--- title: 'Senior Mechanical Engineer at Pivot Robotics' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-pivot-robotics-san-francisco-j6170ysj5c7g' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-10' --- # Senior Mechanical Engineer at Pivot Robotics - **Company:** Pivot Robotics - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-07-21 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/pivotrobotics/8955a2a5-bccb-448b-9085-d6bbd2de3e69 ## Job description ## 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. You'll shape how we build cells, what tooling we standardize on, and how we solve finishing problems we haven't seen yet. ## What you'll do - 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 we'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. 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. ## About Pivot Robotics ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Pivot Robotics builds AI-powered vision control software for industrial robots that automates dangerous and labor-intensive grinding and finishing processes in manufacturing. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage, Y Combinator Winter 2024 batch) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA - **Founded**: 2023 - **Founders**: Siddharth Girdhar and Vignesh Rajmohan ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Industrial robotics, manufacturing automation, AI vision, metal finishing - **Target customers**: B2B – high-mix manufacturing foundries, metalcasting, aerospace & defense, and other precision component manufacturers - **Mission or purpose statement**: "We're automating operations that demand the flexibility of human intelligence with the consistency and speed of automation. By making systems that see, learn, and adapt, we help manufacturers increase throughput, improve quality, and unlock new production possibilities." ## Products & Services - **Proteus (Software Platform)**: AI vision control software that turns off-the-shelf robot arms and vision sensors into adaptive automation systems. It enables zero-shot adaptation to new parts without programming, achieving 1mm precision on cast iron components. Used for grinding, cutting, sanding, machining, and spraying. - **Autonomous Finishing Cells**: Full robotic workcells deployed in production environments, combining 3D vision, AI, and adaptive control for end-to-end part processing and inspection. Already processing 5k+ parts per week at major foundries. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available - **Key Metric**: Total funding – Y Combinator standard ~$500K (Winter 2024) plus an undisclosed round from NuVentures (announced July 2024) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Y Combinator, NuVentures, Tyler Bosmeny (YC Primary Partner) - **Growth Signals**: - Deploying 10+ Proteus systems at a large cast iron foundry producing over 200 different parts per year. - Processing 5,000+ parts per week across major North American foundries. - Team size of 7 as of July 2024, actively hiring for multiple engineering roles. - Expanding from foundry grinding into aerospace & defense and other precision manufacturing segments. ## Competitive Advantages - **Vision-first adaptive automation**: Uses foundational vision models to adapt to part variation without extensive CAD programming or fixed toolpaths, offering 100x faster setup than traditional automation. - **Proven production reliability**: Achieves consistent 1mm tolerances on cast iron in harsh foundry environments, with defect detection and gauging on the same perception stack. - **Zero-shot learning**: New parts can be added to the system without retraining or large data requirements, ideal for high-mix, low-volume manufacturers. - **Full-stack solution**: Combines inspection and processing in one vision system, allowing for traceable quality data and adaptive finishing end-to-end. ## Strategic Focus - **Current priorities**: Scaling deployments in metalcasting and foundries, expanding into aerospace & defense, and developing hand-eye coordination for robot arms to automate tasks beyond grinding (e.g., materials handling, assembly). - **Growth direction**: Building a platform that can work across multiple industries and part types, while maintaining a tight focus on real-world production environments rather than controlled labs. ## Why Work Here - **Hard problems with real impact**: Work on cutting-edge vision-guided robotics in challenging environments (foundries, aerospace). The code you ship gets used daily in production. - **Team**: Small, high-caliber team of engineers from Uber ATG, Meta, Google X, Nimble Robotics, and ABB. Founders are former Meta robotics engineers and Carnegie Mellon graduates. - **Culture**: Ownership mentality, execution focus, comfort with "real-world messiness." They value first-principles problem solving and deep technical expertise. - **Work environment**: Hybrid workspace – employees combine remote and on-site work. Main office in San Francisco, CA, with a robot operator internship site in New Boston, Ohio. - **Perks**: Not explicitly detailed, but the culture emphasizes autonomy, cutting-edge robotics, and solving meaningful manufacturing challenges. ## Sources 1. [pivotrobotics.com](https://www.pivotrobotics.com/) – Official website with product description and company overview 2. [pivotrobotics.com/company/about](https://www.pivotrobotics.com/company/about/) – Mission, approach, and team details 3. [pivotrobotics.com/company/careers](https://www.pivotrobotics.com/company/careers/) – Careers page with open roles and culture 4. [builtin.com/company/pivot-robotics](https://builtin.com/company/pivot-robotics) – Company profile on Built In (founded 2023, team size, hybrid workspace) 5. [ycombinator.com/companies/pivot-robotics](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/pivot-robotics) – Y Combinator profile with founders, product, funding, and news ## Other roles at Pivot Robotics - [Data Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/data-infrastructure-engineer-pivot-robotics-san-francisco-gyd51gmx8xtj) — San Francisco, CA - [Robot Operator Internship (Part-Time)](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-operator-internship-part-time-pivot-robotics-new-boston-ohio-bt52hffx0bkg) — New Boston Ohio, United States - [Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-pivot-robotics-san-francisco-x0zxfkcga3yp) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-pivot-robotics-san-francisco-c2c7mybsap9w) — San Francisco, CA - [Robotics Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-software-engineer-pivot-robotics-san-francisco-5ckd5k7rpmc2) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-anduril-industries-sydney-new-south-wales-ks474e4wgamr) — Sydney New South Wales, Australia - [Senior Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-xy1jwqjtj5na) — San Carlos, CA - [Senior Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-firestorm-san-diego-qw3c7g3xgkjd) — San Diego, CA - [Senior Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-scout-ai-sunnyvale-be8f8aqbcec4) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Senior Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-ionq-geneva-2afn4g71p2cd) — Geneva, Switzerland