About Kovari

Kovari develops frontier technology to transform physical businesses. We partner with established operators to change how they run, and we build and operate businesses of our own through our subsidiaries.

We are a small team of builders, operators, and researchers. We deploy on site, alongside the businesses we serve, and iterate in the field. We have raised over $6M from leading investors.

We are based in San Francisco and work in person.

The Role

You will own the mechanical design of our robots, from actuator selection and structure to drivetrain, linkages, and field-ready assembly. You 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

Design mechanical systems: drivetrain, structure, actuation, linkages, enclosures
Select and integrate motors, gearboxes, bearings, and actuators
Run load, stress, and tolerance analysis to size parts and predict failure
Build prototypes in our in-house shop (mill, lathe, welding, 3D printing, laser cutting)
Design for manufacturing, serviceability, and field reliability
Debug mechanical failures on deployed robots and drive fixes back into the design
Manage vendors for machined, sheet metal, and molded parts
What You Bring
Strong mechanical fundamentals: material selection, GD&T, tolerance analysis, DFM
Experience designing actuated or mobile mechanisms
-
CAD fluency in SolidWorks, Fusion, or Onshape
Hands-on fabrication: you've run a mill and lathe, bent sheet metal, and welded
Bonus: FIRST, FSAE, combat robotics, or similar build teams
-
A portfolio of things you've built on your own time
Bias toward action: prototype fast, test early, fix what breaks
Values
Pace of learning trumps everything.
Relentless refinement of our craft.
Low ego, high ownership.
All-in on the mission. We work in person, and this isn't a 9-to-5.