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Mechanical Engineer

Kovari

San Francisco, CAJobPosted 1mo agoStill listed today

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At a glance

Compensation
No compensation found
Location
San Francisco, CA
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Job overview

Kovari develops technology for physical businesses and builds and operates businesses through its subsidiaries. The Mechanical Engineer will own robot mechanical design from component selection through field-ready assembly, building and repairing hardware used in live operations. The role is based in San Francisco and works in person, with hands-on prototyping, fabrication, vendor management, and debugging deployed robots.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

AssemblyMobileMechanical DesignMaterial SelectionGD&TTolerance AnalysisDesign for ManufacturingActuated MechanismsMobile MechanismsSolidWorksFusionOnshapeMillingLathe OperationSheet Metal BendingWeldingPrototypingTestingFIRSTFSAECombat RoboticsActuator SelectionDrivetrain DesignLinkage DesignLoad AnalysisStress AnalysisPrototype FabricationMechanical DebuggingVendor Management

Qualifications

Portfolio of Personal Builds

Full job description

About Kovari Kovari develops frontier technology to transform physical businesses. We partner with established operators to change how they run, and we build and operate businesses of our own through our subsidiaries. We are a small team of builders, operators, and researchers. We deploy on site, alongside the businesses we serve, and iterate in the field. We have raised over $6M from leading investors. We are based in San Francisco and work in person. The Role You will own the mechanical design of our robots, from actuator selection and structure to drivetrain, linkages, and field-ready assembly. You design it, machine it, assemble it, and fix it on robots running in live operations. This is not a bench role. Your designs face real constraints: variable floors, tight corridors, elevator transitions, and duty cycles that push hardware hard. What You'll Do

  • Design mechanical systems: drivetrain, structure, actuation, linkages, enclosures

  • Select and integrate motors, gearboxes, bearings, and actuators

  • Run load, stress, and tolerance analysis to size parts and predict failure

  • Build prototypes in our in-house shop (mill, lathe, welding, 3D printing, laser cutting)

  • Design for manufacturing, serviceability, and field reliability

  • Debug mechanical failures on deployed robots and drive fixes back into the design

  • Manage vendors for machined, sheet metal, and molded parts

What You Bring

  • Strong mechanical fundamentals: material selection, GD&T, tolerance analysis, DFM

  • Experience designing actuated or mobile mechanisms

  • CAD fluency in SolidWorks, Fusion, or Onshape

  • Hands-on fabrication: you've run a mill and lathe, bent sheet metal, and welded

  • Bonus: FIRST, FSAE, combat robotics, or similar build teams

  • A portfolio of things you've built on your own time

  • Bias toward action: prototype fast, test early, fix what breaks

Values

  • Pace of learning trumps everything.

  • Relentless refinement of our craft.

  • Low ego, high ownership.

  • All-in on the mission. We work in person, and this isn't a 9-to-5.

How this job compares

Set against the 7,513 open Mechanical Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted October 28, 2026.

Pay
  • This postingNot listed
  • California median$129–180K/yr1,010 salary ranges
  • California median$45–55/hr40 hourly ranges
Openings
Olive Jobs lists 1,287 open Mechanical Engineer jobs in California and 7,513 across the US. 2% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in California
Experience
Mechanical Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years of experience at the median; the middle half ask for 3 to 7 years (6,201 postings).
Education
5,300 of the 7,513 open Mechanical Engineer jobs (71%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on October 28, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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