---
title: 'Senior Mechanical Engineer - Robotics Hardware at Instawork'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-robotics-hardware-instawork-bengaluru-1y8fycnnt400'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Senior Mechanical Engineer - Robotics Hardware at Instawork

- **Company:** Instawork
- **Location:** Bengaluru, India
- **Posted:** 2026-08-27
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/instawork/jobs/4708919006

## Job description

Instawork is on a mission to create meaningful economic opportunities for skilled hourly professionals in communities around the globe. Our AI-powered labor marketplace helps local businesses scale, and enables global technology companies to push the frontiers of robotics and AI. Backed by world-class investors like Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, Y Combinator, and others, we’re looking for exceptional talent to reimagine the way the world works.

Senior Mechanical Engineer — Robotics Hardware

Location - Bangalore

Instawork Robotics Labs is building Instacore, our proprietary five-camera and IMU wearable capture rig. Hundreds of units operate across India every day, collecting real-world data used to train frontier Physical AI models.

We are looking for a senior, mechanically focused engineer to own the complete hardware lifecycle for Instacore and future hardware products. This person will independently lead design, prototyping, manufacturing, testing, deployment, logistics, maintenance, and continuous improvement.

## What you’ll do

- Own the mechanical design and development of Instacore and other robotics hardware from initial requirements through production and field deployment.
- Create detailed CAD models, assemblies, engineering drawings, bills of materials, and manufacturing documentation.
- Rapidly prototype and validate designs using 3D printing, machining, fabrication, and off-the-shelf components.
- Design durable mounts, enclosures, fixtures, wearable components, packaging, and protective systems.
- Own design for manufacturability, assembly, serviceability, reliability, and cost.
- Improve cable routing, connector retention, strain relief, thermal management, ingress protection, and resistance to vibration and impact.
- Design packaging and logistics processes that prevent damage during storage and transit.
- Establish verification, stress-testing, quality-control, and acceptance-testing procedures.
- Investigate field failures, determine root causes, and implement corrective improvements across the fleet.
- Own the maintenance and repair strategy for deployed hardware, including spare parts, repair documentation, and technician procedures.
- Manage vendors, fabricators, component suppliers, and contract manufacturers.
- Own component sourcing, inventory planning, hardware logistics, and deployment readiness.
- Work closely with robotics, electrical, firmware, software, operations, and field teams to deliver complete systems.
- Build repeatable processes that allow the hardware fleet to scale reliably across India and APAC.
- Mentor technicians and junior engineers while remaining deeply hands-on.

## What we’re looking for

- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Product Design, Robotics, or a related discipline.
- **Five to seven years of hands-on experience** designing and delivering physical products or robotics hardware.
- Advanced proficiency with CAD, including complex parts, assemblies, drawings, tolerance definition, and revision management.
- Strong experience with rapid prototyping and 3D printing, including material selection, print orientation, tolerances, and design limitations.
- Experience taking products from early prototypes through low-volume or scaled production.
- Strong understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, fasteners, tolerances, load paths, fatigue, vibration, and impact resistance.
- Demonstrated ability to diagnose mechanical failures and implement robust, practical solutions.
- Experience working with vendors and managing manufacturing, sourcing, inventory, packaging, or logistics.
- Ability to independently prioritize work, make engineering decisions, and own outcomes with limited oversight.
- Willingness to travel across India and APAC for vendor visits, deployments, and field investigations.

Good to have

- Electrical engineering knowledge, particularly wiring, connectors, sensors, cameras, power systems, printed circuit board integration, and basic electronics troubleshooting.
- Experience designing electromechanical or wearable products.
- Programming proficiency in Python, C++, or another relevant language.
- Experience writing scripts for test automation, hardware validation, data analysis, or manufacturing workflows.
- Familiarity with Raspberry Pi, embedded systems, computer vision hardware, or IoT devices.
- Experience managing engineering documentation and product data using version-control or product-lifecycle-management systems.
- Experience building or leading a small hardware engineering function.

What success looks like

- Instacore has a clear, reliable, and scalable hardware architecture.
- New designs move efficiently from requirements through prototype, validation, and deployment.
- Field failures, wire breakages, and transit damage decline measurably.
- Manufacturing, repair, inventory, and logistics processes are documented and repeatable.
- Junior engineers and technicians can assemble, test, and repair units using the systems you establish.
- Hardware development no longer depends on day-to-day involvement from the broader team.

