Sanctuary AI

Engineering Manager, Mechanical

Sanctuary AI • CA
Your New Role and Team
Our Engineering team is looking to hire an Engineering Manager on our Robotics Mechanical team. Reporting to our CTO, you’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of the design and implementation of the robotics and mobility systems within our general-purpose robots.

The best candidates for this role have excellent organizational and leadership skills, with a strong background in complex mechanical design environments. You’ll be a valued contributor as you create the structures that allow our principal and staff engineers to focus on technical breakthroughs, while you oversee people, operations, and growth that keep the team performing at its best.

Success Criteria

  • Enable mixed mechanical projects by creating clarity in team operations, ownership, and priorities
  • Gain cutting-edge career experience as you help turn ambitious robotics concepts into reality by empowering technical experts to focus on design and innovation
  • Achieve company-wide visibility as you partner with leaders to develop and improve company design, manufacturing, and sustaining processes
  • Expand your leadership experience as you promote company culture, mentorship, and career development throughout the mechanical team
  • Apply operational discipline to reviews, requirements, and team practices without overlapping with dedicated program management functions
  • Your Experience Qualifications

  • Degree in mechanical engineering, engineering physics, mechatronics, or related technical field, with strong exposure to robotics or automated machinery
  • 5+ years of direct experience managing mechanical engineering teams in robotics, automated machinery, or complex mechanism industries
  • Proven success in building team structures that support technical leaders while keeping focus on people, growth, and operational excellence
  • Experience working across the full mechanical life cycle — from prototyping and design-for-manufacturing to validation and sustaining
  • Strong ability to collaborate with principal and staff engineers, enabling them to drive technical design while you drive culture and team enablement
  • Skills

  • Skilled at hiring, onboarding, mentoring, and career development for high-performing mechanical teams
  • Adept at building operational frameworks — reviews, requirements clarity, accountability models — that improve outcomes without duplicating program management
  • Familiar with work management tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence) to bring visibility and clarity to tasks
  • Strong understanding of manufacturing workflows, engineering documentation, tolerancing, and GD&T
  • Excellent communicator who can synthesize technical information and align leadership with engineering teams
  • Traits

  • Above all else, a consistently positive attitude and a willingness to do what it takes to support the team
  • Strong listener with conflict resolution skills and the ability to foster collaboration
  • Organized, detail-oriented, and proactive in clearing blockers before they slow the team
  • Confident working in complex robotics projects without needing to control technical design
  • Obsession with bringing human-like intelligence to machines