Stand out for this role — generate a tailored resume and cover letter in about a minute.
BurnBot in South San Francisco is seeking a Mechanical/Mechatronics engineer to join our hands-on shop team building heavy equipment for field deployment and wildfire management.
You will design parts and subassemblies in CAD, build test rigs, wire sensors, run tests, and document results. Occasional field work across California may be required.
New graduates welcome; 0–5 years experience; familiarity with SolidWorks or similar CAD tools; ready to work in dust and heat.
About BurnBot
Wildfire has stopped being a season. BurnBot builds the machines that get ahead of it — remotely operated systems that apply and contain prescribed fire, and platforms that clear heavy fuel on terrain that isn’t safe for crews.
Our fleet is at work today for PG&E, CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, Caltrans, fire districts, and tribal nations across California, Oregon, and Washington — treating land at up to 40x the pace of conventional methods. We’re roboticists, engineers, and career fire practitioners. Hardware we design in South San Francisco is in the dirt within weeks, and the people who designed it are usually standing next to it.
If you like machines, this is a very good place to start. Our shop builds heavy equipment that goes to work in the dirt weeks after it’s designed, and you’ll have your hands on all of it.
You’ll design real parts with a mentor, build and instrument the tests that prove them, and go out with the field team to see what the terrain does to your work.
Detail design of parts and subassemblies — your own CAD models and drawings, reviewed by a senior engineer
Test rigs and instrumentation: build the fixture, wire the sensors, run the test, write up what happened
Builds and retrofits, in the shop and sometimes at a field site
Documentation crews can follow — service procedures, spares lists, and assembly instructions that work at 5 a.m.
0–5 years of experience. New graduates are genuinely welcome here
Working CAD ability in a major platform — SolidWorks, NX, CATIA, or Creo/Pro-E — and the willingness to live in it
Shop instincts: you’ve built things, broken things, and fixed them
Enough data analysis to turn a test into a conclusion
Willingness to be outside, in the dust and heat, when that’s where the answer is
B.S. in mechanical, electrical, or mechatronics engineering, or equivalent hands‑on experience
Formula SAE, Baja, a robotics team, or anything else where you built a machine on a deadline
Machining, welding, or fabrication skills
Internships in heavy equipment, agriculture, automotive, or aerospace
An interest in wildfire, forestry, or climate work
Based onsite in South San Francisco — design, build, and test all happen in one building, and being near the machines is most of the point
Flexible within that. You own your calendar: work the hours where you’re sharpest, and go remote on heads‑down days.
Expect a few days a month in the field across California, Oregon, and Washington. Watching your work run on a live burn is the best part of the job.
Base salary: $115,000 – $150,000 — final offers reflect experience and demonstrated scope.
Burnbot is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including but not limited to, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with one or more disabilities, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
If you need assistance or accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at (415) 795-9124 x 1010 or careers@burnbot.com.