EdTech, Artificial Intelligence, Software

Shop Steward

Watertown, MAOnsiteFull TimePosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

Is this role right for you?

Upload your resume and get a skill-by-skill breakdown — see exactly where you match, where you're close, and what to highlight. Not a mystery percentage.

Get a tailored resume highlighting what this role needs.

Required skills

organized
detail-oriented
tinkering
wrenching
3D printers
electronics
CNC machines
robots
hand tools
power tools

Nice to have

AI robotics
hardware engineers
R&D shop
Garage
Hardware Engineering Manager
new engineer setup

Role summary

Tutor is an AI robotics company seeking a Shop Steward to manage the day-to-day operations of their R&D shop, the Garage. This role involves overseeing storage, inventory, tools, equipment, purchasing, and layout. The ideal candidate is highly organized, hands-on, and comfortable with various shop equipment like 3D printers and CNC machines. Responsibilities include establishing organizational systems, maintaining cleanliness standards, managing supplies, and assisting with the setup of new engineers. No degree is required, but a willingness to tinker, wrench, and operate machinery is essential. This role reports to the Hardware Engineering Manager.

About Tutor

We believe robots are the biggest lever we have to making the physical world a better, more affordable place. But robots are a rounding error in our society: nearly nine out of ten American factories and warehouses don’t even have a single robot, and robots have yet to make their way into our homes or places of business.

Tutor Intelligence is changing that.

Tutor is a robotics research and deployment company, building generally capable robot hardware and artificial intelligence to enable robots to go where no robots have gone before. Sonny is a semi-humanoid robot with frontier dexterity approaching the human form. Cassie does back-breaking work, moving boxes, pallets, and bulk goods for businesses from family-owned manufacturers to some of the largest brands in the world. Tutor robots are manufactured at scale and operate as a network, combining the whole fleet’s learned experience to train ever more capable robot artificial intelligence.

Founded at MIT and headquartered in Watertown, MA, our team is full stack: we design and manufacture robot hardware, train our own models, work directly with the smallest and largest end-customers, and maintain our fleet across the United States. We’re a team of researchers, engineers, technicians, operators, and sellers who love building things and solving hard problems.

Our mission is grand: robots everywhere, for the common good, raising the standard of living across North America, and then the world.

The Role

Our hardware engineers design, build, and test robots in the same building, often in the same afternoon. That only works when the shop works: the part is where the system says it is, the tool is on the wall, and this morning's delivery is already in the building and unpacked, and the space is clean.

We are looking for the person who owns that. You will run the day-to-day of our R&D shop, the Garage: its storage, inventory, tools and equipment, some purchasing, receiving, and layout. You report to the Hardware Engineering Manager. You will work with the Engineering Manager to own and adapt the space as our needs change and grow.

The core idea is simple: things without a home do not get put away. Your first job is to give everything in the shop a home, make it obvious, and keep it true.

Everyone keeps the Garage clean. Engineers own their benches and their messes. You set the standard, keep shared spaces in shape and help others meet the standard.

No degree is required, and you do not need to be an engineer. You do need to be comfortable tinkering and wrenching, and excited to work around 3D printers, electronics, CNC machines, and robots.

Requirements

What you will own

Give every tool, part, material, and project a labeled home, and set the pattern engineers copy for their

Plan the layout as the team grows; order, receive, and assemble furniture, workbenches, and racks.

Have tools, a computer, a desk, and a workspace ready for every new engineer on day one.

Buy shop supplies and keep consumables stocked before anyone is blocked.

Manage the reciept of larger orders like furniture or components that come crated or on pallets

Keep tools organized and working, and maintain the 3D printers, CNC machine, and other shop equipment.

Willingness to run the CNC occasionally for small jobs. We will teach you.

Set a clear, visible cleanliness standard with simple daily or weekly routines the whole team follows.

Keep shared areas, storage, and the robot testing space clean yourself, and nudge people back to the standard. When something keeps getting left out, fix its home first.

Purge hardware we no longer need on a regular schedule: confirm with the owning engineer, sell what has value, recycle the rest.

Manage teardown of retired robots, recovering the parts worth keeping.

Handle scrap, recycling, and removal of bulk material like crates, pallets, and scrap metal.

Who you are

Extremely organized and detail-oriented.

Hands-on. You would rather build the shelf and label the bins today than write a plan for it.

Warm and direct. You assume good intent, and you can tell a busy engineer their bench has slipped in a way that feels like help.

A systems builder who knows the difference between a system people use and one they work around.

Comfortable with hand and power tools, and able to tell a fastener, a connector, and a piece of stock apart.

Able to lift 40+ lbs, operate a pallet stacker, and work around robots and machine tools.

Willing to pitch in when something lands outside your scope.

Nice to haves

Experience running a stockroom, tool crib, makerspace, or lab.

Hands-on experience with 3D printers, electronics, CNC machines, or sheet metal.

Shipping, receiving, and freight experience; pallet jack or forklift certification.

Purchasing experience (McMaster-Carr, Digi-Key, and similar).

Familiarity with inventory or MES software; ION is a plus.

Experience with equipment teardown, salvage, or reselling surplus.

A track record of building your own organization solutions.

Why Tutor?

Whether you’re designing robots, closing deals, running deployments, or creating the processes that help us scale, your work doesn’t sit on a shelf. It shows up on real production floors, making physical work safer and more affordable.

Our team of 160+ is driven by curiosity and a genuine love of building. Everyone here takes real ownership, learns fast, and holds a high bar while having each other’s backs. If you love hard problems and creating things that didn’t exist before, you’ll fit right in.

Benefits

We take care of our team so they can do their best work. At Tutor, you’ll get:

Fully employer-covered health insurance, so you’re protected without the premium.
A managed 401(k) to help you plan for the future.
Generous time off: unlimited PTO and all federal holidays off for full-time salaried employees, and 16+ days of accrued paid time off plus 1.5x pay on federal holidays for hourly employees.
Regular in-office meals and team social events throughout the year.

As Tutor grows, so will our benefits. We’re continuing to invest in ways to support our team at work and beyond.

Tutor Intelligence is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds.

Ready to apply?

You'll be redirected to Tutor Intelligence's application page.