## Our Values

- Empathy, Trust & Candor We put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues and customers and don’t shy away from uncomfortable conversations, instead building trust through honest and direct feedback.

- Bias for Action We practice high-velocity decision-making, clear-eyed that we often operate with incomplete information. Growing quickly means it’s OK to be wrong, so long as we learn from our mistakes and course correct!

- Always Be Learning We’re a curious bunch, and with AI transforming our workplace we encourage everyone to learn from each other, compounding our knowledge and experience to help us change an entire industry.

- Act Like an Owner We work long, hard, and smart, building products that delight our users and drive growth. Your ability to impact Instawork is limited only by your courage and conviction, not your job description.

## About Instawork

Founded in 2015, [Instawork](https://www.instawork.com) is the nation’s leading online labor marketplace for food services, hospitality, light industry, and logistics, connecting more than 7M skilled workers with local restaurants, hotels, warehouses, stadiums, and more. Our AI-powered platform serves thousands of businesses across more than 50 major markets in the United States and Canada. We're not just helping fill shifts, we're supporting local economies—and we're just getting started!

Instawork has been featured by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. Forbes included us on their Next Billion Dollar Startups list; RetailTech Breakthrough named us Workforce Hiring Solution of the Year for 2025; and Inc. 5000 recognized us as one of the country's top 10% fastest-growing companies two years in a row. But what matters most is our impact. We're solving real problems for real people, and we’re doing it at scale.

Join our team to help us build something that matters! We’re looking for superstars who want to help us shape the future of work. With hubs in San Francisco, Bangalore, and Chicago, city offices in New York, Phoenix, and Singapore, we're back to working together in-person five days a week because we believe the best ideas happen when great people collaborate face-to-face. We also value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

Ready to make an impact? Learn more at [www.instawork.com/about](http://www.instawork.com/about).

[Personnel Privacy Policy](https://info.instawork.com/legal/california-personnel-privacy-policy)

## About Instawork

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Instawork is a leading AI-powered labor marketplace that connects businesses with vetted, skilled hourly workers for shifts, temp-to-hire, and full-time roles across North America, and is expanding into humanoid robotics training.
- **Entity Type**: Private (pre-IPO; Series D stage)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Sumir Meghani (CEO), Deep Abhani (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Labor marketplace, flexible staffing, temporary staffing, AI-powered workforce management, robotics workforce training
- **Target customers**: B2B (businesses in hospitality, warehouse/logistics, manufacturing, retail, and light industrial sectors); also serves B2C (hourly workers seeking flexible shifts)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "To create economic opportunities for local businesses and hourly workers across the globe" — empowering everyone to thrive in their careers.

