Nanotechnology, Manufacturing, Deep Tech, Hardware

Mechanical Engineering Leadership, Mechanisms

Emeryville, CAOnsiteFull TimeManager / Head$200,000–$260,000 /yrPosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

Mechanical Engineering
engineering teams
technical leads
managers
engineering fundamentals
precision engineering
machine design
systems engineering
architecture
integration

Nice to have

robotic systems
high-vacuum systems
deposition equipment
vacuum material handling
fluid handling
dispensing

Role summary

Atomic Machines is seeking a Senior Manager of Mechanical Engineering to lead teams developing its Matter Compiler™ technology platform, enabling new classes of micromachines. This role involves owning technical direction, team development, and delivery from prototypes through commercial readiness. The ideal candidate is a deeply technical engineer with exceptional command of engineering fundamentals, expertise in precision engineering or machine design, and strong systems engineering skills. Responsibilities include leading teams in developing automated manufacturing Nodes, defining mechanical architecture, and guiding technical decisions. The position requires 10+ years in complex mechanical systems development, including 5+ years managing engineering teams. Experience with robotics, vacuum systems, or fluid handling is a plus. The role is based in Emeryville/Santa Clara, California, with a hybrid work model.

Atomic Machines is building the Matter Compiler™, the first in a new class of AI-native, all-digital manufacturing systems that build working machines directly from code. The Matter Compiler (MC) is aimed at micro-machines: motors and gears the size of a grain of sand, robots small enough to work inside the body, cooling built directly into the chips that run AI, and the many devices like them that have been waiting on a way to build them. Its first product is PrimeSwitch™, an electromechanical power relay the size of a button battery that carries 150 amps continuous current and opens in 50 microseconds, about a thousand times faster than a conventional contactor. Founded by Jeff Holden — serial entrepreneur, ex-Amazon SVP and Uber’s first Chief Product Officer — the company has raised $250 million to date.

Atomic Machines is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in Emeryville and Santa Clara.

About The Role

You’ll lead Mechanisms and Fluid Systems and build the teams to expand the Matter Compiler’s capabilities. The machines your teams develop will determine which devices we can manufacture, at what throughput and cost. The work spans precision motion, workholding, fluid handling precision beyond demonstrated state-of-art, thermal control, and multi-physics processes. You’ll set technical direction and own delivery across multiple Nodes.

This is a hands-on technical management role. You’ll be in design reviews, the lab, and the machine shop, digging into the physics, setting the architecture with your principal engineers and technical leads, and solving hard problems alongside your team. You’ll also develop managers and technical leads who can own design and execution independently, giving them the autonomy and frameworks to succeed.

Our engineering leaders are deeply technical, accomplished engineers themselves, and involved in the details. Your teams will develop, test, and deploy Nodes in our Hybrid Fab, accelerated by in-house labs and a machine shop.Your team ranges from multi-decade principal engineers to brilliant early to mid-career engineers. You’ll build alongside technical partners across device, process, AI, electrical, controls, software, and manufacturing engineering.

Problems You'll Solve

Deliver systems with performance capabilities at micron-to-submicron precision, enabling high-volume, high-mix combinatorial manufacturing capability.

Develop systems capable of executing novel manufacturing processes to meet cutting edge product requirements.

Chart the roadmap from prototypes through qualification, repeatable machine builds and sustained operation supporting high-volume device production.

Building cutting-edge machines for world-class fabrication processing.

Build, Own, Drive

Build. You set the bar, run the interviews, shape the team structure, and grow the team to support our corporate needs and vision. You’ll turn senior engineers into tech leads, tech leads into managers, and mold teams to run without you.

Own. You hold responsibility for company outcomes. You oversee Node performance, throughput, reliability, and cost through direct architectural definition, technical leadership, and organizational scale-out. You establish engineering standards and drive root-cause problem solving using frameworks like DMAIC.

Drive. You set priorities, allocate resources, and own delivery across your programs. You empower managers and technical leads, lead by example through tough technical problems, and tailor phase-gate processes to ensure production readiness.

How We Work

Fast learning loops. In-house robotics labs and our shop and build team let you validate machine designs early and iterate within weeks. Our Hybrid Fab supports device and process validation using your equipment.

First principles over opinions. We decide through analysis, experiments, and open technocratic debate.

System in the loop. Your machines produce devices for customers, so your work gets tested by physics and by the market.

Forecasts over predictions. We cannot predict the future with certainty, but we can update our priors with new evidence and revise our forecasts, accelerated by fast learning loops, driving us toward convergence between our forecasts and actuals.

What You'll Need

Designing robotic systems from concept to production release.

Optical systems design and manufacturing.

High-vacuum systems, deposition equipment, or vacuum material handling.

Fluid handling, dispensing, or electrochemical processing systems.

Ideally Your Background

15+ years developing complex integrated systems, including 7+ years managing engineering teams.

Currently managing at least five people directly, with experience scaling a team toward 25, including managers and senior technical leads.

A record of hiring top engineers, developing them into leads and managers, and growing them.

Deep expertise in precision engineering, machine design, systems development, and the fundamentals to back it up.

A record of delivering complete systems from concept through qualification, documentation, and sustained volume production.

Experience turning ambiguous requirements and new process physics into working machines with customer stakeholders and process engineers.

Operational leadership: guiding technical strategy, establishing engineering tools and processes, and mentoring managers.

B.S. in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.

The compensation for this position also includes equity and benefits.

Salary Range$200,000—$260,000 USD

Atomic Machines is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity and does not discriminate based on characteristics protected by applicable law. We are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including for individuals with disabilities. To request an accommodation, contact rc@atomicmachines.com. To help our recruiting team manage application volume and respond to candidates more efficiently, Atomic Machines may use AI-assisted tools.

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