Field Engineer

Field Engineer, Global Deployments

The Mission

GRAM is a self replication company creating populations of insectoids for the physical economy.

Our first research frontier is self-preservation: the base case of physical self-replication. Our machines will survive, coordinate, and recover without humans. We believe scalable machine labor requires more than single-agent task generality or machines shaped in our image.

About the role

You will prepare, deploy, instrument, and support GRAM's robots at sites around the world. You will assemble equipment, run readiness checks, commission and operate systems using established procedures, and investigate problems as they arise. You will coordinate directly with customers, local crews, and GRAM's engineering team, resolving issues within your training and escalating deeper faults with clear observations and measurements.

Instrumentation and data collection are part of the work. Using equipment and measurement plans developed with engineering, you will install sensors, verify calibration, configure data acquisition and telemetry, and check that collection is working before and during each run. When a system fails, you will preserve the configuration, logs, measurements, and site context needed to understand what happened and reproduce it.

Based in El Segundo, you will travel domestically and internationally for deployments, trials, and demonstrations. Between trips, you will help engineering reproduce field failures, maintain equipment, improve checklists, and prepare the next deployment. This is a three-month hourly contract assignment.

What you will do

• Prepare robots, tools, spares, equipment, and deployment records. Run readiness checklists and confirm site requirements, logistics, acceptance checks, and recovery plans with engineering and site teams.
• Bring up, configure, calibrate, operate, maintain, and recover integrated robotic systems within approved procedures, declared operating limits, and site authority.
• Perform first-line mechanical, electrical, connectivity, and data troubleshooting using inspection, measurements, logs, and documented procedures. Carry out approved repairs and work with engineering on unfamiliar faults or problems that need changes to the system.
• Install specified sensors and data-acquisition equipment on robots and test setups. Verify mounting, wiring, calibration, units, ranges, sampling rates, and signal quality against the measurement plan; document discrepancies for engineering.
• Set up synchronized capture of robot telemetry, sensor measurements, and relevant video or site observations using established tooling. Preserve timestamps, calibration records, hardware and software versions, operating conditions, and event annotations.
• Check data completeness and quality during deployment, identify dropouts, clipping, drift, or timing errors, and arrange reliable storage and transfer so problems are discovered while the system and site are still available.
• Use existing command-line tools, dashboards, and scripts to inspect logs, check measurements, and assemble useful failure reports. Help engineering distinguish machine failures from instrumentation or data problems.
• Coordinate technical work with customers, crews, and remote engineering support. Communicate readiness, constraints, incidents, and next steps clearly; escalate issues beyond your authority or expertise.
• Help reproduce field issues, run checks after approved fixes, and improve deployment checklists, equipment records, and operating procedures with engineering.

Minimum qualifications

• Hands-on experience building, testing, maintaining, or operating robots, drones, vehicles, industrial equipment, or other electromechanical systems, supported by concrete examples of your work.
• Ability to use hand tools and basic electrical test equipment, read wiring or assembly instructions, identify common faults, and recognize when engineering support is needed.
• Practical experience connecting sensors or test instruments, following calibration or setup procedures, and collecting and checking measurements.
• Comfort configuring equipment with a laptop, following command-line instructions, collecting logs, and maintaining accurate configuration and test records.
• Ability to follow and improve procedures, exercise sound judgment under changing conditions, and communicate clearly with engineering teams and people working on site. Practical experience, technical training, apprenticeships, and relevant projects are welcome; a bachelor's degree is not required.
• Willingness to be based in El Segundo between deployments and travel to domestic and international sites on the agreed assignment schedule.
• Authorization to work in the United States and ability to travel internationally to deployment locations with the required travel documentation.

Preferred experience

• Field robotics, autonomous vehicles, industrial commissioning, aerospace test, utility infrastructure, or other environments where hardware must work away from its development team.
• Linux, Python, ROS/ROS 2, robot telemetry and bag files, CAN or Ethernet diagnostics, synchronized data capture, or instrumentation for force, motion, electrical, thermal, or vibration measurements.
• Remote diagnostics, field logistics, equipment maintenance, spares planning, operator training, or technical coordination across countries and time zones.

Compensation and contract

The pay range for this El Segundo, California assignment is $40–$50 per hour. This is a three-month W-2 hourly contract, based on site in El Segundo between domestic and international deployments. Extension may be considered by mutual agreement. Expected working hours, start date, and deployment schedule will be agreed for the assignment.

Required business travel, accommodation, ground transportation, and agreed meals or per diem are covered separately from hourly pay. Overtime and compensable travel time are paid in accordance with applicable requirements.