Senior Software Engineer, Real-Time Systems

Sanctuary; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanctuary, a world leader in building AI-based control systems for humanoid robots, is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our Real Time Systems team. You will work on deterministic, low-latency real-time software that integrates robotic control with AI capabilities and production applications.

You will collaborate across controls, AI/ML, hardware, and software engineering to scale hardware interfaces, support robot embodiments, and improve the motion control stack and system integration

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a technical field; 5+ years in robotics software/real-time systems.
• Proven experience designing, developing, and deploying real-time control software for robotic systems.
• Track record delivering real-time control across multiple robots or production cells.
• Strong software architecture and hardware/software integration skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop real-time software components for robotic control with deterministic performance.
• Deploy and validate control software across multiple robots/production cells.
• Collaborate with controls, AI/ML, hardware, and software teams to integrate real-time control with higher-level capabilities.
• Improve performance, reliability, and scalability of the real-time software stack.

Skills

C/C++

PREEMPT_RT Linux

ROS 2

ros2_control

Distributed systems

Multithreading

Linux systems

Docker

Kubernetes

Hardware-in-the-loop

NVIDIA Jetson (ARM64)

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a related technical field

Tools

ROS 2

ros2_control

DDS

EtherCAT

QoS configuration

Linux kernel tuning

Docker

Kubernetes

Ansible

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 Senior Software Engineer to join our Real Time Systems team. The Real Time Software Engineer is a crucial part of our team, supporting the integration and control of complex robotic systems through deterministic and low-latency software frameworks. Reporting to the Real Time Software 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 continued improvement in our hardware interface scaling, robot embodiment support, and dexterous manipulation systems, own the coordination of project deliverables across control and AI integration boundaries, and innovate best practices that drive continuous improvements in our motion control stack and system-level integration readiness.

Success Criteria

• In your first 90 days, you will develop a strong understanding of our real-time software architecture, robotic control systems, and deployment environments. You will begin contributing to the development, debugging, and optimization of performance-critical software components.
• Within your first year, you will contribute to the design, development, and deployment of deterministic real-time control systems that reliably support multiple robotic platforms and production environments.
• You will help improve the performance, reliability, and scalability of our real-time software infrastructure, with a focus on minimizing latency, maintaining deterministic execution, and ensuring robust hardware/software integration.
• You will collaborate closely with controls, AI/ML, hardware, and software engineering teams to integrate real-time control systems with higher-level robotic capabilities and production applications.
• You will contribute to engineering best practices, including automated testing, hardware-in-the-loop validation, performance benchmarking, observability, and technical documentation.
• You will share technical knowledge through collaboration, code reviews, and mentorship, helping strengthen the team's expertise in real-time systems and robotics software development.

Your Experience

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a related technical field, or equivalent industry experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in robotics software development or a closely related field involving real-time systems.
• Demonstrated experience designing, developing, and deploying real-time control software for robotic systems.
• Proven track record of taking a real-time control system from design through deployment across multiple robots or production cells.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, hardware/software integration, and the technical challenges associated with deploying reliable robotic systems in production environments.

Skills

• Proficiency in C/C++, with hands-on experience developing software under hard real-time constraints using PREEMPT_RT Linux, including scheduling policies, CPU and IRQ isolation, and latency analysis.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems architecture, multithreading, and concurrency, with an emphasis on building scalable, reliable, and resilient software systems.
• Production experience with ROS 2 and ros2_control on physical robotic systems, including developing hardware interfaces and implementing high-frequency control loops that maintain deterministic performance under system load.
• Familiarity with industrial communication protocols and fieldbuses, including EtherCAT, Ethernet/IP, CAN, or similar technologies used in robotic control applications.
• Hands-on experience debugging ROS 2 and DDS communication across multiple hosts, including QoS configuration, discovery, shared-memory and UDP transport, and diagnosing dropped or delayed messages using industry-standard tools.
• Strong Linux systems knowledge, including networking configuration, multi-NIC environments, kernel configuration and compilation, driver debugging, and low-level system tuning using tools such as netplan, sysctl, GRUB, and cgroups.
• Experience with infrastructure provisioning and deployment tools such as Ansible, Docker, or Kubernetes.
• Experience benchmarking and optimizing x86-based real-time systems, including firmware configuration, CPU and IRQ affinity, scheduling optimization, and cache contention analysis.
• Familiarity with engineering best practices, including coding standards, hardware-in-the-loop testing, performance benchmarking, automated validation, and system observability.
• Experience with ARM64 platforms, particularly NVIDIA Jetson, is considered an asset.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts, document solutions, and collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary engineering teams.

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.
• Mission driven and passionate about bringing human-like intelligence to machines.