Mechanical Engineer

Monumental is automating on-site construction with robotics and software. The team is building hardware and software in-house to make construction software-defined and autonomous, with the goal of enabling beautiful, bespoke buildings to go up in a single day with minimal labour.

It is still the early days of building the company, offering the chance to make an outsized impact alongside an experienced founding team of engineers, operators and technicians.

About the role

Monumental is looking for a mechanical engineer to join its team of hardware and software engineers, helping bring robots and automation to the construction industry to create affordable, beautiful, high quality housing for everyone. You are a maker who enjoys building physical things from start to finish, with a bias for speed and simplicity.

You enjoy contributing across the entire engineering process: asking the right questions to scope a problem, doing back of the envelope calculations, fabricating parts in the workshop, testing your design live on a construction site and iterating on it to produce a robust and scalable design.

The team is tackling some of the hardest problems in construction robotics: full on-site autonomy, lifting construction-scale payloads, reliable operation at height, and millimetre-level positioning accuracy across the entire technology stack. The role is suited to someone genuinely excited to lead these efforts alongside a highly capable and supportive team.

Monumental’s approach to building robots focuses on identifying the key areas that need de-risking and tackling them head-on through rapid prototyping. This has enabled remarkable progress in a short amount of time. If this approach excites you, the role could be a great fit for your interests and skills.

What you’ll do

Today, Monumental’s robot systems are already constructing real homes across the Netherlands at scale. Your work will not be about incremental improvements; you’ll tackle broad and novel problems that unlock autonomous construction:

• Pushing toward full robot autonomy for masonry systems: automated wall-anchor installation and mortar pointing to produce beautiful brickwork.
• Developing autonomous lift platforms and fully automated material supply to enable the fleet to work uninterrupted across large, messy sites.
• Designing for reliability so robots can survive months of harsh construction conditions, while remaining serviceable and redeployable in under 24 hours.
• Building next-generation hardware to expand robot capabilities: higher-precision brick placement, larger payloads, expanded build envelopes, hot-swappable end effectors, and operation in tight, constrained spaces like scaffolding.
• Getting hands-on in the field by joining deployments where real homes are being built, stress-testing systems and uncovering edge-case problems that can only be found on site.

What we’re looking for

• A proven record of being a builder and working autonomously, with examples of shipped projects where you were the driving force behind getting something done. This can be in a professional context, in a top student ("dream") team, or through personal side projects.
• Experience in designing and delivering products from concept up to low series volume.
• Proficiency in rapid prototyping, 3D printing, machining, and milling to make product designs a reality.
• Deep knowledge of mechanical systems and structural dynamics, for example statics, mechanics of materials, dynamics, vibrations, material science, and controls.
• Expertise with 3D CAD modeling with complex parts and assemblies, for example OnShape, Solidworks, or Siemens NX.
• Expertise in multi-physics simulations (FEA) applied to structural design problems, for example Comsol and Ansys, while also being able to do hand calculations when that makes the most sense.
• Experience selecting, sourcing, and integrating electronics components such as actuators, sensors, and cameras into hardware design.
• Ability to write embedded code in C or C++ is a plus.
• B.Sc. in mechanical, mechatronics, or robotics engineering, or similar experience, is nice to have.

Why Monumental?

Joining Monumental means working at the forefront of a movement to make significant strides in the construction industry. The work has the potential to impact not just the company but the future of how we build. This could be a strong fit if you are driven by innovation, eager to tackle complex challenges, and ready to make a tangible difference.

If you don’t meet all the qualifications but are excited about Monumental and feel you could still help solve difficult problems, generalists who focus on outcomes and are eager to learn on the job are welcome.