These are selected roles I have chosen to bring over from my old site. These are examples of the really cool searches I have completed. Only the cream of the crop made it over.
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Mid- to Senior Robotics Validation Engineer
(Pasadena, CA)
This is one of those roles that needs a jack of all trades and master of all trades. This role is for an experienced mechanical design engineers to be responsible for concept development and to assist customers with product design of robotic consumer products. This role has three areas of work:
1. Rapid prototype (proof of concept) Design-in (Design win) development for new ideas, new products, customer development.
2. DFM for current and future company products,
3. Design/development/support of any/all mechanical aspects of tooling development, mfg line(s), internal projects.
Senior Robotics/Product Development Engineering (Mechanical Engineer)
(Pasadena, CA)
This role is for an experienced mechanical design engineers to be responsible for concept development and to assist customers with product design of robotic consumer products. This role has three areas of work:
1. Rapid prototype (proof of concept) Design-in (Design win) development for new ideas, new products, customer development.
2. DFM for current and future company products,
3. Design/development/support of any/all mechanical aspects of tooling development, mfg line(s), internal projects.
Requirements:
- 8 + years experience in mechanical design of low-cost consumer products (computer peripherals, articulated toys)
- knowledge of motors and automation of low-cost consumer electronics
- familiar with rapid prototyping technologies , including:
- 3D printing technologies (SLA, SLS, polyjet)
- urethane casting
- fiberglass lay-up
- machine shop techniques
- experience with design of injection molded plastic parts
- DFM
- familiar with assembly processes used in consumer product (heat staking, ultrasonic bonding, ...)
- good skills in statics and dynamics
- FEM / stress analysis
- interfacing with overseas manufacturers
- BS in Mechanical Engineering
Nice to have
software, electronics, control theory
So, what is soo cool about this job? Basically, this is the go-to ME within this company and this person gets to build their own prototype robots! Rapid design of a cool robot, show this to potential customers that build/sell consumer robots, and repeat. NICE! They also get to look at the customer designs and help them solve tough problems, AND when any mechanical issues arise, this person gets to solve them. From a pure 'fun' level this is offthehook. The management team at this company is tier-1, great connections with CalTech, lots of PhD types, AND backing from one of the best incubators. Nuff said.
Consumer Robotics, Embedded SW Engineering (Multiple Positions in Pasadena, CA)
Title: Embedded Software Engineer
Reports to: VP of Engineering
The Company:
Evolution Robotics, Inc. is a robotics company that is developing break-through technologies that are revolutionizing robotics for the mass market. The recent convergence of low-cost mobile computing, wireless communication, and sensing technologies has not only made the development of mobile robotic products possible, but also economical for mainstream usage. Evolution Robotics develops breakthrough solutions for making machines sense and act autonomously. We partner with consumer electronic companies to augment the capabilities of their products, such as the Sony AIBO(r) dog or the WowWee robotic toys, or create entire new robotic products such as the eVac robotic vacuum cleaner from Sharper Image. Evolution is a recognized leader in the industry and the academic communities.
The company has assembled a world-class management team composed of leading robotics experts and consumer products business leaders to make the company's vision of providing useful robots at affordable prices a reality. The Evolution Robotics team operates in a highly dynamic and very collaborative environment where the flow of ideas is encouraged from all parts of the team. The team of extremely talented engineers and scientists at Evolution has created a unique and highly stimulating and fun work environment. This team challenges the status quo in technology and pushes the envelope on what may seem impossible.
Evolution Robotics is an operating company of Idealab!, a technology incubator known for having started many successful companies like Overture and CitySearch. We are located in the beautiful and sunny Pasadena, in Southern California. Hosting scientific institutions like the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Lab, and national events like the annual Tournament of Roses, the city is considered the main cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley.
Position Purpose:
Design, implement, test, and document robotics and vision algorithms in C/C++ on Linux/Windows and on embedded platforms. Work within a unique team of world-class experts in robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and autonomous navigation. Participate in the overall system design of the embedded robotic components. The position involves a substantial portion of "hands-on" work and requires an individual able to work independently with minimal supervision.
Requirements:
• Minimum of 5 years experience in C/C++ Software Development.
• Minimum of 3 years experience in C/C++ Software Development for embedded systems and/or low level (or kernel level) drivers for Windows or Linux OS.
• Familiar with a wide variety of DSP processors and microcontrollers.
