3D Printer Technician
Physical Intelligence is hiring a 3D Printer Technician in San Francisco, United States. Level rates it ; you can apply on Physical Intelligence.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this role is Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include Linear, Onshape and AI research.
- Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
- Level lists 45 other open roles at Physical Intelligence.
- The role was posted within the past week.
AI in this role
Own additive manufacturing and 3d printer maintenance across multiple sites for a physical AI research robotics team.
Who We Are
Physical Intelligence is bringing general-purpose AI into the physical world. We are a group of engineers, scientists, roboticists, and company builders developing foundation models and learning algorithms to power the robots of today and the physically-actuated devices of the future.
The Team
The Robotics Technician Team works closely with PI's fleet operations and engineering teams to maintain the robotic platforms that power our AI research. The team is collaborative, fast-moving, and deeply technical, and this role is a direct partner to the technicians and engineers who depend on printed parts to keep robots running.
About the Role
The 3D Printer Technician owns additive manufacturing for the Robotics Technician Team. You will run and maintain the team's 3D printers across multiple locations, manage the print request queue, set and hold print standards, and keep a stocked supply of printed spare parts at each site so technicians never wait on a print. You will work directly with hardware engineers, prototype technicians, and robot service technicians at every location.
In This Role You Will
Print Queue & Request Intake
Own the print request queue in Linear. Every request carries the part, revision, quantity, material, requester, and need-by date.
Prioritize the queue with robot downtime first and production builds second.
Confirm each request points at a released Onshape model before printing, and route undocumented parts back to the requester.
Post daily queue status: printing now, next up, blocked, and expected ready times.
Printer Operation & Maintenance
Run every printer the team owns, at every location: slicing, bed preparation, starts, monitoring, part removal, and failed print recovery.
Build and run a preventive maintenance schedule for every printer at every location (nozzles, beds, belts, extruders, firmware, calibration) and log every PM.
Diagnose and repair printer failures at any location, and keep a spares kit at each site so a down printer is back in service the same day.
Move between locations on a set cadence for PMs, repairs, and calibration, and respond to printer outages wherever they happen.
Track and report printer uptime by location monthly.
Materials & Post-Processing
Own filament and resin inventory: stock levels, dry storage, reorder points, and purchasing within set limits.
Maintain one standard print profile per material and part family, versioned with the part.
Post-process every part to its drawing (supports, heat set inserts, hardware, finishing) and inspect with calipers before release.
Stock printed spares at every site to set minimums for high-turn parts so technicians pull from a bin, not the queue.
Documentation & Standards
Maintain a printed parts library: part number, revision, material, profile, print time, where it is used, and stock at each site.
Track print volume and failure rate by part and by printer, and report monthly on what is trending the wrong way.
Own the printer access list and train technicians who keep print access on the standard workflow and profiles.
Follow the team's ticket closeout and handoff guide on every print ticket.
What We Hope You'll Bring
Additive Manufacturing Experience: 2+ years running FDM printers in a production, lab, or service environment, including maintenance and repair, not just operation.
Slicer Fluency: Bambu Studio, PrusaSlicer, Cura, or equivalent. Able to build and tune a profile from scratch and explain why each setting is where it is.
CAD Literacy: Able to open a CAD model, check a dimension, repair a mesh, and adjust a tolerance for print.
Mechanical Skillset: Comfortable with calipers, heat set inserts, threaded hardware, and inspecting parts to a drawing.
Multi-Site Coverage: Comfortable splitting time between locations and owning printer uptime at sites you are not at every day.
Detail Oriented: Holds parts to a standard and tracks what went wrong when a print fails.
Strong Communication: Clear written queue updates and failure reports, and direct cross-functional communication with hardware engineers, prototype technicians, and robot service technicians.
Bonus Points
SLA or SLS printing experience
Onshape experience
Experience using Linear ticketing system
Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
How we rate this
3D Printer Technician at Physical Intelligence rates 60 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a research question you investigated. What did you find?
- Tell me about a project where 3d printing was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where additive manufacturing was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where hardware maintenance was part of your work. What did you do?
- Walk me through how you've used Linear in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: AI Research, 3d Printing, Additive Manufacturing, Hardware Maintenance, and Linear. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.
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