---
title: 'Mechanical Engineer Intern - Mechanism and Structures Design (Fall 2026) at stratarobot.com'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-intern-mechanism-and-structures-design-fall-2026-fhw8ctyx24hz'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-13'
---

# Mechanical Engineer Intern - Mechanism and Structures Design (Fall 2026) at stratarobot.com

- **Company:** stratarobot.com
- **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-24
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/stratarobot-com/am9icG9zdDrpP1DCnrcVsWRuhwSWgCMC

## Job description

## About Strata

Heavy infrastructure cannot be built fast enough to fulfill the promises of reindustrialization. With labor availability tightening and the workforce aging, construction faces a multi-trillion-dollar execution gap over the next decade. We’re building a construction robotics platform designed for outdoor environments, heavy payloads, and immediate deployment. We’re partnering with the largest heavy construction firms to put robots on sites for material handling now, building hardware, data, and commercial moats to bring end-to-end autonomy to construction. Robots are folding clothes and washing dishes, while dangerous and heavy work in remote environments remain manual. Furthermore, construction firms cannot physically fulfill their contracts — they should not have to choose between building a hospital or a data center. Join us to build a robotics platform that delivers real value immediately, saving lives and bringing abundance to construction. Backed by a $5.2 million seed round led by Founders Fund, the team is developing robots for outdoor, high-payload job site work with a focus on immediate deployment and autonomy that delivers value immediately. We’re partnering with the largest heavy construction firms to put robots on sites to handle material now, building hardware, data, and commercial moats to bring end-to-end autonomy to construction.

Who We're Looking For We are looking for a Mechanical Engineering Intern specializing in systems integration and build to help bring Strata’s robot hardware from design into reality over a 3-month Fall internship. This person will work hands-on across prototype manufacturing, assembly, integration, and test, helping turn early concepts into functioning hardware systems. They will work closely with the Lead Mechanical Engineer Intern, and should be excited to spend the Fall designing, building, and validating real robot hardware in a fast-moving development environment.

## Key Responsibilities

- Own CAD development in NX for assigned subsystems, taking mechanisms from early concept sketches through detailed part design, assembly modeling, and release-ready drawings.
- Perform mechanism design and analysis (motion studies, interference/clearance checks, load paths, tolerance stacks) to validate design intent before parts are cut.
- Support prototype manufacturing, assembly, and bring-up across Strata's robot subsystems, translating your own CAD work into physical hardware.
- Design and fabricate test fixtures, assembly aids, and other hardware needed for efficient integration and validation.
- Write test plans and support execution of benchtop, subsystem, and integrated hardware tests.
- Troubleshoot mechanical integration issues during build, assembly, and prototype iteration, feeding lessons learned back into CAD and drawings.
- Create CAD updates, drawings, and documentation (GD&T, BOMs, revision control) to support fabrication, assembly, and design changes.
- Work closely with the engineering team to improve build quality, test readiness, and hardware reliability.
- Help maintain an organized, high-functioning build environment across parts, tools, and active prototypes.

## What You Bring

- Pursuing a BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.
- Strong hands-on experience building, manufacturing, and testing complex mechanical systems.
- Familiarity with CAD and mechanical design workflows.
- Experience creating fixtures, prototypes, or custom hardware for build and test.
- Comfort working in a shop, lab, or hands-on engineering environment with a high level of ownership.
- Strong attention to detail and willingness to do the practical work required to get hardware built correctly.
- Experience in build-focused teams such as Formula SAE, robotics, rocketry, or similar is strongly preferred.

## About stratarobot.com

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Strata Robotics is building an autonomous robotics platform for outdoor construction environments and heavy payloads, designed to address labor shortages and the execution gap in infrastructure development.
- **Entity Type**: Private (early-stage, funding not publicly disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: Sunnyvale, California, USA
- **Founded**: Not publicly available (recent startup, likely 2024–2025)
- **Founders**: Eric Zhou (CEO and Founder), Alex Mason (CTO and Co-founder)

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Construction robotics / autonomous heavy equipment
- Target customers: Large heavy construction firms, infrastructure and energy operators (B2B, enterprise)
- Mission: To bring end-to-end autonomy to construction, enabling faster and safer infrastructure development despite a shrinking workforce.

## Products & Services
- **Strata Robotics Platform**: An integrated system of rugged mobility robots, fleet intelligence software, and foundation model integration. The platform is designed for outdoor job sites, handling heavy payloads (multi-ton) with autonomous planning and real-time oversight. The current focus is a V1 material handling robot.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not disclosed; headcount of ~3 employees on LinkedIn (with 50% monthly growth)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Partnering with "the largest heavy construction firms" (names not specified); talent sourced from MIT LIDS and SpaceX
- **Growth Signals**: Early-stage but actively hiring for founding roles (Autonomy Engineer, Field Deployment Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Head of Business Development). Moving from development to active job site pilots with EPC partners.

## Competitive Advantages
- Purpose-built for outdoor, unstructured environments (not humanoids or indoor robots)
- Heavy payload capacity (multi-ton) for real construction tasks
- Immediate deployment focus – partnering with firms to put robots on sites now, building data and commercial moats
- Hardware, data, and systems designed for end-to-end autonomy, not just single-task robots

## Strategic Focus
- Iterating from V1 material handling robot toward full autonomy across construction, infrastructure, and energy operations
- Deepening partnerships with heavy construction firms to scale real-world deployments
- Building a foundation model layer trained on real job site data to accelerate learning and adaptability

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: 0→1 environment with direct influence on robot architecture and field deployment. Engineers own subsystems end-to-end (from hand calcs to vendor sourcing to test).
- **Work Policy**: Hybrid or in-office based in Sunnyvale, CA (roles listed as "In-Office" or "Hybrid").
- **Notable Perks**: Work directly with founding team; front-row seat to deploying robotics on real job sites; hands-on with heavy equipment, hydraulics, and outdoor testing.
- **Engineering Culture**: First-principles design, real-world survival testing, and a focus on practical, scalable hardware over hype.

## Sources
1. [stratarobot.com](https://www.stratarobot.com/)
2. [stratarobot.com/careers](https://www.stratarobot.com/careers)
3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/strata-robotics)
4. [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/strata-robotics)
5. [jobs.gem.com](https://jobs.gem.com/stratarobot-com)

## Other roles at stratarobot.com

- [Founding Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-mechanical-engineer-stratarobot-com-sunnyvale-cxzb53j39wbw) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Founding Autonomy Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-autonomy-engineer-stratarobot-com-sunnyvale-mnrxq2mz96cm) — Sunnyvale, CA