• Experience writing software for devices with strict real-time requirements.
• Experience designing low-level drivers and/or software for embedded systems.
• Good knowledge of OOA, OOD, OOP. Experience writing reusable code.
• Strong problem solving skills and a fast learner. Strong analytical skills.
• Hands-on design and development experience.
• Minimum Degree: BS in Computer Science, Math, Physics, Engineering or equivalent.
Nice to have:
• Experience working in teams developing embedded products for the consumer market sector.
• Experience programming Embedded Operating Systems such as Lynx, VxWorks, or QNX.
• Assembly programming.
• Image processing experience including image sensors and image acquisition familiarity.
• Familiarity with SVN or equivalent configuration management tool.
• Scientific programming experience.
• Familiarity with XML, Perl, Shell scripts.
• Understanding of and experience with any of the following: behavior-based control, navigation, path-planning, obstacle avoidance, computer vision, fuzzy logic, estimation and control.
• Commercial SDK development experience.
REVISED JD - SEE VALIDATION ENG ABOVE
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer
(Pasadena, CA)
Title: Sr QA Engineer
Reports to: VP Engineering
Rather than have a laundry list of requirements, this role is best described as a multi-disciplinary SR QA Engineer. This person will be responsible for all aspects of Quality Engineering from initial product design through manufacturing and EOL. This role will cover Software (primarily embedded embedded Linux firmware), systems level hardware AND even mechanical QA. VERY strong hands-on expertise in statistical analysis, DOE, Test Program design, coding & implementation. Excellent debugging and documentation skills are all also required. The responsibilities of this role suggest a canddiate with at least 8 years of experience as well as a BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or Electical Engineering, but skills and attitude will determine the best candidate(s).
Candidates that come from consumer electronics, small electronic devices or full systems backgrounds are HIGHLY reccommended to apply.
Senior Manufacturing Manager (Pasadena, CA with travel to China)
Here is one of those "out of the box" opportunities for the right combination of pure engineering skills, exceptional understanding and experience in NPI to Manufacturing, and "cool" technologies that make our life easier. Decades ago, ROBOTICS was going to make our life easier... well, that time has finally come. This is one of the key technologies behind robotic vacuums that work when you don’t want to, roving, home security systems, etc. GREAT people, great technology, great location. Relocation for the right candidate IS on the table. Frequent travel to China and/or Hong Kong is required. Candidates with skills in written/spoken Mandarin are of particular interest.
This role is within is a robotics company that is developing break-through technologies that are revolutionizing robotics for the mass market. The recent convergence of low-cost mobile computing, wireless communication, and sensing technologies has not only made the development of mobile robotic products possible, but also economical for mainstream usage. The company develops breakthrough solutions for making machines sense and act autonomously. We partner with consumer electronic companies to augment the capabilities of their products, such as the Sony AIBO(r) dog or the WowWee robotic toys, or create entire new robotic products such as the eVac robotic vacuum cleaner from Sharper Image.
This is a recognized leader in the industry and the academic communities.
The company has assembled a world-class management team composed of leading robotics experts and consumer products business leaders to make the company’s vision of providing useful robots at affordable prices a reality.
The team operates in a highly dynamic and very collaborative environment where the flow of ideas is encouraged from all parts of the team.
The team of extremely talented engineers and scientists at Evolution has created a unique and highly stimulating and fun work environment. This team challenges the status quo in technology and pushes the envelope on what may seem impossible.
This is a revenue generating operating company of a technology incubator known for having started many successful companies like Overture and CitySearch. They are located in the beautiful and sunny Pasadena, in Southern California. Hosting scientific institutions like the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Lab, and national events like the annual Tournament of Roses, the city is considered the main cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley.
Position Purpose:
The company is in the process of scaling their manufacturing activities for their line of intelligent sensors, and they are looking for an engineer with proven managerial skills, that in the course of his/her career has been involved with several aspects of the production cycle for consumer electronics products. The job responsibilities will include the following activities:
• Manage manufacturing activities.
• Manage relationship with Contract Manufacturing companies, including negotiating manufacturing agreements and evaluating CMs performance over time.
• Ensure assembly costs are within expectations.
• Provide quality and assurance of supply based on given forecasts.
• Implement systems and processes for improving accuracy and timeliness of delivery.
• Design and implement product testing processes and fixtures (HW and SW)
• Work with engineering team to create and manage all necessary manufacturing documents.
