The Role
Evaluate, integrate, and test robotic hardware from suppliers; debug mechanical, electrical, and firmware issues; collaborate with supplier engineers in Mandarin and English; define requirements, build prototypes, conduct lab testing, and drive hardware improvements through production. The role is based in Watertown and requires spending approximately one-third to one-half of the time at supplier sites in China.
Summary Generated by Built In
The Company
We believe general-purpose, generally-intelligent robots will be built in our lifetimes. Robots will work in our factories, move our goods, walk on our streets and eventually be in our homes. To build that future, research and deployment must work in lockstep: real-world operation must make the technology better and better technology must make deployment easier. We're looking for the thinkers, builders, and researchers who want to be part of that loop.
As an AI robotics company that deploys its inventions directly into the facilities that need them, on state-of-the-art hardware, every line of code written at Tutor has a direct impact on the global, physical economy.
Our Culture
We believe that something truly special can happen when talented, motivated people work together; at Tutor, every member of our team is empowered to have real impact in everything that they do. We're characterized by both technical excellence and next-level collaboration and respect.
About 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
About Our Roles & Titles
At Tutor, we believe great engineers and researchers are defined by what they build and the impact they have — not where they sit in an org chart or what title they have. Therefore, everyone in our R&D org holds the title Member of Technical Staff (MoTS). Our job postings use standard titles so you can find us, but if you join Tutor, you'll be a MoTS — with a level that is determined through the interview process.
That also means we hire people, not slots. Work at Tutor evolves every quarter, and we set the expectation of flexibility from day one — it's common for people to start on one thing and shift to another based on where the team needs them most. A high technical bar across the board is what makes that flexibility possible: it's what allows people to contribute meaningfully whatever problem they take on.
Skills Required
- Experience developing hardware with suppliers or factories in China, taking products from prototype toward production
- Fluent Mandarin and English, including technical discussions and specification writing
- Broad hands-on ability to debug mechanical, electrical, and firmware systems
- Comfort working in a laboratory, building test setups, taking measurements, and documenting findings
- Willingness to take long and frequent trips, including substantial travel to China
- Experience with robot arms, actuators, or motor drives
- Experience hiring or leading engineers
- Experience living and working in China
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The Company
What We Do
Tutor Intelligence is a full-service robotics and automation provider built to serve contract packagers. We partner with the world's largest 3PLs to automate what has stumped the industry for decades: short-run packaging and post-packaging where SKUs, patterns, orders, and volumes are constantly changing
