Senior Prototyping Lab Manager

Position Summary

We're seeking a senior machinist and fabricator to stand up and run our prototyping lab: a working machine shop and rapid prototyping space spanning CNC and manual milling and turning, 3D printing across FDM, and industrial resin, and laser cutting. You will own the equipment, tooling, and materials in it, and put precision parts in engineers' hands fast.

Hardware engineering and robot operations depend on this space daily for prototype builds, testing, repair, and refurbishment, and you will be the person who keeps that work moving. This is a hands-on senior role for a machinist first and an operations leader second, someone who wants to grow both the lab and the team that runs it as the company scales.

Core Responsibilities

• Own the prototyping lab end to end: stand up initial machining capability, benches, storage, and workflows, and run the space day to day so hardware engineering and robot operations stay unblocked.
• Run the machine shop—CNC and manual milling and turning (toolroom mill and lathe, vertical machining center, turning center), saws, drill press, and tapping—owning your own setups, work holding, fixturing, and tooling selection.
• Run and maintain 3D printers, materials, and consumables, rapidly producing complex parts of ruse in robot prototypes and near-term production runs
• Fabricate, modify, and kit parts for prototype builds, repairs, and test fixtures, working from engineering drawings, holding tolerances, and inspecting your own work.
• Specify, procure, install, and maintain equipment across machining, 3D printing, laser cutting, electronics assembly, and inspection, and own machine maintenance, tooling, and material stock.
• Establish and own lab safety: standards, machine-specific training and checkout, operating procedures, incident response, and ongoing readiness, including who is qualified to run which machine.

Partner with Facilities on lab space planning, buildouts, and utilities — power, compressed air, ventilation, and fume and dust extraction — and own the EHS programs that run inside the lab, including chemical and flammables storage, hazardous waste streams (coolant, cutting oils, solvents, resin and IPA), and readiness for inspections and audits.

Own lab inventory—tooling, raw material stock, consumables, and robot operations equipment—including audits, stock levels, location tracking, and reorder points, partnering with Inventory & Procurement on anything that touches robot BOM parts.

Partner across hardware engineering and robot operations to schedule shop and lab access, turn recurring parts and equipment failures into design and process feedback, mentor engineers and technicians on shop practice and design for fabrication, and hire, train, and manage prototyping technicians as the lab scales.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years in a machine shop, prototype shop, or fabrication lab, including hands-on CNC and manual machining of precision electromechanical parts.
• Able to run conversational CNC controls (ProtoTRAK or similar), program from drawings or CAD, and own setups, fixturing, work holding, and tooling selection without support.
• Fluent reading engineering drawings and GD&T, holding tight tolerances, and inspecting your own work with calipers, micrometers, gauges, and comparable inspection equipment.
• Hands-on experience with rapid prototyping equipment, including 3D printing (FDM, resin, and/or composite) and laser cutting.
• Experience setting up or running a shop or lab end to end: equipment procurement, maintenance, tooling and material inventory, and safety programs.
• Experience training, mentoring, or supervising technicians and engineers on shop equipment, and comfort owning who is authorized to operate what.
• Ability to operate in ambiguity, build systems from scratch, and tell engineers clearly what can and cannot be made in-house.
• Growth mindset as we push manufacturing boundaries together.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience with robotic systems, preferably humanoid and/or manipulation robots.
• Machinist apprenticeship, journeyman certification, trade school, or equivalent formal training and work experience.
• CAM programming experience (Fusion 360, Mastercam, or similar).
• Experience at an early-stage robotics or hardware startup standing up a new shop or lab space.
• Basic electronics assembly (soldering, cable work).
• Comfortable working in a PDM/PLM system as a user, pulling drawings, part numbers, and revisions.

Pay and benefits

Walden Robotics offers a competitive total compensation program, including salary, annual cash bonus, company equity, company-subsidized insurance programs, 401(k) with company match, flexible PTO, daily lunch, and other benefits. The pay ranges noted on our posts are for salary only.

• About Company ---

At Walden Robotics, we envision a world where general-purpose robots dramatically improve the quality of life for all people—supporting us at home, at work, in factories, on farms, and beyond. To accomplish this, we are building a team of exceptional professionals who combine world-class technical skills with creative vision, grounded in humility and collaboration.