Skip to main content

1X

Senior Electrical Engineer - Actuators and Drives

San Carlos, California, United States

Location
San Carlos, California, United States
Work
On-site
Employment
Full-time
Level
Senior
Function
Engineering
Pay
$165K – $225K a year
Posted
4 months ago

Pay and the market here

The top of this role’s range, $225K a year, is about the median of $220K for senior engineering jobs in San Carlos (middle half $200K – $230K, 48 jobs that state pay).

119 engineering jobs open in San Carlos: 0% remote, 44 posted in the last 30 days.

Wondering how well you fit this one? OptiTalent Career checks each requirement against your own record, privately. About OptiTalent Career →

About the role

About 1X

We’re building humanoid robots that work in home - doing the chores, handling the tasks, and giving people their time back. Simple, but it’s not.

To do this right, we have to solve robotics, AI, manufacturing - at the same time, at scale, in a form factor that has to be safe enough to live with your family. If you’re inspired by this, you’ll thrive here. We’ve been at this since 2014 and we’re at the point where the hard problems are behind us and the hard work is in front of us.

NEO is our flagship - a home robot designed to move, learn, and operate in the real world alongside real people. We’re not demoing it - we’re shipping it. We’re excited to meet you, if this excites you.

If you’ve spent your career working on problems that matter and want to see them actually reach the world - this is that moment. We’re scaling, we’re hiring with intention, and we need people who want to build something that will genuinely change how humans spend their time - safely creating abundance for all.

About the Team

The Hardware Engineering team develops the electrical systems that power, sense, and control every aspect of NEO. From power distribution and embedded electronics to actuators, motor drives, sensors, and system integration, the team builds the foundation that enables reliable robot performance.

We work closely with mechanical, firmware, controls, manufacturing, and test teams to deliver high-performance hardware that can scale from prototype to mass production. Our engineers operate across abstraction layers, combining deep technical expertise with practical product development experience.

Your Charter

Design and deliver the electrical systems that enable humanoid robots to move, sense, and operate reliably in the real world.

You will own critical electrical subsystems from architecture through production, balancing performance, safety, reliability, manufacturability, and cost. Working across robotics hardware platforms, you will develop robust electrical designs that integrate seamlessly with firmware, controls, and mechanical systems while supporting rapid product iteration and long-term scalability.

Your work will directly impact robot performance, reliability, and manufacturability across the product lifecycle.

Key Outcomes

  • Design and release electrical subsystems that meet performance, reliability, safety, and manufacturing requirements
  • Develop robust electrical architectures spanning power, sensing, control, and embedded electronics
  • Deliver validated hardware designs from concept through schematic capture, PCB development, bring-up, and production support
  • Improve product reliability through strong EMI/ESD design practices, validation testing, and root-cause analysis
  • Partner effectively with firmware, controls, manufacturing, and test teams to resolve complex system-level challenges

Key Competencies

  • Strong electrical engineering fundamentals across analog, digital, and embedded electronics design
  • Ability to balance system-level architecture decisions with detailed hardware implementation
  • Strong hands-on debugging and validation skills using laboratory instrumentation
  • Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to independently drive complex technical issues to resolution
  • Strong communication and collaboration skills across multidisciplinary engineering teams

Minimum Requirements

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field
  • 5+ years of professional electrical engineering experience, with level determined based on experience and scope of ownership
  • Strong fundamentals in analog and digital circuit design
  • Experience designing, reviewing, debugging, and validating hardware from schematic through PCB bring-up
  • Familiarity with power systems, sensors, and embedded electronics
  • Hands-on experience with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power supplies, and other laboratory equipment
  • Understanding of EMI/ESD considerations and robust hardware design practices
  • Experience collaborating closely with mechanical, firmware, controls, test, and manufacturing teams

Preferred Skills

  • Experience designing motor drive systems, power electronics, and actuator control hardware
  • Familiarity with robotic actuators, electromechanical systems, and motion control architectures
  • Understanding of motor technologies, encoder systems, current sensing, and control requirements
  • Experience with high-power or high-current electronics
  • Experience supporting products through manufacturing ramp and volume production
  • Familiarity with safety-critical, fault-tolerant, or high-reliability electronic systems
  • Knowledge of thermal design considerations and fault management architectures
  • Basic familiarity with mechanical CAD workflows and hardware integration processes

What does a successful 1X Team Member look like?

Team members at 1X who thrive here are builders. They move fast, own their work completely, and treat time like it’s the one thing you can’t get back - because it is. They say what they mean, finish what they start, and hold themselves to a standard before anyone has to ask. We push each other to be better, and we do it with honesty and respect.

Successful Electrical Engineers at 1X combine deep technical fundamentals with a strong bias toward execution. They are equally comfortable architecting systems, debugging hardware on the bench, and collaborating across disciplines to solve difficult engineering challenges. They understand that exceptional products emerge through rapid iteration, rigorous validation, and relentless attention to detail.

Compensation Range

$165,000 - $225,000 + Equity

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
  • Generous paid time off, company holidays, and parental leave
  • 401(k) plan with company match (100% on the first 3% of contributions, 50% on the next 2%)
  • Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) options
  • Commuter benefits (transit and parking)
  • Short-term and long-term disability, and life insurance
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental health, financial, and personal support
  • Onsite snacks and catered lunches

Equal Opportunity Employer

1X is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, disability, military or veteran status, justice system impact, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.

Source

Posted by 1X on their own hiring page, jobs.ashbyhq.com. OptiTalent shows it as published, read 07 Nov 2026 10:48 UTC; the original is the reference.

View the original ad ↗

More at 1X

  • 1X · San Carlos, California, United States

    On-siteFull-timeLead / staff$190K – $230K a yearEngineering

    You’ll work with all of the teams that write software for the robot, from firmware to Companion to AI, and own the one schedule that turns plans into reality. You’ll coordinate closely with the hardware teams to make sure our roadmaps converge to robots that we ship.

  • 1X · San Carlos, California, United States

    On-siteFull-timeMid level$150K – $190K a yearEngineering

    The Firmware team owns the embedded software on every hardware subsystem in NEO: communication architecture, power management and motor control. That firmware is what lets NEO move safely, take on new hardware quickly and scale across many embedded nodes, and it gates our…

  • 1X · San Carlos, California, United States

    On-siteFull-timeExecutive$320K – $335K a yearFinance

    Finance funds and tracks everything it takes to put NEO in the world: research, manufacturing, and a global supply chain. The team gives leadership and the Board an accurate picture of where money goes and what it buys. As 1X moves from building robots to shipping them at…

  • CAD Sculptor

    9 days ago

    1X · San Carlos, California, United States

    On-siteFull-timeSenior$150K – $250K a year

    We’re building humanoid robots that work in home - doing the chores, handling the tasks, and giving people their time back. Simple, but it’s not.