• Direct CM team during pilot and volume production runs.
• Participate in defining the company’s manufacturing strategy and scaling the manufacturing team.
• Conduct audits and reviews of prospective and existing contract manufacturing companies.
Requirements:
• 10 years of experience in manufacturing, preferably in the consumer electronics market, with relevant past experience in the role of manufacturing engineer.
• Familiar with common design for manufacturing/manufacturing best practices.
• Familiar with SMT, wire bonding, COB, heat staking, ultrasonic bonding, injection molding.
• Familiar with equipment and processes for PCB testing.
• Possess excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Fluent in English and Mandarin.
• Willing to travel to Asia and spend large amounts of time overseas.
• Minimum Degree: BS in Electrical Engineering or Manufacturing Engineering (in this case, the candidate should show basic understanding of circuit design).
Nice to have:
• Experience with PLM systems (Omnify).
• Working knowledge of LabVIEW.
GOT NET?< namespace="" prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xml="true">
SENIOR .NET DEVELOPER/ARCHITECT/GURU
A client of mine is a REALLY COOL MMOG start-up on the Peninsula. Their site is really unique in that it makes kids think… not just play in a virtual environment, but build one as well. Now, don’t get me wrong, Club Penguin is pretty cool (the acquisition by Disney certainly validated the business model and it keeps the kids occupied, etc.), BUT, it really doesn’t allow them to be creative, to think beyond the simple question/answers they do for credits.
Fast forward a bit to the start-up. They are focused on having kids build their own virtual environments and interact in those environments. Be it science-fiction, medieval, urban, country, etc. There are no limits to kids imaginations. The site has all the up-to-date safeguards for child safety & it is one of the few sites I will let my kids use. (If you want to check them out, drop me a note and I can send you the link.)
This is a critical member of the senior team and the right person will be compensated with a solid base salary and VERY significant stock options.
The major tasks for this person over the next 12 months are:
· Take over all dbase/backend and possibly some mid-tear areas of our site.
· Help us manage growth from single dbase/10M page views per month to distributed/shard dbase architecture with 500M page views/month. We want to come up with a system where we can add dbase servers to scale OUT, not increase the CPU's in a single dbase box.
· Manage all areas of backup, site continuity, etc.
· Manage our relationship with Rackspace, plan if necessary for migration to our own cage.
The right “profile” for this role is a senior .NET developer with at least 5 years of post educational experience in high-volume consumer website development. Experience rampant user-growth is ideal (I can send you their growth numbers to prove this one.) We want the experience gained from an explosive growth, where resources and personnel were not adequate, but the results were stellar. In this case, the resources will be there, now is the time to prepare and be ready. An undergraduate Computer Science, Computer Engineering or similar technical degree is needed. An MS wouldn’t be that bad either. We prefer top 50 Universities, but won’t turn away just on that alone. The intelligence, personality and professional aspirations of the person is FAR more important as we would even take a great college drop-out over a pompous, egotistical tyrant from a top-5 school. Work should be fun. The "formal requirements are:
- BS or MS in CS or equivalent education or experience
- 3+ years experience with .NET and C#
- Extensive knowledge of SQL, Web Services, and IIS
- Demo examples of your past work
- A proven history of achievement – creative, intellectual, academic, and/or professional
- Experience in a production environment supporting a live site
So, if you hit on 80+% of these areas, send me a note and we can chat about the role and your passion for the space.
Graphics Guru Game Developer
The same MMOG is also looking for a 3D graphics engine guru to help us take the company to the next level of realism. You must have serious OpenGL or DirectX experience and the ability to lead the development of our scalable graphics system.
This is your chance to join a professionally funded startup in a rapidly growing market segment (while having fun at the same time). You are not necessarily a game developer right now. If you consider yourself too senior (i.e. VP level), we would still be interested in talking with you.
Requirements:
- BS or MS in CS or equivalent education or experience
- 3+ years experience with OpenGL and/or DirectX development
- Demo examples of your past work
- A proven history of achievement – creative, intellectual, academic, and/or professional
- Experience with 3D math - matrices, vectors, quaternions, ect.
