# Senior Mechanical Engineer

**Company:** [Pivot Robotics](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/pivot-robotics)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Hardware Engineering
**Experience:** 7+ years
**Skills:** robotic grinding, deburring, surface finishing, force control, compliance systems, ati sensors, yaskawa robots, kuka robots, zivid vision, industrial robot integration, machine safety systems, abrasives selection, material removal, fixturing
**Posted:** 2026-07-21

> Senior Mechanical Engineer owning design and process for robotic grinding and finishing cells. Requires direct experience with abrasive tooling against metal parts in production, force/torque control, and thriving on the manufacturing floor.

## Job Description

## 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.

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