# Senior Mechanical Engineer at Pivot Robotics

- Company: Pivot Robotics
- What the company does: Intelligent Automation for Modern Factories. Backed by Y Combinator.
- Company website: https://pivotrobotics.com
- Type: Startups (AI role)
- Level: Senior
- Location: San Francisco
- Work setup: On-site
- Posted: 2026-07-21
- Apply by: 2026-10-08
- Apply: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/pivotrobotics/8955a2a5-bccb-448b-9085-d6bbd2de3e69
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/pivot-robotics-senior-mechanical-engineer/

## About the role

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.

## What they're looking for

- 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

Tags: Engineering