Hydraulics System Engineer
Owns the hydraulic and electro-hydraulic actuation that lets Bedrock's autonomy kit steer, brake, and control implements on heavy construction machines like excavators and wheel loaders. Daily work spans reverse-engineering OEM hydraulic circuits, designing retrofit valve/manifold interfaces, component sizing, functional safety analysis, and hands-on bench and field testing.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 7+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Agricultural/Fluid Power Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience
- 7+ years designing, integrating, or testing hydraulic and electro-hydraulic systems for mobile machinery (construction, agricultural, mining, or off-highway)
- Strong command of open/closed-center and load-sensing circuits, pilot-operated and proportional valves, pump/valve PQ behavior, and ISO 1219 schematics
- Solid grounding in fluid mechanics: orifice/flow equations, laminar vs. turbulent flow, pressure losses, viscosity/temperature effects, bulk modulus, cavitation, pressure transients
- Hands-on with pressure/flow instrumentation and data acquisition
Nice to have
- Familiarity with CAN/J1939
- Familiarity with hydraulic simulation tools (Amesim, Simscape, Automation Studio)
- Exposure to ISO 13849, ISO 25119, or similar functional safety standards
Full description
Join the team bringing autonomy to the built world
At Bedrock, we're moving AI out of the lab and onto real job sites. Our team includes veterans who helped launch Waymo, scaled Segment to a $3.2B acquisition, and grew Uber Freight to $5B in revenue. We retrofit the heavy equipment contractors already own, starting with excavators, so experienced crews can safely take on more projects and deliver more of the critical infrastructure our society needs.
In August 2026, Bedrock-equipped excavators began doing fully autonomous, paid work on live commercial job sites. We've more than doubled our customer base since 2025, and our machines now work with contractors across the South, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic
In October 2026, we raised a $600M Series C co-led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital, bringing our total funding to nearly $1B. We're using it to put more autonomous machines to work, build the field and operations teams behind every deployment, and expand into new machine types and job-site tasks.
This is where algorithms meet steel-toed boots. You'll work alongside construction veterans and world-class engineers to solve physical-world problems that simulations can't touch. If you're ready to do meaningful work on hard problems, we'd love to have you join us.
Description
As a Hydraulics System Engineer, you will own the hydraulic and electro-hydraulic (EH) actuation that lets our autonomy kit command steering, braking, implements, and travel on construction machines such as excavators, articulated dump trucks, scrapers, graders, compactors, and wheel loaders. You will characterize OEM hydraulic systems, design retrofit valve and pilot-control interfaces that preserve factory function and serviceability, and work with controls, electrical, software, safety, and supply chain teams to turn those interfaces into reliable, manufacturable, functionally safe subsystems. Your work has to perform in the field — under high pressure, contamination, heat, shock and vibration, and around-the-clock duty cycles on active job sites.
Key Responsibilities
- Hydraulic System Characterization: Reverse-engineer and document OEM hydraulic circuits (pumps, main control valves, pilot circuits, steering and brake systems), producing ISO 1219 schematics and PQ, pressure, and response characterization for autonomous control.
- EH Actuation Design: Design retrofit electro-hydraulic interfaces (proportional pilot valves, steering and brake valves, shuttle/selector logic, and manifolds) that give the autonomy stack precise control while keeping manual operation intact.
- Component Selection & Sizing: Specify and size valves, manifolds, hoses, fittings, sensors (pressure, position, flow), filters, and accumulators against flow, pressure, response, and duty-cycle requirements.