Job description

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 electrical systems of our robots, from power architecture and motor drives to sensors, harnesses, and embedded integration. You design it, build it, bring it up, and debug it on robots running in live operations. This is not a bench role. Your systems face real constraints: high duty cycles, continuous charging and discharging, noisy environments, and hardware that has to survive the field. What You'll Do - Own electrical architecture: power distribution, battery systems and BMS, charging, protection - Select, integrate, and tune motor controllers and drives - Design schematics and PCBs for power, sensing, and I/O - Integrate sensors: cameras, IMUs, encoders, force/torque, proximity - Design and build wiring harnesses for reliability and serviceability - Work with embedded and controls on firmware, comms buses (CAN, EtherCAT, RS-485), and bring-up - Debug electrical failures on deployed robots and drive fixes back into the design - Manage vendors for PCBs, harnesses, and custom assemblies What You Bring - Strong fundamentals in power electronics, motor drives, and mixed-signal design - Schematic capture and PCB layout in Altium or KiCad - Battery system experience: Li-ion packs, BMS, thermal and safety design - Harness design: connector selection, strain relief, routing, documentation - Hands-on skill: you solder, scope, and rework boards yourself - 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.

Requirements

Must-haves

This is not a bench role. Your systems face real constraints: high duty cycles, continuous charging and discharging, noisy environments, and hardware that has to survive the field.
Own electrical architecture: power distribution, battery systems and BMS, charging, protection
Select, integrate, and tune motor controllers and drives
Design schematics and PCBs for power, sensing, and I/O
Integrate sensors: cameras, IMUs, encoders, force/torque, proximity
Design and build wiring harnesses for reliability and serviceability
Work with embedded and controls on firmware, comms buses (CAN, EtherCAT, RS-485), and bring-up
Debug electrical failures on deployed robots and drive fixes back into the design
Manage vendors for PCBs, harnesses, and custom assemblies
Strong fundamentals in power electronics, motor drives, and mixed-signal design
Schematic capture and PCB layout in Altium or KiCad
Battery system experience: Li-ion packs, BMS, thermal and safety design
Harness design: connector selection, strain relief, routing, documentation
Hands-on skill: you solder, scope, and rework boards yourself
A portfolio of things you've built on your own time
Bias toward action: prototype fast, test early, fix what breaks
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.

Nice-to-haves

Bonus: FIRST, FSAE, combat robotics, or similar build teams

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Platform: ashby
Effort: quick