Senior Mechanical Engineer

Pivot Robotics • San Francisco, CA

22d

About The Position

We're looking for someone who already knows this problem. Not robotics in the abstract — the specific, gnarly reality of putting an abrasive against a metal part with a robot and getting a good result, repeatably, in a production environment. If you've wrestled with wheel wear, force control, fixturing that survives a foundry, cycle times that actually close a business case, and the thousand small failures between a clean demo and a cell that runs a shift unattended, you're who we want. You'll shape how we build cells, what tooling we standardize on, and how we solve finishing problems we haven't seen yet.

Requirements

• Direct experience with robotic grinding, deburring, or surface finishing. You've shipped or deeply worked on systems that drive a tool against a part.
• Real grasp of the process, not just the mechanism: abrasives, contact forces, material removal, finish quality.
• Comfort with force/torque control, compliance, and the sensing that makes finishing work (we run ATI sensors, Yaskawa and KUKA arms, Zivid vision).
• Someone who thrives in the field and on the floor, not only in CAD.
• The judgment to know what's good enough to ship and what isn't.

Nice To Haves

• Foundry, casting, or heavy-manufacturing exposure.
• Experience taking a cell from prototype to running-a-shift-unattended.
• Familiarity with industrial robot integration and machine safety systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the mechanical design of our grinding and finishing cells (end effectors, tool changers, force compliance, fixturing, dust and safety systems).
• Solve real process problems: material removal, surface-finish targets, wheel and media selection, contact mechanics, cycle time.
• Get on the floor, and have your designs constantly tested in production.
• Set the standard for how we approach new parts and new customers mechanically.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed