Senior Industrial Automation Engineer

Automation Engineer, Industrial

Sanctuary AI, a world leader in building dexterity-driven Physical AI for general-purpose robots, is looking to hire an experienced and driven Automation Engineer, Industrial with deep domain expertise in traditional manufacturing automation. This position is part of our Engineering team and plays a key role in helping us bridge the gap between legacy automation systems and the future of Physical AI.

Reporting to the Head of Product, you’ll apply your 15+ years of experience in factory automation to help apply best practices in task automation, to Sanctuary technology integration, and production-scale reliability.

As one of our Automation Engineers, you’ll work hands‑on with our AI team, robotics engineers, and external partners to assess and scope automation tasks, identify opportunity areas, and advise on deployment considerations that align with real‑world customer needs and constraints.

Success Criteria

• Identify and map tasks that are well-served by traditional automation systems and where gaps remain.
• Guide our team on best practices for automating physical work in manufacturing, logistics, and packaging environments.
• Help benchmark and validate performance of our robotic systems against industrial-grade alternatives.
• Work with engineering to ensure lab task replicas capture real-world constraints.
• Identify and lead development of hybrid solutions integrating Sanctuary's AI with traditional automation tools (PLC, sensors, robotic arms) to maximize effectiveness.

Your Experience And Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechatronics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15+ years in application engineering, factory automation, or systems integration.
• Deep working knowledge of automation systems including PLCs, HMIs, sensors, and actuators.
• Strong background in task design and throughput optimization.
• Experience designing or integrating factory automation systems using PLCs, vision systems, and robotic arms.
• Experience working with integrators, OEMs, or directly on plant floors.

Skills

• Effective communicator with technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Skilled in root‑cause analysis and system-level debugging.
• Familiar with both low-level control and high-level system orchestration.
• Comfortable working cross-functionally in fast-paced environments.

Traits

• Consistently positive attitude and willingness to create robust solutions.
• Proponent of personal responsibility for self and teammates.
• Empathetic listener with conflict resolution capabilities.
• Bias for action, communication, and interpersonal savvy.
• Self-motivated and able to solve problems independently.
• Mission driven and passionate about bringing human-like intelligence to machines.

Working at Sanctuary AI

Sanctuary AI is an equal opportunity employer; employment is governed based on skills, competence, and qualifications and will not be influenced by any legally protected status. In 2023, Sanctuary AI moved into a state-of-the-art office and has been recognized by LinkedIn as a Top Startup.

Compensation And Benefits

Sanctuary offers a market-leading compensation package including competitive salaries, equity, health coverage, paid time off, cutting‑edge work facilities, and worksite flexibility.

About Sanctuary AI

Founded in 2018, Sanctuary builds humanoid robots and a novel control system that integrates symbolic logic and reasoning with data-driven foundational models. We use robots to collect multimodal data to train AI. Our vertically integrated system allows design, deployment, and refinement at scale, with the mission to create the world's first human‑like intelligence in general‑purpose robots.

Recruiting and Employment Agency Notice

Recruitment and hiring is conducted internally; we are not seeking agency partnerships at this time.