Jobs / United States / OpenAI UK Ltd
Actuator Design Engineer
OpenAI UK Ltd · 🇺🇸 San Francisco
Sponsorship verdict
No sponsorship evidence yet
No government record and no wording either way. Not a refusal — ask the recruiter.
- No government sponsor record hereThis employer does not appear with approvals in the government data SponsorApply holds.
- The posting doesn’t mention sponsorshipSilence isn’t a refusal — ask the recruiter before investing much time.
- No salary bar for this routeH-1B has no fixed salary bar: the employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the role and area. Cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level. Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/29/2025-23853/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b, rules effective 2026-02-27.
- Confirmed live todayWhen a source last listed this job as open.
US H-1B: cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level — Level I gets 1 entry, Level IV gets 4 (DHS projected selection odds ≈15% at Level I to ≈61% at Level IV). Universities and non-profit research employers are cap-exempt. The $100,000 fee for new petitions from abroad is currently blocked by a court order (appeal pending).
A verdict summarises public evidence; it is not legal advice and never a guarantee — the employer and the immigration authority decide. Sign in to factor in where you can already work.
Or apply yourself on the official page →
Why not apply?
No register record and no sponsorship wording in the posting. Worth asking the employer before investing significant time.
SponsorApply flags time-wasters so your applications go where they can land. These come from the posting's own wording — read the original listing to confirm. See better-fit alternatives →
Sponsor Radar — OpenAI UK Ltd
This employer does not appear with approvals in the government data SponsorApply holds.
Past sponsorship or register membership never guarantees sponsorship for this vacancy or for you. Full Sponsor Radar for OpenAI UK Ltd →
About the role
About the Team Our Robotics team is focused on unlocking general-purpose robotics and pushing towards AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world settings. Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors. We strive to seamlessly blend high-level AI capabilities with the constraints of physical systems to improve peoples’ lives. About the Role We are seeking a Senior Actuator Design and Integration Engineer to lead the development of custom electromechanical actuators for advanced robotic systems. You will own actuator development from early architecture and concept generation through prototype validation and system integration, partnering closely with mechanical, electrical, controls, firmware, reliability, and manufacturing teams. This role focuses on the design, integration, and validation of precision electromechanical systems, including motors, transmissions, sensing, structural components, and thermal architectures. You will help drive actuator development across the full engineering lifecycle while establishing scalable design, test, and integration practices for future robotic platforms. This role is based in San Francisco, CA, and requires in-person presence 4 days a week. In this role, you will - Lead the architecture, design, and integration of custom robotic actuators, including motors, transmissions, sensing, thermal systems, structural components, and packaging. - Define actuator requirements and system-level trade studies around torque density, bandwidth, efficiency, thermal performance, backdrivability, inertia, reliability, manufacturability, and cost. - Design precision electromechanical assemblies with strong attention to tolerances, alignment, load paths, thermal expansion, sealing, wear, and serviceability. - Drive actuator integration into robotic systems, partnering closely with controls, firmware, electrical, and robotics software teams to optimize closed-loop performance. - Develop and evaluate architectures with integrated sensing and encoder strategies. - Build and validate prototypes through hands-on bring-up, debugging, characterization, and iterative refinement. - Develop test methodologies and characterization infrastructure for actuator performance, reliability, durability, and failure analysis. - Analyze test data to identify limitations, failure modes, and opportunities for design improvement. - Collaborate with manufacturing and supplier partners to transition designs from prototype to scalable production-ready assemblies. - Support DFM, DFA, DFT, calibration, and assembly strategies for electromechanical subsystems. - Contribute to actuator sourcing strategy, vendor qualification, prototype builds, and supply-chain development. - Document designs, interfaces, validation results, and engineering decisions to support long-term maintainability and production readiness. - Help establish engineering standards, integration practices, and development workflows for future robotic platforms. You might thrive in this role if you - Have strong intuition for designing high-performance electromechanical systems and understanding the tradeoffs between performance, robustness, manufacturability, and cost. - Enjoy operating at both subsystem and system levels, balancing actuator-level optimization with overall robot integration needs. - Are highly hands-on and enjoy building, debugging, instrumenting, and testing hardware directly. - Can move fluidly between first-principles analysis, rapid prototyping, and production-oriented engineering decisions. - Are comfortable working in fast-moving environments with evolving requirements and aggressive technical goals. - Have a st