## Products & Services
- **Instawork Platform (Core Marketplace)**: An AI-powered mobile app and web platform where businesses post shifts and workers browse and book them. Features background checks, skills verification, ratings, and automated payroll, taxes, and insurance. Fills 90% of jobs within 24 hours.
- **Instawork Robotics**: A new division that pays employees to help train humanoid robots, expanding Instawork’s labor marketplace into AI and robotics data generation and validation. Includes roles like Founding Machine Learning Lead, Field Engineering Technician, and Robotics AI Campus Lead.
- **Top Pro Program**: Rewards high-performing workers with access to more shifts and cash bonuses.
- **'Captains' Program**: Sends vetted on-site shift leaders to manage large groups of workers for businesses.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (pre-IPO private company); last known Series D valuation was not publicly reported.
- **Key Metric**: Over 7 million hourly workers in its network (source: [instawork.com/about](https://www.instawork.com/about)); over 40 markets across North America (expanding to 60+ cities); 2+ billion data signals optimizing worker/business connections; 90% of jobs filled within 24 hours.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, Y Combinator (source: [Greenhouse jobs page](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/instawork)).
- **Growth Signals**: Launch of a dedicated Robotics division (2025-2026); active hiring for robotics, AI, and enterprise sales roles across multiple US and international hubs (San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, Bengaluru, Vancouver, Monterrey, Austin, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chapel Hill).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Network effects**: The largest platform connecting businesses to hourly workers (7M+ workers) creates a deep, defensible moat — more workers attract more businesses, and vice versa.
- **AI & data moat**: Billions of proprietary data signals (worker performance, fit, reliability) power a machine-learning engine that optimizes worker matching, increasing return rates and reducing churn.
- **Full-stack trust & safety**: Background checks, skills verification, worker ratings, on-shift insurance, and a dedicated Trust & Safety team lower risk for businesses.
- **50-state+ coverage**: Presence in 60+ metro areas across the US and Canada allows rapid scaling for multi-location enterprise clients.
- **New robotics pivot**: Leveraging its massive workforce to train humanoid robots creates a unique competitive position at the intersection of labor and AI infrastructure.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling the core marketplace**: Expanding into new geographies (60+ cities) and verticals (e.g., light industrial, retail).
- **Enterprise growth**: Building out enterprise account management and strategic account teams for large clients in logistics, manufacturing, and retail.
- **Robotics & AI expansion**: Developing a new business line around training humanoid robots, positioning Instawork as a key partner for robotics companies needing real-world data and validation.
- **Product innovation**: Using AI to improve worker fit, reliability, and return rates; investing in automation and operational efficiency.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven impact**: "Your work at Instawork directly benefits thousands of businesses and millions of workers." The company emphasizes creating economic opportunities.
- **Rapid growth and strong investors**: Pre-IPO company backed by top-tier VCs (Benchmark, Spark, Greylock, Y Combinator) — offers potential for career growth and equity upside.
- **Rewarding problems**: Tackle challenging, high-velocity problems in AI, robotics, marketplace dynamics, and trust & safety.
- **Culture values** (from careers page): Bias for Action, Act Like an Owner, Always Be Learning, Empathy/Trust/Candor.
- **Benefits**: Medical/Dental/Vision insurance, 401K/PF contribution, FSA & Commuter Benefits, Flexible Time Off, Parental & Family Leave, Office & Phone Plan Reimbursement, Employee Referral Bonus, Catered Lunches, Pet Friendly Offices, Mental Health Benefits, Team Offsites.
- **Work model**: Hybrid / in-office hub locations in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, and Bengaluru; also remote-friendly for certain roles.

## Sources
1. [Instawork Careers Page](https://www.instawork.com/careers)
2. [Instawork Greenhouse Jobs Board](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/instawork)
3. [Instawork About Page](https://www.instawork.com/about)
4. [Instawork Homepage](https://www.instawork.com/)
5. [Instawork How It Works](https://www.instawork.com/how-it-works)

## Other roles at Instawork

- [Enterprise Account Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/enterprise-account-manager-instawork-dallas-texas-x3pbrmw6nrt0) — Dallas Texas, United States / Houston Texas, United States
- [Head of Operations - Instawork Robotics Labs](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-operations-instawork-robotics-labs-instawork-bengaluru-5193f95fz9sd) — Bengaluru, India
- [Associate Director - Operations - Instawork Robotics Labs](https://feeny.ai/job/associate-director-operations-instawork-robotics-labs-instawork-bengaluru-9dyj0ehgt1h6) — Bengaluru, India
- [Head of Quality Assurance - Instawork Robotics Labs](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-quality-assurance-instawork-robotics-labs-instawork-bengaluru-5vjp58hdrz00) — Bengaluru, India
- [Growth Marketing Manager, Discoverability](https://feeny.ai/job/growth-marketing-manager-discoverability-instawork-san-francisco-california-x5ry5wbztpe3) — San Francisco California, United States
- [GTM Recruiting Consultant](https://feeny.ai/job/gtm-recruiting-consultant-instawork-chicago-illinois-b0w8ee5wm48g) — Chicago Illinois, United States / San Francisco California, United States
- [Hardware Intern — Robotics & AI](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-intern-robotics-ai-instawork-bengaluru-p6h1zftbsdec) — Bengaluru, India
- [Strategic Account Executive - Light Industrial](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-account-executive-light-industrial-instawork-chicago-illinois-zdtaa0d3s8f3) — Chicago Illinois, United States / New York New York, United States / San Francisco California, United States
- [Regional Sales Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/regional-sales-manager-instawork-chicago-illinois-6re4nvdbgrvr) — Chicago Illinois, United States / San Francisco California, United States
- [Senior Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-account-executive-instawork-san-francisco-california-02pjm24tzf17) — San Francisco California, United States