--- title: 'Prototype Researcher at Orbital' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/prototype-researcher-orbital-san-francisco-vepxqr2185j3' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-12' --- # Prototype Researcher at Orbital - **Company:** Orbital - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-08-11 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/orbitalindustries/00042379-3532-42df-a20f-c71b57cca97c ## Job description Orbital Industries is an AI Industrial company, with frontier AI embedded at every step in the production of critical physical products - from creating advanced materials to engineering and manufacturing. Every Orbital Industries product is developed using CurieOS, our AI operating system, uniting AI-automated hardware engineering with AI-designed material science to achieve breakthrough real-world performance. We also offer CurieOS to our customers and partners, extending the same platform and workflows that power Orbital Industries to their own teams and products. We have an ambitious mission and need excellent people in all our teams - AI research, operations, advanced materials, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and manufacturing. Working at Orbital Industries means working in vertically integrated teams across the full stack, from molecules to manufacturing. We're looking for people who have a love of physical technology, curiosity in AI and a desire to learn. ## Role Overview You'll be the hands that turn our designs into working hardware — running the workshop, building the test rigs, and getting them commissioned and into service. You'll own the mechanical build of our next-generation Direct-to-Chip platforms from bare frame to first test. ## Key Responsibilities Workshop and Machine Operation - Run and maintain our 3D printers, CNC machine and workshop tooling - Digital Fabrication - create and review CAD models. Produce parts, jigs and test fixtures to drawing - Manage tooling, consumables and machine servicing Rig Build and Commissioning - Lead the mechanical build of our upcoming Direct-to-Chip testing and validation rigs - Support commissioning — leak checks, function testing, fault-finding, and generic troubleshooting - Deliver mechanical and electrical modifications to existing rigs as needed Mechanical and Electrical Assembly - Comfort with low voltage wiring - build control panels and instrumentation to schematic - High degree of mechanical aptitude - Assemble mechanical sub-systems to specification and tolerance - Function test completed builds and document the results Rig Operation and Procurement - Take over day-to-day mechanical operation of test rigs - Set up, run and reset test configurations for each campaign. Review data and recommend iterative improvements - Source and order rig components, managing suppliers and lead times ## What We’re Looking For - Hands-on experience running 3D printers, CNC machines and workshop tooling - Comfortable across both mechanical assembly and electrical build work - A background in prototype, R&D or low-volume build environments - Practical problem-solver who diagnoses and fixes rather than waits - Experience with fluid systems or test instrumentation is a strong plus Why Join Orbital? - Competitive salary and equity package - the ability to own part of Orbital as we grow - Flexible and generous paid time off - Excellent health, dental and vision insurance plan - Regular company offsites - The experience of working in a cutting-edge organisation dedicated to a better future Orbital is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. ## About Orbital ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Orbital Industries is an AI-first industrial company that designs and manufactures physical products using its own AI platform, starting with advanced hardware for AI data centers. - **Entity Type**: Private (Funding stage not disclosed) - **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Jonathan Godwin (CEO) ## Core Business - **Primary Industry**: Manufacturing / Industrial AI / Data Center Hardware - **Target Customers**: B2B, Enterprise (specifically data center operators) - **Mission/Purpose**: To lead an industrial renaissance by advancing critical technologies and securing the planet, using AI to accelerate the invention and manufacture of physical products. ## Products & Services - **Orb (AI Platform)**: An integrated AI foundation model and agentic operating system that unites domain-specific AI across material science, fluid dynamics, and hardware engineering to discover and design novel physical products. It powers all of the company’s hardware development. - **AI Data Center Products**: High-performance, sustainable hardware for AI data centers, including direct-to-chip and two-phase liquid cooling systems using newly discovered molecular classes for high-density GPU cooling. These are sold as modular data center components. ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly available. - **Key Metric**: Headcount is approximately 58 employees (as of mid-2026), with 12 active job postings indicating continued growth. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: No specific investors named, but the company highlights a relationship with **NVIDIA**. CEO Jonathan Godwin discussed the company with Jensen Huang at an NVIDIA event, and Orbital is part of the beta release for NVIDIA's Alchemist toolkit. - **Growth Signals**: - Rapid initial headcount growth (currently ~58 employees). - 12 open positions across ML engineering, mechanical engineering, finance, and talent. - Active in the Open Compute Project community. - Strong LinkedIn follower growth (+3.9% monthly). ## Competitive Advantages - **AI-Native Hardware R&D**: Unlike traditional hardware companies with large, siloed R&D departments, Orbital operates like an AI lab with small, interdisciplinary teams that use AI agents, robotic labs, and physical engineering sites. - **Foundation Models for Physics**: Possesses world-leading AI models for advanced materials, fluid dynamics, and other physical sciences, enabling rapid iteration in simulation ("in silico") before physical prototyping. - **Sample-Efficient AI**: Their "autoresearch" agents are designed to find correct answers in as few experiments as possible, dramatically reducing the time and cost of physical R&D, which is typically measured in months and millions of dollars per experiment. ## Strategic Focus - **Geographic Expansion**: Scaling operations with offices already established in London (HQ), San Francisco, and Calgary. Hiring a Head of Sales for the EMEA region. - **Broader Industrial Ambition**: While starting with data center cooling, the strategy is to apply its AI platform to other critical physical sectors, including energy, semiconductors, and general materials and machinery. - **Talent Acquisition**: Actively hiring ML researchers and engineers to build the "next frontier of industrial AI," alongside core engineering and business roles. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Described internally as a "talent-dense" team operating like a frontier AI lab, but with the tangible output of physical products. This appeals to those who want to see their code impact the real world. - **Work Model**: Hybrid (typical time on-site varies by role and office location). Roles in San Francisco are in-office; London roles are hybrid. - **Notable Perks/Engineering Culture**: Engineers work on cutting-edge problems at the intersection of AI and physics. The company is small but has high-profile ambitions and partnerships (e.g., NVIDIA), offering significant ownership and impact. ## Sources 1. [orbitalindustries.com](https://www.orbitalindustries.com/) 2. [orbitalindustries.com/about](https://www.orbitalindustries.com/about) 3. [linkedin.com/company/orbitalindustries](https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbitalindustries) 4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/orbital-industries) 5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/orbitalindustries](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/orbitalindustries) ## Other roles at Orbital - [Communications Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/communications-lead-orbital-london-yzdmjh7hv672) — London, United Kingdom - [Forward Deployed Engineering Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineering-lead-orbital-london-qc117e9csesh) — London, United Kingdom - [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-orbital-london-j0ky5sndyk9x) — London, United Kingdom - [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-orbital-london-hjbxs88h2eyt) — London, United Kingdom - [Test Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/test-engineer-orbital-san-francisco-n70wp6h29wkn) — San Francisco, CA - [Machine Learning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-engineer-orbital-london-2agc9mw9xeey) — London, United Kingdom