Robotics Controls Engineer

Medium; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A robotics innovation company in Vancouver is seeking a skilled Robotics Controls Engineer to support integration and control of robotic systems. The ideal candidate will have a Master’s degree and 2+ years of experience in relevant fields, with a solid understanding of robotics and software development skills in C++ and Python. The role offers a competitive compensation package and opportunities for international travel.

Benefits

Market-leading compensation package

Equity stakes

Full suite of benefits, including health coverage

Worksite flexibility by role

Qualifications

• 2+ years of relevant industry experience required.
• Demonstrated experience writing software for robot control on hardware.
• Hands-on experience with ROS2 and debugging performance-critical systems.

Responsibilities

• Support testing, validation, debugging and integration of the control stack.
• Contribute to validating real-time applications with AI workloads.
• Collaborate with application developers and customers.

Skills

Robot kinematics

C++ programming

Python programming

ROS2

Software development

Numerical optimization

Education

Master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechatronics, or Robotics

Job description

Your New Role and Team

Sanctuary, a world leader in building AI-based control systems for humanoid robots, is looking to hire a skilled and motivated Robotics Controls Engineer to join our Customer Applications team. The Robotics Controls Engineer is a crucial part of our team, supporting the integration and control of complex robotic systems focusing on supporting integration of our control stack to customer facing applications as well as developing task specific features. Reporting to the Applications Lead, you’ll contribute to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of our growing organization.

The right candidate will be a valued part of the team as you support the testing and deployment of our robot systems, own the quality and integration over control and AI integration boundaries, and innovate testing and deployment readiness checks in our robotic movement systems.

Success Criteria

• This role will require frequent international travel.
• The main challenge for this role in the first year will be to support testing, validation, debugging and integration of the control stack in coordination with low‑latency systems, teleoperation and high‑level AI behaviors.
• Within 90 days, you will contribute to validating real‑time applications with AI workloads, find integration gaps, and prepare the system for complex control tasks.
• Within 90 days, you will integrate the control stack to customer facing applications, tune controllers and develop features focused on said applications.
• This role will collaborate with application developers and customers to validate application fit and system reliability.
• Hands‑on experience with ROS2, ros2_control, hardware/software integration, and debugging performance‑critical systems will help someone ramp up quickly.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechatronics, or Robotics with 2+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Demonstrated experience writing software for robot control on hardware.

Skills

• Solid understanding of robot kinematics, dynamics and controls.
• Software development skills; able to write efficient, scalable, and maintainable code in C++ and Python for robot control.
• Strong ROS2 and ros2_control experience, including robotic systems integration and control interface extension for seamless communication.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a focus on clarity in technical discussions and documentation.
• Experience in numerical optimization and optimal control is an asset.

Traits

• Above all else, a consistently positive attitude and a willingness to do whatever it takes to create robust solutions to mission objectives.
• Successful candidates will be a proponent of personal responsibility for themselves and their teammates.
• Empathetic listener with conflict resolution capabilities.
• Consistent bias for action, communication, and interpersonal savvy.
• Self‑motivated and able to solve problems independently.
• Great communicator - able to clearly articulate and balance needs of stakeholders.
• Mission driven and passionate about bringing human‑like intelligence to machines.

Working at Sanctuary AI

Sanctuary AI is an equal opportunity employer; employment with Sanctuary AI is governed based on skills, competence, and qualifications and will not be influenced in any way by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status. In 2023, Sanctuary AI moved into a state‑of‑the‑art office facility and has been recognized by LinkedIn as a Top Startup company.

Compensation and Benefits

Sanctuary offers a market‑leading compensation package that includes competitive salaries, equity stakes, and a full suite of benefits for permanent employees, encompassing health coverage, paid time off, cutting‑edge work facilities, and worksite flexibility by role. Our commitment to fairness ensures that our total compensation consistently surpasses market standards.

About Sanctuary AI

Founded in 2018, Sanctuary builds humanoid robots and a novel control system for them that integrates symbolic logic and reasoning with data‑driven robot foundation models. We use our robots to collect vision, audio, touch, and proprioception data from the perspective of the robot while they perform real‑world work tasks. We use that data to train multimodal robot foundation models. Because our systems are vertically integrated, we can design, deploy, and refine at scale. Our mission is to create the world's first human‑like intelligence in general‑purpose robots.