Lead R&D Technician

Job description

ABOUT THE ROLE As the Lead R&D Engineering Technician at Charge Robotics, you'll lead our technician team (~8) in building, testing, and deploying our next generation of solar installation robots. You'll be the connective tissue between the engineering teams and the technicians on the floor — owning build execution while developing the people who make it happen. What you'll be working on: - Leading and people-managing a team of ~8 technicians, including approving hours/PTO, prioritizing and assigning work across projects, and holding regular 1:1s and performance feedback - Owning build execution: ensuring builds are complete, on schedule, and meet quality standards, including final inspection and sign-off on completed systems - Upskilling the team through hands-on coaching, onboarding new technicians, and building out their technical and process capabilities - Supporting the mechanical + software engineering teams in assembly, testing, and support of new robotic systems, and translating engineering intent into clear build instructions - Developing and maintaining engineering documentation, including assembly instructions and SOPs - Maintaining and organizing the workshop, and driving continuous-improvement initiatives (e.g., 5S, tooling/fixture planning, build-process efficiency) - Owning and reinforcing the team's culture of safety, including following and enforcing safety procedures You: - Have at least 5 years of relevant experience in mechanical and/or electrical assembly, including prior experience leading or mentoring technicians - Have strong mechanical, electrical, equipment, and safety intuition refined through personal or professional projects - Are comfortable interpreting schematics/CAD drawings and assembling complex electromechanical systems independently - Have a positive attitude, enjoy working in-person, and are excited about managing and motivating a small team - Will follow safety procedures and reinforce a strong and healthy culture of safety - Are available to work 5 days/week from our San Leandro, CA headquarters It'd also be nice if you: - Have experience working with industrial robot arms, end effectors, and industrial automation systems - Are excited to see our robots deployed on solar construction sites, and to play a direct role in fighting climate change! ABOUT CHARGE ROBOTICS Charge Robotics is a Series A startup building robots that build solar farms. Demand for new solar projects is booming (1 ⁄ 5 of all the solar that exists in the US was installed last year!), but today’s construction companies can’t keep up due to limited labor resources. We thought this was insane, so we started working on robots to directly address this bottleneck and speed up the world’s transition to renewables. Charge is a fast-moving company, which means constant opportunities for learning and growth. You’ll have a large impact on the direction of our company, and will be compensated accordingly. If you are excited to work on interesting problems with direct climate impact, you’re going to fit right in at Charge Robotics. READ MORE ABOUT CHARGE IN THE NEWS: - Fast Company – Solar Building Robots to Solve One of Climate's Biggest Problems https://www.fastcompany.com/91108331/these-solar-assembling-robotic-arms-could-solve-one-of-the-industrys-biggest-problems - MIT News – Making solar projects cheaper and faster with portable factories https://news.mit.edu/2025/charge-robotics-makes-solar-projects-cheaper-faster-portable-factories-0312 - YouTube – full video of our Gen1 robots building a solar farm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ2fP1Y5Z2E We’re MIT-founded and backed by top generalist and climate tech investors, including Founders Fund, Energy Impact Partners, Lux Capital and Y Combinator (S21). Equal Opportunity Employer We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.