and support continuous improvement of product development processes through lessons learned and feedback from prototyping and testing cycles.
- Influence the evolution of the Matter Compiler (MC) by identifying new opportunities for platform capabilities that enable novel device features, including in-line metrology and testing to evaluate critical-to-function characteristics.
What You’ll Need:
- A first-principles mindset — you question assumptions, reframe problems from the ground up, and approach challenges with a foundational understanding rather than relying solely on precedent.
- 5+ years of relevant industry experience and a graduate degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field.
- Exposure to industry standards and compliance testing relevant to power devices (e.g., IEC, UL, automotive-grade AEC-Q standards).Hands-on comfort with experimental setup, debugging, and iterative refinement in a lab environment.
- Track record of developing complex microscale devices or electronic components from early prototypes through to scalable production.
- Demonstrated experience with Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), including defining requirements, validating designs, and supporting transition from prototype to scalable production.
- Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous customer needs into structured technical requirements and product specifications.
- Experience with reliability engineering concepts, including environmental testing, accelerated life testing, and failure analysis.
- Experience in designing, validating, or testing electrical or electronic components.
- Experience leading or participating in DFMEA/PFMEA processes across cross-functional teams.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to contribute effectively in multidisciplinary teams and across technical/non-technical functions.
- Familiarity with CAD tools for 3D modeling and design documentation (e.g., SolidWorks, Fusion 360).
- Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, evolving environment where both design and manufacturing processes are co-developed.
Bonus points for:
- Familiarity with failure modes and reliability concerns specific to high-current switching components (e.g., contact wear, arcing, thermal management).
- Familiarity with root cause analysis tools and methodologies such as 5 Whys, Fishbone/Ishikawa diagrams, or fault tree analysis.
- Hands-on experience designing or executing accelerated life testing protocols and environmental qualification campaigns.
- Knowledge of digital manufacturing principles or real-time production systems.
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The Company
What We Do
Atomic Machines is redefining humanity’s relationship with matter. We see a future where our tools will allow us to reorganize matter at the atomic level at will, where we will go from bits to atoms for any object or machine that can be designed in alignment with physical laws. We have begun our journey with the development of a robotic manufacturing platform capable of making an entirely new class of micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices. We are well funded and have exceptionally strong product/market fit and a clear go-to-market path for the device we will make first with our platform. Our platform breaks traditional manufacturing paradigms and constraints, enabling inexpensive rapid prototyping as well as large scale manufacturing with highly compelling economics.
Joining forces with us means becoming part of an incredibly talented, inventive and passionate multi-disciplinary team working on a massive world-changing mission. You will have the opportunity to help define the company from its early days. You’ll be challenged to learn and grow as a builder and a leader as the company itself grows rapidly. And you will receive significant equity compensation - you’ll truly be a company owner and benefit financially from our overall success.
