Senior Mechanical Engineer - Robotics
- Location
- San Francisco
- Work mode
- On-site
- Employment type
- Full-time
About the job
OUR MISSION
Expand human ambition in the physical world.
Critical infrastructure is constrained by labor shortages, hazardous working conditions, and operational complexity. Watney builds and deploys autonomous robotic systems that increase the speed and capacity of buildout, starting with data centers.
ABOUT THE ROLE
As one of the foundational members of our Engineering team, you will design components and assemblies for our fast-growing fleet of production robots. We like to ship fast. From Day 1, you’ll play an instrumental role in bringing our products to life, owning critical pieces of our hardware design from concept to production.
Working directly with our founding team, this role is based onsite at our San Francisco headquarters.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
- Design custom mechanical components for our advanced robotics and teleoperations systems, including end-effectors, grippers, manipulators, mounts, etc.
- Develop and implement solutions for rapid prototyping of new hardware designs to ensure performance, reliability and manufacturability.
- Integrate mechanical components within larger hardware systems, ensuring they meet performance and project goals.
- Provide technical leadership and advise leadership on technology strategy and decision-making.
- Collaborate with Hardware Engineers and Ops team to support overall product development, enabling our autonomous robotics solutions.
YOU MAY BE A GOOD FIT IF YOU:
- 4+ years of mechanical design experience.
- In-depth, hands-on experience, owning end-to-end mechanical design of components and assemblies for robotics systems, medical devices, rockets, drones, automotive systems or like.
- Proficiency designing parts and systems using 3D modeling software such as Creo, Solidworks or NX. Onshape a big plus!
- Familiarity with Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T).
- Strong sense of ownership, initiative, problem solving and analysis.
- Effective communicator and collaborator with the ability to work closely with Hardware Engineers and Ops team in a fast-paced environment.
We’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive team. At Watney Robotics, we welcome people of all backgrounds and identities, and we make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, and potential. If you’re passionate about robotics but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply!
CURIOUS TO LEARN MORE?
Follow us here on X https://x.com/watneyrobotics/ and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/watneyrobotics/about/
From Watney's careers page (Ashby), checked 29 Oct 2026.
How to apply
- Select Apply on watney.com. It opens Watney's own application form in a new tab, run on Ashby.
- Fill in the form and upload your résumé there. Jobiwork never sees your application.
- Watney will reply to you directly. No real employer asks you for money to apply.
Posted 17 Sept 2026 · checked 29 Oct 2026 · Report this job