Senior Software Engineer, Robotic Manipulation

Maxwell Bond; Boston; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Maxwell Bond is seeking a Senior Software Engineer focused on robotic manipulation within production environments. You will develop software enabling robots to perform complex physical tasks, with emphasis on manipulation algorithms, motion planning, and multi-arm coordination.

Collaborate across software, hardware and product teams; contribute to robust, well-tested production robotics software, and mentor junior engineers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, or a closely related field.
• At least 4 years of professional software engineering experience, preferably involving production systems.
• Strong practical experience developing software in Python.
• Experience with asynchronous, concurrent, parallel, or distributed systems.
• Experience implementing robotics software or algorithms involving motion planning, kinematics, manipulation, and coordination.
• Experience creating or working with service interfaces (REST APIs, gRPC).
• Familiarity with software architecture, system design methodologies, and design patterns.
• Ability to tackle loosely defined problems and deliver complete implementations.
• Experience with maintainable, robust, and thoroughly tested software.
• Familiarity with Git, code reviews, testing.

Responsibilities

• Develop software enabling robotic manipulation in production environments.
• Implement algorithms for motion planning, robot kinematics, motion execution, control, and multi-arm coordination.
• Improve performance, reliability, and robustness of robotic systems performing complex tasks.
• Develop software capable of interfacing with robotic hardware.
• Use simulations to validate manipulation algorithms before and during deployment.
• Coordinate robotic capabilities with larger software and hardware systems.
• Develop services and interfaces for robotics applications.
• Contribute to architectural and system-design decisions; mentor junior engineers.
• Communicate plans, trade-offs, priorities, and progress across teams.

Skills

Python

ROS/ROS2

C++

Motion planning

Distributed systems

REST gRPC

Git & Testing

Mentorship

Communication

Education

Bachelor in Robotics or CS

Master’s preferred

Tools

MongoDB

Job description

Senior Software Engineer

About the Role

An established company operating in robotics, automation, logistics, and intelligent material-handling systems is looking for a Senior Software Engineer with a focus on robotic manipulation.

The position involves developing software that allows robots to carry out complex physical tasks in real-world production environments. A significant part of the role centers on manipulation algorithms, motion planning, kinematics, control, motion execution, and coordination of robotic systems.

You will contribute to production robotics software while working closely with engineers across software, hardware, and product development.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain software that enables robotic manipulation in production environments.
• Implement algorithms and software related to motion planning, robot kinematics, motion execution, control, and multi-arm coordination.
• Improve the performance, reliability, and robustness of robotic systems performing complex physical tasks.
• Develop software capable of interacting with and coordinating physical robotic hardware.
• Develop, extend, and use simulation environments to validate manipulation algorithms before and during deployment.
• Integrate robotics capabilities with larger software and hardware systems.
• Develop services and interfaces used by robotics applications and supporting systems.
• Participate in architectural and system-design decisions for robotics software.
• Help establish technical direction and provide mentorship to less-experienced engineers.
• Communicate engineering plans, technical trade-offs, priorities, and progress across teams.

Required Background

• Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, or a closely related field.
• At least 4 years of professional software engineering experience, preferably involving production systems.
• Strong practical experience developing software in Python.
• Experience with asynchronous, concurrent, parallel, or distributed systems.
• Experience implementing robotics software or algorithms involving areas such as motion planning, motion execution, robotic kinematics, manipulation, multi-robot or multi-arm coordination, and environment representation.
• Experience creating or working with service interfaces, including REST APIs, gRPC services, or similar technologies.
• Familiarity with software architecture, system design methodologies, and established design patterns.
• Ability to take loosely defined engineering problems, determine an appropriate approach, and deliver a complete implementation.
• Experience developing software that is maintainable, reliable, and thoroughly tested.
• Familiarity with Git, code reviews, issue tracking, and automated testing.
• Experience with unit, integration, and/or hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills when working with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Background

• Master’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline.
• 6+ years of professional software development experience.
• Experience using ROS or ROS2.
• Experience integrating software with robotic hardware, particularly robotic arms.
• Familiarity with robotics simulation platforms and test environments.
• Familiarity with Linux-based development.
• Experience with Python asynchronous programming, including asyncio.
• Programming experience in C++.
• Experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB.