Full-Time

Synthesis/Computational Design Engineer

Molg

Molg

51-200 employees

Robotic manufacturing platform enabling circular products

No salary listed

Sterling, VA, USA

In Person

Category
AI & Machine Learning (1)
Required Skills
Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Design
Python
Data Structures & Algorithms
Machine Learning
C/C++
Robotics

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Requirements
  • At least 5 years of experience in computational geometry, geometric computing, computational design, computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing software development, or a closely related field.
  • Proficiency in Python and/or C++, including experience writing performance-sensitive geometric or numerical code.
  • Deep familiarity with 3D geometry representations such as meshes, point clouds, solid models, voxel grids, or implicit surfaces, and the algorithms that operate on them.
  • Experience with one or more geometry processing or computational design tools or libraries, such as Open3D, CGAL, libigl, OpenCASCADE, or Rhino/Grasshopper.
  • Strong understanding of linear algebra, computational geometry fundamentals, and numerical methods as applied to 3D problems.
  • Ability to prototype rapidly and then harden and scale solutions for real-world deployment in a research-to-production context.
  • Experience integrating geometric pipelines with downstream systems such as robotics, simulation, databases, or web services.
  • A track record of shipping complex technical work end-to-end rather than only prototyping.
  • Ability to explain geometric and algorithmic concepts clearly to engineers from different disciplines.
Responsibilities
  • Design and implement algorithms for geometric reasoning, spatial analysis, and computational synthesis to enable systems to understand and operate on complex physical assemblies.
  • Build the computational backbone for automated process planning by translating 3D representations of electronics into robot-executable sequences for assembly, disassembly, repair, and recovery.
  • Develop tools and pipelines for 3D geometry, including mesh processing, point cloud analysis, computer-aided design interoperability, and physics-informed simulation, to support perception, planning, and verification workflows.
  • Collaborate with robotics and controls engineers to connect spatial models with physical execution and ensure synthesized plans are feasible, robust, and safe.
  • Contribute to the design and evolution of internal data models representing products, components, processes, and spatial relationships across the manufacturing lifecycle.
  • Prototype and evaluate approaches to geometric search, constraint solving, and design space exploration, drawing from computational geometry, computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing, and generative design.
  • Build scalable, production-grade software that integrates computational design capabilities into the broader robotics and microfactory platform.
  • Participate in design reviews and technical discussions involving cross-functional computational geometry and algorithmic problems.
  • Stay current with advances in computational design, geometry processing, and spatial artificial intelligence and apply relevant techniques to the company’s challenges.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience with robotic motion planning, task planning, or manipulation, particularly in the context of geometric reasoning.
  • Familiarity with machine learning approaches to geometry, such as 3D neural representations, learned shape descriptors, or spatial transformers.
  • Background in electronics manufacturing, printed circuit board design, or physical product development.
  • Experience with physics simulation, such as PyBullet, MuJoCo, or Isaac Sim, or with tolerance analysis.
  • Contributions to open-source geometry or robotics software.

Molg builds a robotic manufacturing platform focused on circular products. It uses robots to assemble and disassemble products, enabling recovery and reuse of components in a cost-effective, scalable way. The platform tracks material composition, embodied carbon, and the digital steps of assembly and recovery, providing transparency for sustainability goals. The service helps manufacturers convert existing product lines into circular designs—designed to be reused, refurbished, or recycled—while reducing waste and environmental impact. Compared with typical manufacturers, Molg emphasizes a robot-first approach, end-to-end traceability, and a platform-as-a-service model that helps companies lower costs and meet sustainability targets. The overall goal is to make manufacturing sustainable and scalable by turning products into circular offerings that minimize waste and landfill use.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Grant

Total Funding

$10.5M

Headquarters

Baltimore, Maryland

Founded

2021

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • ABB invested on March 6, 2025, expanding commercialization with a global automation buyer.
  • Molg’s November 2024 DOE grant funds faster laptop-battery harvesting at half current cost.
  • Molg installed microfactories at Sims Lifecycle Services and is rolling out to hyperscalers.

What critics are saying

  • Molg remains seed-stage, with no disclosed revenue and heavy dependence on partner pilots.
  • ABB and DOE concentrated funding expose Molg to partnership loss and grant-fulfillment risk.
  • If unit economics miss target, hyperscalers keep outsourcing e-waste processing to incumbents.

What makes Molg unique

  • Molg’s robotic microfactories assemble and disassemble electronics, not just recycle scrap.
  • Its Design for Disassembly toolchain tracks materials, embodied carbon, and recovery paths.
  • ABB’s 2025 proof-of-concept validated Molg’s autonomous disassembly on complex drives and servers.

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Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

↓ -1%

1 year growth

↑ 0%

2 year growth

↑ 17%
Drives & Controls
Mar 6th, 2025
ABB Invests in Molg for Circular Manufacturing

ABB has invested in US-based Molg to enhance the design and reusability of its drives using Molg's robotic microfactory technology. This partnership aims to improve ABB's manufacturing efficiency and circularity. Molg, which won a $5 million grant from the US Department of Energy, previously collaborated with ABB after winning its Accelerating Circularity Startup Challenge. The investment aligns with ABB's goal to achieve 80% product lifecycle circularity by 2030.

WTWH Media LLC
Jan 6th, 2025
Eight Knot secures $3.8M in funding

In October 2024, robotics investments reached $7.4 billion across 77 funding rounds, led by Waymo's $5.6 billion raise, marking the largest single round of the year. The total investment from January to October 2024 exceeded $20 billion. Autonomous driving tech companies dominated, with significant investments in Waymo, WeRide ($320 million), and Didi Woya ($298 million). The U.S. and China led in investment rounds, with the U.S. securing $6.4 billion and China $873 million.

Business Wire
Nov 18th, 2024
Molg Wins $5M DOE Grant to Improve Circularity of Consumer Laptops, Batteries

Molg wins $5M DOE grant to develop robotics that disassemble laptops faster and cheaper, advancing circularity and critical material recovery.

Standard-Journal
Nov 15th, 2024
Molg Wins $5M DOE Grant to Improve Circularity of Consumer Laptops, Batteries

Finally, Molg is partnering with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Rewriting the Code to support workforce development, especially among underrepresented populations.

Recycling Today
Oct 16th, 2024
ABB Robotics, Molg partner to recycle electronics at data centers

ABB Robotics and startup Molg are working together to create robotic micro factories to recover and recycle data center operators' disused electronic equipment, or e-scrap.