Hardware Technician

About the role

We're looking for a Hardware Technician to be the backbone of how Gradient Robotics builds and tests hardware day-to-day. This is intentionally a hands-on, high-ownership role. You'll support multiple teams at once while taking real ownership over your own projects and workflow.

This is a role for someone who loves making things and making them better: you'll see a bottleneck in how parts get built or tested, design a fix, and document it so the whole team benefits. You'll touch nearly everything that comes through the shop, which means constant learning and room to grow quickly. The impact is significant: you'll keep hardware moving for every team, while building the skills and systems that make the whole shop run faster.

Responsibilities

• Own task flow across teams: organize and prioritize incoming work from multiple teams and keep everything moving on schedule
• Own the 3D printing equipment: operate and maintain various types of printers and keep them running reliably
• Own your workflow: take ownership over your work and design projects that optimize how you and your team operate
• Own documentation: communicate and document test results and data in a clear and concise way

Minimum Qualifications

• Making experience (DIY projects, makerspace experience, etc.)
• Proficiency in CAD
• Experience diagnosing and resolving hardware issues
• Ability to work efficiently under pressure and meet deadlines across multiple projects simultaneously, with strong prioritization skills
• Willingness to take initiative and recognize areas of potential improvement without being asked
• Excellent communication skills
• Commitment to taking every opportunity to learn and develop engineering skills through hands-on experience
• Comfort with ambiguity and a high-ownership mindset
• Able to work on-site in San Francisco 5 days/week (6 days/week if needed during crunch time), embedded in the team

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at a hardware, robotics, or manufacturing company
• Hands-on experience with a range of shop tools beyond 3D printing
• Comfort using AI tools to multiply your own output