Hardware Engineering Lead

AUAR is automating homebuilding.

We deploy robotic Micro Factories that produce a home's full timber structure directly on site, on demand, in sync with the build.

About Us AUAR is a physical AI and robotics company, with construction as its vertical.

We automate construction, starting with homes.

While technology has transformed almost every other sector, homes are still built largely by hand, in slow, expensive and fragmented processes.

We're changing that by building the technology layer for a new way of making homes: faster, more affordable, and with less waste.

AUAR combines software, robotics and physical AI to turn building designs into physical homes.

Our software platform, Master Builder, takes a design and translates it into the instructions needed to manufacture the timber structure of a home.

Our robotic Micro Factory then deploys directly on a construction site and produces building components on demand: walls, floors and roofs, ready for assembly.

We're shipping our first commercial Micro Factories this year.

The systems we build now will decide how homes are manufactured at scale.

We're a rapidly growing team of around 30 engineers, roboticists, operators and designers, working from an 11,000 sq ft R you can still design the mechanism.

You make confident hardware decisions with incomplete information, and you are right often enough that the team trusts your judgement.

You understand that reliability is designed in early: access, maintainability, tolerances, field repair, commissioning, safety and operator use are not afterthoughts.

You can move between a whiteboard, CAD, a machine build, a supplier call, a safety review and a field deployment without losing the thread.

You make the engineers around you better because they can see how you think, how you design, and how you make trade‑offs.

You feel the stakes.

The machine has to run on a real site, on schedule, in front of a customer.

That sharpens how you design.

You build the capability for us to continue working better over time, driving improved engineering standards and tooling (FMEA, PLM etc.) Who This Is For You're an experienced hardware, mechanical or mechatronics engineer who has built complex automated machines and wants to own one end to end.

You might come from special-purpose machinery, industrial automation, robotics integration, manufacturing equipment, logistics automation, aerospace ground systems, advanced manufacturing, or another field where complex machines have to work in the real world.

What matters more than your exact background is this: you can design complex hardware yourself, at depth, and you can lead a team while doing it.

You are a systems thinker who is still a builder.

You have integrated industrial robots or automation systems into larger machines, and you understand what that actually takes.

No prior robotics experience is required.

This role suits people who thrive with ambiguity and ownership.

If you need a detailed spec before starting, or if you have moved away from hands‑on engineering into pure management, this is not the right environment.

What we're looking for Substantial experience designing complex automated machines and taking them to working hardware.

Strong mechanical design depth: mechanisms, structures, actuated systems, fixtures, tooling, tolerances and manufacturability.

Experience integrating industrial robots, automation systems or motion systems into larger machines or production environments.

Systems breadth across mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, sensors, motion, controls interfaces and safety, enough to own the machine as a whole and make the right trade‑offs across domains.

Hands‑on engineering depth: you can do the hard design work yourself, not just direct it.

Experience taking hardware through build, test, debug and iteration cycles, with a strong understanding of what breaks between CAD and the real world.

The ability to lead and develop other engineers while staying technical.

Preferred: start‑up experience, or a clear‑eyed understanding of what you are signing up for: fast‑pace, incomplete information, real deadlines and work that will not always fit neatly inside a job description.

What We Offer Competitive salary based on experience Share options so we all grow together 28 bookable days + bank holidays + seasonal office closure Health and dental insurance via Bupa An 11,000 sq ft R we are ambitious, bold and radical.

Application Process Initial Application Hiring Manager Call (45 mins, remote) Case‑based Working Session