Hardware Engineer, Entry Level
Summary
Entry-level hardware engineer at BurnBot designs mechanical parts and subassemblies in CAD, builds and instruments test rigs, helps assemble and retrofit remotely operated wildfire-mitigation machines in the shop and field, and writes service documentation. Core tools: SolidWorks/NX/CATIA/Creo, sensors, and data analysis.
About BurnBot
Wildfire has stopped being a season. BurnBot builds the machines that get ahead of it — remotely operated systems that apply and contain prescribed fire, and platforms that clear heavy fuel on terrain that isn’t safe for crews.
Our fleet is at work today for PG&E, CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, Caltrans, fire districts, and tribal nations across California, Oregon, and Washington — treating land at up to 40x the pace of conventional methods. We’re roboticists, engineers, and career fire practitioners. Hardware we design in South San Francisco is in the dirt within weeks, and the people who designed it are usually standing next to it.
THE ROLE
If you like machines, this is a very good place to start. Our shop builds heavy equipment that goes to work in the dirt weeks after it’s designed, and you’ll have your hands on all of it.
You’ll design real parts with a mentor, build and instrument the tests that prove them, and go out with the field team to see what the terrain does to your work.
WHAT YOU’LL OWN
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Detail design of parts and subassemblies — your own CAD models and drawings, reviewed by a senior engineer
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Test rigs and instrumentation: build the fixture, wire the sensors, run the test, write up what happened
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Builds and retrofits, in the shop and sometimes at a field site
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Documentation crews can follow — service procedures, spares lists, and assembly instructions that work at 5 a.m.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING
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0–5 years of experience. New graduates are genuinely welcome here
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Working CAD ability in a major platform — SolidWorks, NX, CATIA, or Creo/Pro-E — and the willingness to live in it
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Shop instincts: you’ve built things, broken things, and fixed them
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Enough data analysis to turn a test into a conclusion
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Willingness to be outside, in the dust and heat, when that’s where the answer is
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B.S. in mechanical, electrical, or mechatronics engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience
NICE TO HAVE
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Formula SAE, Baja, a robotics team, or anything else where you built a machine on a deadline
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Machining, welding, or fabrication skills
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Internships in heavy equipment, agriculture, automotive, or aerospace
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Basic electrical debug — harnesses, sensors, a multimeter
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An interest in wildfire, forestry, or climate work
