---
title: 'Lead Robotics Engineer at Proto-Town'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-robotics-engineer-proto-town-lockhart-5g7p4w0t626z'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Lead Robotics Engineer at Proto-Town

- **Company:** Proto-Town
- **Location:** Lockhart
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/proto-town/60d9bcb7-4cd5-4fb1-88d4-c96a0c2a562f

## Job description

Lead Robotics Engineer - Legged Systems

## The role

We are building a legged quadruped robot that carries a human rider, starting from scratch. There is no platform to modify, no reference design to scale up, and no prior program here to inherit. You would be the technical owner of the machine as it comes into existence: architecture, actuation strategy, prototype hardware, and the locomotion control stack.

## What we're looking for

The center of this role is mechatronics: you work across mechanical design, motor control, and power electronics without handing off at the boundaries

- High-power electronics: Multi-kilowatt DC bus architecture, motor drive and inverter design or deep integration, battery pack and BMS selection, and the thermal design that keeps all of it alive under sustained load.
- Motor control: Field-oriented control, torque control, encoder and current sensing, and real-time firmware on embedded targets.
- Actuation: High torque-density drivetrain design: motors, gearboxes, backdrivability, and the tradeoffs between them.
- Fluency in the practical stack: C++ and Python, a real-time control target, CAN or EtherCAT, and a simulator you trust and know the limits of.

Backgrounds that tend to fit We are looking for people with experience in EV and e-mobility powertrain work, motor drive and inverter design, industrial servo and actuator manufacturing, or legged robotics. What matters is that you have shipped high-power motion hardware you designed yourself.

## About Proto-Town

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Proto-Town is an industrial campus and startup incubator in Lockhart, Texas, that provides integrated manufacturing, testing, and R&D infrastructure specifically for hardware and defense startups.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Angel stage, raised $20M)
- **Headquarters**: Lockhart, Texas, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Merle Nye (Co-Founder, COO) and Joshua Farahzad

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Industrial real estate, hardware incubator, venture capital, advanced manufacturing support
- **Target customers**: Early-stage hardware, defense, robotics, energy, and construction technology startups
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To revive American manufacturing by creating a physical frontier where hardware entrepreneurs can build, test, and scale with fewer constraints—modeled loosely after the Shenzhen manufacturing ecosystem but rooted in Texas.

## Products & Services
- **Industrial Campus**: A 1,200-acre (485-hectare) ranch with machine shops, office space, testing grounds, manufacturing facilities, and on-site housing—all co-located to eliminate friction for hardware companies.
- **Venture Capital Portfolio**: Proto-Town invests capital into select companies operating on its campus, pairing real estate with startup funding.
- **Development Agreement**: Has a standing agreement with Caldwell County that grants it partial regulatory freedom in exchange for basic development standards, allowing rapid construction without excessive permitting delays.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (investor-backed, no public filings)
- **Key Metric**: $20M total raised (seed/angel round closed mid-2026)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Bill Ackman (billionaire hedge-fund manager), Josh Kushner (Thrive Capital), Fred Ehrsam (Coinbase co-founder)
- **Growth Signals**: 12 companies are already operating on the ranch as of mid-2026, including Oklo (nuclear test reactor), Bedrock Robotics (autonomous construction, $280M raised at $1.75B valuation), Dynamo (large drones), Terran Robotics (robotic home construction), Base Power (energy storage), and Atmos Thermal Systems (solar cooling panels). The company has grown from ~20 employees in early 2025 to a small but growing team; LinkedIn data shows 4 employees at the parent company level but the broader campus ecosystem is much larger.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Physical co-location moat**: Unlike software accelerators (e.g., Y Combinator), Proto-Town puts machine shops, testing grounds, power infrastructure, housing, and office space directly adjacent—so hardware companies can iterate at “Manhattan Project-era speed.”
- **Regulatory flexibility**: The signed development agreement with Caldwell County grants a unique ability to build and modify infrastructure without typical red tape, a key edge over urban tech hubs like the Bay Area or even California Forever.
- **Critical mass of hardtech talent**: Attracts founders and engineers from Waymo, Neuralink, Tesla, and other elite hardware companies, forming a dense community of builders rather than software “button clickers.”
- **Self-selecting culture**: The isolated ranch environment filters for serious, hands-on founders willing to live in shipping containers and work on physical prototypes—impossible to replicate in a city.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expand campus infrastructure**: Continue constructing test reactors, drone runways, robotic construction sites, and housing to attract more hardware startups.
- **Broaden venture portfolio**: Deploy remaining capital from the $20M fund into more resident startups, while likely seeking additional fundraises.
- **Strengthen political relationships**: Leverage local government connections (Texas House Rep. John Cyrier is a partner) to maintain regulatory flexibility and fend off potential future community backlash.
- **Catalyze US manufacturing revival**: Position Proto-Town as a template for how to bring hardtech manufacturing back to America, potentially inspiring similar projects in other states.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as a “resurrected spirit of experimentation” with a “frontier” mentality. The environment is deeply hands-on, hardware-first, and driven by builders rather than software optimizers. One employee described it as “not just LinkedIn and fake buttons that you’re clicking.”
- **Work environment**: On-site living is common (retrofitted shipping containers, old school buses, inflatable office buildings). The remoteness fosters deep focus and rapid iteration. Safety gets high attention (security checkpoint, emergency protocols).
- **Remote/hybrid policy**: Not explicitly stated, but the nature of the work (physical hardware, on-site testing, nuclear reactors) heavily implies on-site, hands-on presence is required. Likely not remote-friendly.
- **Notable perks**: Access to cutting-edge hardware infrastructure, proximity to elite founders and investors, ability to influence the physical build-out of an entire new town from scratch, and the chance to be part of a project that has been compared to the Manhattan Project in its speed and ambition.
- **Engineering culture**: Direct, gritty, and high-autonomy. You’ll likely be working on real physical systems—robots, reactors, drones, energy storage—rather than web dashboards. The talent pool includes ex-Waymo, Neuralink, and Tesla engineers.

## Sources
1. [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-proto-town-texas/)
2. [Proto-Town Website](https://www.proto.town/)
3. [CB Insights](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/proto-town)
4. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/proto-town)
5. [Proto-Town Careers (Ashby)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/proto-town)

## Other roles at Proto-Town

- [Product Design Engineer (Consumer Electronics)](https://feeny.ai/job/product-design-engineer-consumer-electronics-proto-town-lockhart-t8fd5ngf2bj9) — Lockhart
- [iOS Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/ios-developer-proto-town-lockhart-bqekngs2eqs6) — Lockhart
- [Molecular Biologist / Research Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/molecular-biologist-research-scientist-proto-town-lockhart-63z3gh4t8ng6) — Lockhart
- [Barista](https://feeny.ai/job/barista-proto-town-lockhart-7xqth5sbjh8m) — Lockhart
- [Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-engineer-proto-town-lockhart-79wwfn7rqgwg) — Lockhart
- [Software](https://feeny.ai/job/software-proto-town-lockhart-tfx3nxyzwyax) — Lockhart
- [Site Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/site-technician-proto-town-lockhart-wht16r94dv85) — Lockhart