Robotics Control & Systems Engineer (Robot Control, Motion & Systems Integration)

LAYERED GmbH; Schweiz; Vor Ort; EUR 118.266 - 172.024; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

LAYERED in Zurich area specializes in autonomous construction robotics. They seek a Robotics Control & Systems Engineer to own motion control, coordinate arm and base, and integrate the controller with real hardware on site.

You will develop model predictive, whole-body and optimization-based controls, wire into ROS 2, and tune on live robots, moving from prototype to reliable machines in construction environments.

Qualifikationen

• At least 2 years of professional experience shipping robust, production-ready code on real systems.
• Strong foundations in robot kinematics, dynamics and control.
• Experience designing and implementing control algorithms for robotic or mechatronic systems.
• Strong programming skills in C++ and Python.
• Experience with ROS or ROS 2.
• Experience deploying, tuning and debugging algorithms on real robots.
• Understanding of coordinate frames, transforms, state estimation and trajectory execution.
• Ability to reason across software, communications, electronics and physical robot behaviour.
• Hands-on, methodical debugging approach.
• Fluency in English.
• Valid Swiss or EU driving licence and work eligibility.
• Willingness to work on-site with full-scale robots in industrial/construction environments.

Aufgaben

• Design advanced control algorithms for mobile manipulators — model predictive, whole-body and optimization-based.
• Coordinate motion of robotic arms, mobile bases and other actuated subsystems.
• Improve trajectory tracking, precision, stability and responsiveness.
• Build and maintain the kinematic and dynamic models behind it.
• Implement control components within our ROS 2 architecture.
• Tune and validate everything directly on physical robots.
• Integrate control software with actuators, motors, drives, encoders, and sensors with electrical and mechanical teams.
• Diagnose cross-domain problems across timing, communication, actuation, mechanics and control.
• Move the platform from prototype to robust, repeatable system.
• Test in lab and during site deployments.

Kenntnisse

C++

Python

ROS 2

Kinematics & dynamics

Trajectory optimization

Ausbildung

Degree in robotics, control engineering, autonomous systems, electrical engineering, computer science or related field

Tools

OCS2

Pinocchio

CasADi

Drake

Jobbeschreibung

Robotics Control & Systems Engineer

Robot control, motion and hardware integration

Location: Zurich area, Switzerland

Start: As soon as possible

Type: Full-time, on-site

About LAYERED

LAYERED turns one of construction’s hardest, least-automated trades into precise, autonomous robotic work. We build mobile robots that plaster and finish surfaces directly on site. And we mean plaster — the thick, structural coat that levels a wall and turns rough construction into a finished room. It’s not a niche: plastering is a standardized, code-governed step on virtually every building, endlessly repeated and still applied by hand. Skilled, punishing work that fewer and fewer people want to do, and one reason on-site productivity has barely moved in decades. That makes it a vast, well-defined and chronically under-staffed market: exactly the kind of problem worth handing to a robot.

Spun out of ETH Zurich’s Gramazio Kohler Research, we have developed a full-scale mock-up construction site in our lab and have already started to take the robots onto live construction sites, with clients in Switzerland and France and pilots growing across the rest of Europe. Now we’re scaling from early pilots into a growing fleet — and we need robotics engineers who can turn advanced control into reliable behaviour on real machines.

The role

You’ll own how our robots move, coordinating arm and base, tracking trajectories, staying stable and responding as complete physical systems. Your centre of gravity is advanced control: model predictive control, whole-body motion, optimization-based control and coordinated motion of mobile manipulators.

But you won’t stop at the controller. You’ll build the models it runs on, wire it into our ROS 2 architecture, tune it on real hardware, and chase problems wherever they hide — the maths, the C++, the drives and encoders, the communication bus or the mechanics. This isn’t a simulation-only role: the point is always to make a real machine behave, on a real site, this quarter.

What you will work on

Your main focus:

• Design advanced control algorithms for mobile manipulators — model predictive, whole-body and optimization-based
• Coordinate the motion of robotic arms, mobile bases and other actuated subsystems
• Improve trajectory tracking, precision, stability and responsiveness
• Build and maintain the kinematic and dynamic models behind it
• Implement control components within our ROS 2 architecture
• Tune and validate everything directly on physical robots

You will also:

• Integrate control software with actuators, motors, drives, encoders and sensors, alongside our electrical and mechanical engineers
• Diagnose problems that cut across timing, communication, actuation, mechanics and control
• Help move the platform from prototype to robust, repeatable system
• Test in the lab and during selected construction-site deployments

What we are looking for

Essential experience

• A degree in robotics, control engineering, autonomous systems, electrical engineering, computer science or a related field
• At least 2 years of professional experience — in industry or a highly technical research institute — shipping robust, production-ready code that ran on real systems (not only prototypes and notebooks).
• Strong foundations in robot kinematics, dynamics and control
• Experience designing and implementing control algorithms for robotic or mechatronic systems
• Strong programming skills in C++ and Python
• Practical experience with ROS or ROS 2
• Experience deploying, tuning and debugging algorithms on real robots or physical hardware
• A good understanding of coordinate frames, transforms, state estimation and trajectory execution
• The ability to reason across software, communication systems, electronics and physical robot behaviour
• A hands-on and methodical approach to debugging complex systems
• Fluency in English
• A valid Swiss or EU driving licence
• Valid Swiss work permit or eligibility to work in Switzerland
• Willingness to work on-site with full-scale robots in industrial and construction environments

Particularly relevant experience

Experience in several of the following would be a strong advantage:

• Model predictive, whole-body or optimization-based control
• Mobile manipulators and coordinated arm-and-base motion
• Real-time robotic control and trajectory tracking
• OCS2, Pinocchio, CasADi, Drake or similar frameworks
• Integration of motors, drives, encoders, sensors and industrial communication systems
• Improving robotic performance and reliability on physical machines

German language skills are useful but not required.

Who you are

You like to move from your desk to the lab to a live construction site. You love the moment a control concept leaves the whiteboard and starts shaping how a machine moves, and you’re happy jumping between equations, C++, a schematic, a comms log and the robot itself. When it misbehaves, you don’t assume the bug belongs to one discipline: you investigate the whole system.

You want depth and you want things to actually work, not a role where you polish one narrow corner forever, and not one where the deliverable is a paper. You’re pragmatic about when to improve the model, retune the controller, dig into the data or just go and look at the hardware. And you’re drawn to a field most engineers never get to touch: robots that have to perform in the dust and mess of a construction site.

Why join LAYERED

At LAYERED, advanced control has an immediate, visible payoff. What you build won’t sit in simulation — it runs on full-scale mobile manipulators and changes how our robots move on site, often within days. You’ll own a large part of the control and motion architecture, working alongside the electrical, mechanical and software engineers building the product together.

We’re at the point where advanced prototypes have to become reliable machines that work site after site, and your work sits right at the centre of that transition. On a small, focused deep-tech team, you’ll shape the technology, the way we build it and how it gets used on site.

LAYERED is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome applications regardless of race, colour, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity, gender expression, disability or any other legally protected status.