Product Technical Experts & SQA Engineering
Palantir Technologies:
A palantír (sometimes translated as Seeing Stone but actually meaning "Farsighted" or "One that Sees from Afar") is a stone that functions somewhat like a crystal ball. When one looks in it, one can communicate with other Stones and anyone who might be looking into them; people of great power can manipulate the Stones to see virtually any part of the world. They were made by the Elves of Valinor in the Uttermost West, almost certainly by the Noldor and possibly by Fëanor. Many palantíri were made, but the number is not known. Some had power over other Stones. The stones were of various sizes. The smallest had a diameter of about a foot, while the largest filled a large chamber. The larger stones allowed one to walk around them, thereby changing the viewpoint of its vision.< namespace="" prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xml="true">
Palantir Technologies is building the platform analysts need to perform complex analysis of data and to be able to work colaboratively with other analysts testing and exploring different points of view. The ability to “change the viewpoint of its vision” is a unique and highly powerful tool that otherwise does not exist in the current tool set of analysts today. While not able to perform the majic of J.R.R. Tolkein’s Palantirs, Palantir Technlogies has the keys to unlock data that is critical to national and international interests.
Due to demand, two mission-critical roles are open for the right people with skills in techncial documenation. Called Product Technical Experts, these roles combine skills in SW Engineering, Technical Writing, QA, & Product Management.
Product Technical Expert
Do you have a strong technical background? Have you spent time as a developer or quality assurance engineer? Do you like to explain complex things in plain language but also know when to put on your technical explanation “hat”? We are looking for a technical person with a strong sense for product management to fill our Product Technical Expert (PTE) role.
What is a PTE? A PTE is part product manager and part marketer/writer. The PTE is responsible for defining and specifying various aspects of our product in close cooperation with the product team and for communicating various aspects of the product to different sets of customers (end-users, administrators, developers, and internal staff) in clear, concise and compelling language.
Requirements:
Technical BS degree (CS or symbolic systems major preferred) or equivalent experience
(Highly Technical) Technical Writing OR past product management experience a plus
Ability to communicate effectively with developers, project management, and end users
Ability to write effectively about industry trends, product concepts and the Palantir platform
Ability to create and maintain formal product specifications
- Ability to perform technical briefings on competing products or Palantir products
- US Citizenship
- Ideally be willing to obtain a security clearance (Not required - but would be real nice to have)
SQA ENGINEERING:
Palantir is also on the lookout for really good SQA Engineering talent. Like many start-ups that are in the latter stages of development/early stages of shipping SQA is a hot area for hiring.
The skills currently in need include BLACK BOX testing, WHITE BOX testing, Automation, AND Unix Server-side SQA/Testing/Perfromance. All positions prefer a technical undergraduate degree, but this is not required. Smarts are always in need, so if you like figuring out if things worked right, one of these roles might be right for you.
SQA RESEARCHER
Palantir could use a PhD-level QA person. The ideal background might include a PhD (completed or program) in Physics or Mathematics. The ability to figure out how to test VERY large data sets is the key on this one. Comfort with huge databases, very rapidly changing SW, and programming skills in Java are needed. A good sense of humor would also be a good thing to have in the back pocket.
Other requirements include being within a decent commute distance from Palo Alto, good communications skills, DESIRE, and a strong sense of personal achievement. All candidates do need to be US Citizens and may need to obtain a secret clearance at some point in the future..
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ab|inventio (www.ab|inventio.com) is an "invention factory" founded by Caltech Ph.D. Alex Bäcker (alexbacker.pbwiki.com).
At ab|inventio, we apply math, technology, old-fashioned hard work and a sense of humor toward achieving our goal of making life a bit easier for us all by inventing, designing, prototyping, and launching breakthrough products and services. We are always looking for talented people with technical and/or creative design expertise, yet we are currently on the lookout for people with the following skills for both permanent (full-time and part-time) and Summer Internship positions:
Shoot us your resume at ab|inventio careers if you:
> Fit into the above category (or are just madly talented in general);
> Like the idea of working in a challenging interdisciplinary environment with folks who are as smart, or maybe even smarter, than you; and
> Prefer a large equity stake to a large salary (i.e., you’re an entrepreneur).
And for the record, ab|inventio is an equal opportunity employer, will let you work from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection, and does not care about your hours or calendar as long as you get the job done. Our HQ are in sunny Pasadena, California. We can’t wait to meet you!
I had one of the most enjoyable conversations yesterday with a potential franchise partner. In short, he mentioned that he had seen us in Entrepreneur Magazine and wanted to hear more about the company. 
