Electrical Engineer, Actuator test infrastructure

Openai
San Francisco, CA

Who this role is best for

A natural match if you have hands-on experience with motor drives and dynamometer systems in robotics.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with dynamometer system experience and cross-disciplinary collaboration skills
    — “Experience building, commissioning, or maintaining electrical systems for robotic actuator dynamometers
  • Engineers comfortable with both system architecture and detailed implementation
    — “Can move comfortably between system-level architecture and detailed electrical implementation
  • Individuals motivated by infrastructure development for AGI robotics
    — “Are motivated by building infrastructure that accelerates the development of advanced robotic actuators

Things to consider

  • Requires in-person lab work in San Francisco with no remote flexibility implied
    — “Enjoy being hands-on in the lab: wiring, probing, commissioning, debugging
  • Commitment to long-term infrastructure standards and safety protocols
    — “Set practical electrical standards that enable a growing dyno lab to operate safely

How to stand out

  • Highlight DAQ integration and sensor calibration expertise in resume/projects
    — “Integrate torque, position, speed, temperature, voltage, current, vibration
  • Showcase safety circuit design and EMI mitigation experience explicitly
    — “Design and validate safety circuits including E-stops, interlocks, contactors
  • Emphasize rapid hardware troubleshooting and iterative improvement examples
    — “Rapidly diagnosing noise, EMI, grounding, drive, sensor, and power-quality issues
Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · TeamLevel · Mid Level

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • reliable actuator testing infrastructure
  • high-quality test data
Typical background
experience in electrical engineering

Skills & requirements

Required

Power ElectronicsMotor DrivesDAQ SystemsElectrical SafetyPrecision Measurement

Preferred

Robotics

About the role

Original posting from Openai via Ashby

About the Team

Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and pushing towards AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world settings. Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the constraints of physical systems to improve peoples’ lives.

About the Role

We are seeking an Electrical Engineer to build and own the electrical backbone of our robotic actuator dynamometer and test infrastructure. You will design, integrate, and operate the load motor drives, power distribution, instrumentation wiring, DAQ interfaces, and safety systems that make high-performance robotic actuator testing repeatable, safe, and scalable.

This role spans hands-on lab execution and system architecture: selecting and commissioning power electronics, designing robust test-cell electrical systems, bringing up sensors and DAQ, and partnering with mechanical and software engineers to turn robotic actuator hardware into trustworthy data.

In this role, you will

  • Own the electrical architecture of dynamometer and actuator test cells, from mains distribution and protection through load motor drives, braking, and auxiliary power.
  • Specify, integrate, commission, and tune motor drives and load machines for robotic actuator torque, speed, efficiency, thermal, and durability testing.
  • Design power distribution, grounding, shielding, cable routing, and connectorization for high-current, high-voltage, and low-level measurement systems.
  • Integrate torque, position, speed, temperature, voltage, current, vibration, and other instrumentation from robotic actuators into DAQ and control systems.
  • Develop electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, panel layouts, harness documentation, and test-cell interface definitions.
  • Build, debug, and maintain test-cell electrical hardware, rapidly diagnosing noise, EMI, grounding, drive, sensor, and power-quality issues.
  • Design and validate safety circuits including E-stops, interlocks, contactors, safe torque off, guarding interfaces, and fault detection.
  • Partner with mechanical engineers on packaging, cooling, fixturing interfaces, and serviceability of test infrastructure.
  • Partner with software and controls engineers on I/O maps, real-time signals, calibration, automated sequences, and reliable data capture.
  • Establish commissioning, calibration, inspection, and preventive-maintenance procedures for lab electrical systems.
  • Evaluate vendors and components for drives, motors, sensors, DAQ hardware, protection devices, and electrical enclosures.
  • Analyze test and diagnostic data to improve measurement quality, cell uptime, and hardware reliability.
  • Set practical electrical standards that enable a growing dyno lab to operate safely and consistently.

You might thrive in this role if you

Have strong intuition for power electronics, motor drives, electrical safety, and precision measurement in noisy electromechanical environments.

  • Enjoy being hands-on in the lab: wiring, probing, commissioning, debugging, and improving real hardware.
  • Can move comfortably between system-level architecture and detailed electrical implementation.
  • Care about clean grounding, shielding, calibration, and signal integrity because trustworthy data depends on them.
  • Are comfortable working with evolving hardware and creating structure in a fast-moving environment.
  • Take ownership of safety and operational reliability, not just a schematic or subsystem.
  • Communicate clearly across electrical, mechanical, controls, software, facilities, and operations teams.
  • Balance engineering rigor with rapid iteration and pragmatic lab execution.
  • Are motivated by building infrastructure that accelerates the development of advanced robotic actuators.
  • Are excited to build electrical test infrastructure that accelerates robotic actuator development.

Preferred qualifications

  • Preferred qualifications
  • Bachelor’s or graduate degree in Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a related field.
  • Experience building, commissioning, or maintaining electrical systems for robotic actuator dynamometers, robotics, automation, motors, power electronics, or industrial test equipment.
  • Hands-on experience with motor drives, servo systems, load motors, power distribution, and electrical protection.
  • Strong understanding of grounding, shielding, EMI/EMC, signal integrity, and instrumentation wiring.
  • Experience integrating sensors and DAQ hardware for voltage, current, torque, position, speed, temperature, or vibration measurements.
  • Familiarity with electrical safety practices, E-stops, interlocks, safe torque off, lockout/tagout, and relevant lab or machinery standards.
  • Ability to create and maintain schematics, wiring diagrams, panel layouts, and clear electrical documentation.
  • Experience troubleshooting complex electromechanical systems with oscilloscopes, meters, power analyzers, and other lab tools.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement https://cdn.openai.com/policies/eeo-policy-statement.pdf.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form https://form.asana.com/?d=57018692298241&k=5MqR40fZd7jlxVUh5J-UeA. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link https://form.asana.com/?k=bQ7w9h3iexRlicUdWRiwvg&d=57018692298241.

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At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

Source: Openai careers (Ashby)

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