About this role
ABOUT KOVARI
Kovari develops frontier technology to transform physical businesses. They partner with established operators to change how they run, and build and operate businesses of their own through their subsidiaries.
Kovari is a small team of builders, operators, and researchers. They deploy on-site alongside the businesses they serve and iterate in the field. The company has raised over $6M from leading investors and is based in San Francisco.
THE OPPORTUNITY
You will own mechanical subsystems of Kovaris robots end to end, from concept through production, including actuator selection and structure to drivetrain, linkages, and field-ready assembly. You make architecture and design tradeoffs, 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
- Own mechanical architecture and subsystem design from concept through production: drivetrain, structure, actuation, linkages, enclosures
- Select and integrate motors, gearboxes, bearings, and actuators, making tradeoffs across performance, reliability, cost, and manufacturability
- Run load, stress, and tolerance analysis to size parts and predict failure
- Build prototypes in the in-house shop using mill, lathe, welding, 3D printing, and laser cutting
- Design for manufacturing, assembly, serviceability, and field reliability, working closely with vendors and manufacturers
- Debug mechanical failures on deployed robots and drive fixes back into the design
- Mentor junior engineers and manage vendors for machined, sheet metal, and molded parts
YOU SHOULD HAVE
- 5+ years of relevant industry experience designing and shipping hardware
- Strong mechanical fundamentals: material selection, GD&T, tolerance analysis, DFM
- Track record owning actuated or mobile mechanisms from concept through production
- CAD fluency in SolidWorks, Fusion, or Onshape
- Hands-on fabrication: youve run a mill and lathe, bent sheet metal, and welded
- Experience making architecture and design tradeoffs, mentoring junior engineers, and working with manufacturers
- A bias toward action: prototype fast, test early, fix what breaks
NICE TO HAVE
- A portfolio of hardware youve shipped and projects youve built on your own time