Field Service Engineer - New Product Introduction & Development

JOB SUMMARY

Apptronik's ability to build better robots depends on a rigorous feedback loop between the people servicing them and the people designing them. This role is the embodiment of that loop — a technical expert embedded at the point of development who turns operational data into engineering signal. It is one of the most leverage-creating roles in GSS, and it will be a proving ground for the engineers and senior technicians who want to shape how humanoid robots are built and supported at scale.

You are the bridge between the bench and the blueprint. While our Apptronik Service Tech (AST)  team owns the production fleet, you are embedded in the hardest work we do - servicing pre-production and development robots that don't yet have a playbook, and making sure the lessons learned from every failure find their way back into how we build and service the next iteration and generation of our robotics solution.

This is an elevated technical role. You own robot uptime for Apptronik's NPI and Development fleet, and you own the feedback loop that turns field failures into engineering improvements. You are equally comfortable torquing down a joint and sitting in a design review informing an engineer what must be improved in the design.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES or KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Own NPI & Dev Fleet Uptime. You are the primary service owner for all NPI and Dev-designated robots. If a robot is down, it's yours to triage, diagnose, and resolve - often without established procedures, on hardware that is in a constant state of change.
• Close the Feedback Loop. Every significant repair you perform gets documented with real data - root cause, time-to-diagnose, time-to-repair, parts consumed, failure mode. You identify recurring patterns and surface them proactively to engineering teams. Your repair notes are things engineers can act on, not just timestamps.
• Shape How We Build for Serviceability. You participate in Design for Serviceability (DFS) reviews as the hands-on voice of the technician. You have opinions about connector placement, Field Replaceable Unit logic, tool clearance, and access paths and you are expected to share them. The goal is making sure the next configuration is easier to diagnose and service than the last one.
• Validate Before It Ships. When a new service procedure or repair approach is being developed for an NPI configuration, you are the person who proves it works. Alongside our AST team, you help draft, test, and refine work instructions before they reach the broader fleet or a customer site.
• Embed with NPI Programs. You attend NPI reviews as the GSS representative. You know the design intent, the known issues, and the upcoming changes, because that context makes you a faster, more accurate diagnostician. You track open service issues and drive them to closure.
• Build Service Readiness. At program milestones, you answer a critical question: are we actually ready to service this thing in the field? Tooling, spares, procedures, and training materials all have to be in place before a configuration deploys. You help to make sure they are.

SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Hardware Diagnostician at Heart. You have 3-6+ years of hands-on experience with complex electromechanical systems, with experience in robotics, aerospace, medical devices, or defense hardware preferred. You diagnose ambiguous failures at the hardware, electrical, and systems level without needing a playbook, and you stay calm when the hardware is one of a kind.
• Customer First Mindset. The customer is the center of everything we do. Every robot you return to service, every procedure you improve, and every failure mode you surface to engineering exists to deliver a positive experience for the people depending on us - including our internal teams.
• Prototype-Ready. You've worked with pre-production or prototype hardware where documentation is incomplete, configurations change weekly, and you have to figure it out. That environment doesn't frustrate you, it's where you do your best work.
• Data-Driven Communicator. You write repair notes that engineers can act on. You can present a failure pattern summary to a cross-functional team without losing the room. You know the difference between a symptom and a root cause, and you make that distinction clear in everything you document.
• Fluent in the Technical Language of Robots. You can read schematics, navigate CAD views, and work from technical drawings. Familiarity with ROS/ROS2, embedded systems, or software-integrated hardware is a genuine plus. Experience with FMEA, DFS reviews, or hardware design processes puts you ahead.
• Builder Mentality. You don't just fix - you improve. Whether it's a service procedure, a diagnostic approach, or a training document for the next technician, you leave things better than you found them.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Equivalent practical experience, such as an Associate Degree in Electronics/Mechatronics combined with extensive field experience, will also be considered.
  
• Experience: 3–6+ years of hands-on experience working with complex electromechanical systems.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times
• Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen
• Hearing and speech to communicate