---
title: 'Lead Hardware Engineer at Dapster'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-hardware-engineer-dapster-san-francisco-x5h98a4dgddh'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# Lead Hardware Engineer at Dapster

- **Company:** Dapster
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2023-10-13
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/dapster/ae3c8949-3e93-4cf9-9dca-4dd9a9e85f3c

## Job description

[Note: we are currently fully staffed for this role, but expect to be hiring for additional team members in the near future. So, we likely won't review/respond quickly, but we WILL look here first when we crank up the hiring machine again.] Dapster is looking for a Lead Hardware Engineer to join our small-but-powerful team. This is an impact opportunity -- we’re very much still an early-stage startup, and you will be working on our foundational technology and products.

About Dapster: Dapster is focused on bringing AI-fueled robotic picking solutions to market. We recently landed a large pilot with a top retailer -- effectively dilution-free funding to develop our core technology. If you want to do interesting work with a sharp, experienced and humble team, and share in the upside that comes with joining at the earliest stages, [we’d love to talk to you](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Dapster).  The quick details:

What will you do? Broad ownership of the hardware design, manufacturing and capabilities of the Dapster robots (we can go into much more detail live).

What are we looking for?

- Experience building and shipping robotics hardware components like wheels, drives, grippers and/or arms.
- Familiarity with  all the phases of the development - prototyping, design, manufacturing, and shipping.
- Excellent fluency in CAD/CAM tools, allowing the engineer to “think” with the tool.
- Fluid intelligence and creativity - the ability and willingness to solve problems in unorthodox ways and think outside the box.
- The willingness to do hands-on work like using the nearby machine shop to prototype some solutions.
- Highly organized and articulate communication skills.

Other nice-to-have’s:

- Proven ability to closely manage external contractors and hold them to high standards.
- Experience working with embedded systems software engineers
- Ability to balance business needs with engineering puritanism

Dapster is a remote-friendly, hybrid workplace. We maintain a development lab in Palo Alto, CA, and occasionally travel to client sites (mainly Phoenix, AZ). Roles requiring interaction with our physical robots likely entail more in-office work than not. Other roles can be structured to your preferences.

Interested in learning more? Let’s start a conversation -- you can apply directly below or reach out to Scott (one of our founders) with any questions at scott@dapster.ai.

## About Dapster

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Dapster provides autonomous robotic material handling solutions, specializing in container unloading and case-picking with AI-powered vision and reinforcement learning.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Incubator/Accelerator stage)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2020
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Logistics, Supply Chain, Robotics, Warehouse Automation
- **Target customers**: B2B – warehouses, distribution centers, Fortune 100 enterprises; focuses on high-volume container unloading environments
- **Mission or purpose statement**: Not explicitly stated, but the company aims to eliminate unsafe, injury-prone manual labor in trailer and container handling while increasing throughput and reliability

## Products & Services
- **Dapster**: A multi-functional mobile robot capable of unloading, loading, palletizing, and depalletizing cases. Uses AI vision models for drop detection, optical character recognition (OCR) for label reading, LiDAR and camera-based safety, and reinforcement learning for real-time coordination. Offered via a Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) model with no large upfront cost, including hardware maintenance, software upgrades, and customer support.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not publicly specified; latest round is Incubator/Accelerator - II.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Plug and Play, Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas
- **Growth Signals**: Has been deployed at a Fortune 100 warehouse since 2024, achieving 1.5x faster turnaround time and 90% reduction in manual lifting. Expanding to additional customers. The robot can be deployed in under 1 hour and moved between docks in under 10 minutes.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Brownfield-ready**: Works with existing telescopic and accordion conveyors; requires no AC power, no customer WiFi, no compressed air lines, and no infrastructure changes.
- **Operational ease**: Onboard safety systems (LiDAR + cameras), remote teleoperator support for edge cases, and reinforcement learning algorithms that improve throughput over time.
- **Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS)**: OpEx-friendly subscription model eliminates large capital expenditure and includes hardware, software, and support.
- **Data insights**: Captures case-level data (weight, dimensions, labels) and provides real-time operational dashboards, helping customers with vendor management and supply chain analytics.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling deployments beyond the initial Fortune 100 customer; expanding the customer base for container/handler unloading, loading, palletizing, and depalletizing solutions. Emphasis on frictionless, brownfield-friendly deployments that can be up and running quickly.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: Small team (around 5 employees) working on cutting-edge robotics and AI in logistics. Opportunity for significant impact in a fast-moving early-stage startup.
- **Remote/hybrid/office policy**: HQ in Palo Alto, CA; positions listed as "In-Office or Remote" with 7 locations. BuiltIn notes "Employees work from physical offices" with typical time on-site "None" – likely flexible hybrid arrangements.
- **Perks/engineering culture**: Focus on reinforcement learning, computer vision, hardware/software integration. Hands-on work with industrial robots deployed in real-world environments.

## Sources
1. [dapster.ai](https://dapster.ai/) – Product and solution details
2. [dapster.ai/overview.html](https://www.dapster.ai/overview.html) – Company background, deployments, RaaS model
3. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/dapster-ai) – Funding stage, investors, founded year, competitors
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/dapster-ai) – Employee count, locations, work policy, jobs
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Dapster) – Careers page (no longer accessible? but provided)

## Other roles at Dapster

- [Field Application Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/field-application-engineer-dapster-phoenix-8qn56edp9sfb) — Phoenix, AZ
- [Lead Robotics Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-robotics-software-engineer-dapster-san-francisco-n0kbd0w743vw) — San Francisco, CA
- [Lead Embedded System Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-embedded-system-software-engineer-dapster-san-francisco-g8mhm6rj3p73) — San Francisco, CA
- [Lead Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-hardware-engineer-ajax-systems-ho-chi-minh-n3k5nvgbpt8g) — Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
- [Lead Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-hardware-engineer-anduril-industries-boulder-colorado-j4s6fpavea2k) — Boulder Colorado, United States
- [Lead Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-hardware-engineer-ajax-systems-hsinchu-qkammgh7919g) — Hsinchu, Taiwan