Principal Mechanical Engineer

The posting, as Aescape wrote it

Aescape is a body intelligence company delivering Adaptive Body Therapy, powered by physical AI and robotics. Each session listens to your body and adapts to it in real time, releasing the tension that builds from work, training, travel and everyday life. Members choose their focus, adjust pressure as they go, and see results build with consistent use. Every table evolves through over-the-air software updates, so the experience keeps getting better. Find Aescape at 150+ leading fitness, hospitality and wellness destinations across the US.

Aescape is headquartered in New York and is backed by Valor Equity Partners, BroadLight Capital and Mecha Ventures, alongside seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, an investor and strategic partner.

Aescape is looking for a Principal Mechanical Engineer to be the technical lead for our mechanical engineering domain. You will own the mechanical master model and drive system-level integration across the robot, making sure actuators, drivetrain, structure, and adjacent mechanisms work as a single system. This is a hands-on principal IC role on a small, senior hardware team: you will lead design, analysis, cost reduction, prototyping, and validation, set the design methodology the rest of the team works to, and partner directly with our contract manufacturer and key suppliers to take designs into production. You will work closely with Electrical, Firmware, Controls, and Operations, and you will ship hardware that real people experience with their bodies. If this sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you!

For this role, we are open to candidates who can work fully on-site from our NYC office OR those based in the greater Boston area, with the ability to travel to our NYC office regularly.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Mechanical Architecture & System Integration: Own the mechanical master model and drive system-level integration across the platform, ensuring actuators, drivetrain, structure, and adjacent mechanisms come together as one coherent machine. Make the architecture-level tradeoffs: cost, weight, acoustics, reliability, and perceived quality.
• Design, Analysis & Validation: Lead design, analysis, prototyping, and validation of mechanical subsystems across our deployed fleet and next-generation platforms. Build and test your own prototypes, and drive design decisions from test data and physics.
• Design Methodology & Technical Leadership: Set the design methodology and best practices for the mechanical engineering domain: CAD standards, FEA and tolerance rigor, and how design decisions get justified. Raise the technical bar through CAD reviews, design reviews, architectural guidance, and mentorship of other mechanical engineers and contractors.
• Cost Engineering & DFM: Identify and engineer out hidden costs in design, materials, and manufacturing through strategic changes and design simplification. Refine designs for manufacturability, create and optimize tooling and fixtures, and analyze an

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IT FOR YOU

• Join a trailblazing robotics and AI company building the future of recovery
• The chance to make a difference with a product that empowers healthier and happier living
• Team culture driven by passion, ambition, empowerment, inclusion, curiosity, and fun!
• 100% employer-paid healthcare coverage for employees with generous coverage for eligible dependents
• Flexible time off
• Quarterly Wellness Days - everyone fully unplugs
• Generous parental leave
• Complimentary OneMedical membership
• 401(k) with employer matching
• Home office budget
• Annual stipend for professional development
• Working late? Dinner is on us
• Complimentary Aescape recovery sessions for yourself, friends & family

Compensation: Base salary range of $250,000 - $280,000 annually, plus discretionary annual bonus, plus equity grant commensurate with the role and company stage. Full-time employees are also eligible for our comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k), paid time off, and paid parental leave.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Aescape is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. The salary range listed above is a good-faith estimate provided in accordance with New York City's pay transparency law.

JOIN AESCAPE

We’re building a new category: body intelligence, delivered through Adaptive Body Therapy. We’re looking for people who are driven, resourceful and eager to learn, who bring different perspectives, and who care about work that makes a real difference for the people we serve. If that sounds like you, we’d like to hear from you.

LISTEN. RELEASE. REPEAT.