Mechanical

The Bot Company; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

The Bot Company in San Francisco is building a highly capable mechanical engineer role to design the core subsystems, prototype rapidly, and drive volume production for robotics hardware.

You will work with electrical, firmware, and manufacturing teams to ensure robust electro‑mechanical integration, with a focus on manufacturing-friendly designs and scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• Extremely strong mechanical intuition — you understand how parts, forces, tolerances, and mechanisms behave instinctively.
• Ability to design and prototype on aggressive timelines, moving quickly from concept to functional hardware.
• Experience building reliable products that shipped at scale, with a clear understanding of manufacturing constraints.
• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers (CMs) and personally designing components for volume processes.

Responsibilities

• Own mechanical design for core subsystems, from initial concept through high‑volume production.
• Prototype rapidly and iterate based on real‑world testing and failure analysis.
• Design custom mechanisms, actuators, and assemblies for high‑performance robotic behavior.
• Collaborate closely with electrical, firmware, and manufacturing teams to integrate full electro‑mechanical systems.
• Drive DFM, tolerance analysis, material selection, and vendor coordination for volume manufacturing.
• Move quickly and independently to deliver robust, production‑ready hardware.

Skills

Mechanical intuition

Prototype rapidly

Manufacturing constraints

Electro‑mechanical design

Kinematics and linkages

Tools

Injection molding

Die casting

Stamping / sheet metal

Extrusion

Powder metal / MIM

Job description

The Bot Company

We’re building a helpful robot for every home.

We’re a small team of engineers, designers, and operators based in San Francisco. Our team comes from Tesla, Cruise, OpenAI, Google, Pixar, and many other great companies. In the past we’ve shipped to hundreds of millions of users and know what it takes to build amazing products and experiences.

Our team is deliberately lean to promote rapid decision making and do away with bureaucracy and hierarchy. Everyone is an IC and is empowered with massive scope, radical ownership, and direct responsibility. We work across the stack with a culture built for rapid iteration and fast execution.

What we look for in all candidates

All roles at The Bot Company demand extreme sharpness and the ability to move fast in high‑intensity environments. Throughout the process, we expect candidates to demonstrate:

• Exceptional mental acuity: you think quickly, learn instantly, and reason across unfamiliar domains.

• Engineering curiosity: you naturally dig into how systems work, even outside your specialty.

• High performance mindset: you move fast, handle ambiguity, and excel when the environment is demanding.

Mechanical Engineer

You’ll design the mechanical systems, structures, and mechanisms that bring our robots to life. This role is for someone with exceptional mechanical intuition, the ability to prototype rapidly, and a track record of shipping reliable hardware at scale.

Requirements

• Extremely strong mechanical intuition — you understand how parts, forces, tolerances, and mechanisms behave instinctively.

• Ability to design and prototype on aggressive timelines, moving quickly from concept to functional hardware.

• Experience building reliable products that shipped at scale, with a clear understanding of manufacturing constraints and real‑world robustness.

• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers (CMs) and personally designing components for volume processes:

  • Injection molding

  • Die casting

  • Stamping / sheet metal

  • Extrusion

  • Powder metal / MIM

• Deep experience designing custom mechanisms and actuators, from kinematics and linkage design to motor selection, gearing, and tolerancing.

• Proven ability to own complex electro‑mechanical systems with moving parts, integrating mechanical, electrical, and firmware constraints into a cohesive design.

What You’ll Do

• Own mechanical design for core subsystems, from initial concept through high‑volume production.

• Prototype rapidly and iterate based on real‑world testing and failure analysis.

• Design custom mechanisms, actuators, and assemblies for high‑performance robotic behavior.

• Collaborate closely with electrical, firmware, and manufacturing teams to integrate full electro‑mechanical systems.

• Drive DFM, tolerance analysis, material selection, and vendor coordination for volume manufacturing.

• Move quickly and independently to deliver robust, production‑ready hardware.

Why Join

You’ll work with a small, elite team on challenges that require speed, intelligence, and deep engineering instinct. If you enjoy understanding systems at all levels, move fast, and think even faster, you’ll thrive here.