Controls Engineer

Maxwell Bond; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Maxwell Bond is assisting a robotics innovator that builds humanoid robots for factory environments. We seek a Member of Technical Staff - Robotics Controls Engineer to develop low-level control and motion systems that are capable, reliable and responsive.

You will implement control strategies, build real-time loops, and connect to actuators, pushing simulation-to-hardware deployment across cross-functional teams to deliver smooth robot motion.

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, CS, Aerospace Engineering.
• 4+ years of hands-on experience shipping robotics controls on hardware.
• Experience developing controls for robotic arms, industrial manipulators or cobots.
• Strong understanding of PID, LQR, state-space methods and impedance/admittance control.
• Experience with MoveIt, cuRobo, OMPL, TrajOpt or similar planning frameworks.
• Strong fundamentals in kinematics, dynamics, control theory and real-time systems.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python; ROS or ROS 2 experience.
• Proven ability to take robotics algorithms from simulation to hardware.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement and tune low-level controllers for multi-DOF robotic arms.
• Build real-time control loops and interfaces to motor drivers and actuators (EtherCAT, CAN).
• Develop and integrate motion planning such as trajectory optimization and retiming.
• Develop kinematics and dynamics models including FK/IK and Jacobians.
• Deploy controllers on physical robots and address sim-to-real issues.
• Diagnose latency, sensing and calibration issues and hardware limitations.
• Collaborate with perception, learning, mechanical and electrical teams to ensure safe robot motion.
• Improve reliability and performance of robotics software via testing and debugging.

Skills

Robotics fundamentals

Control theory

PID, LQR, impedance control

C++ and Python

Real-time systems

Simulation-to-real hardware

Education

BS/MS/PhD in Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, CS, Aerospace Engineering

Tools

ROS/ROS 2

MoveIt

OMPL

TrajOpt

Gazebo

Isaac Sim/Lab

MuJoCo

Drake

Job description

Our client is building and deploying humanoid robots for real-world factory environments and is looking for a Member of Technical Staff - Robotics Controls Engineer to develop the low-level control and motion systems that make these robots capable, reliable and responsive.

You will work closely with physical hardware across control loops, robot dynamics, actuator drivers, motion planning and system integration, taking manipulation behaviors from simulation and algorithms onto real robots.

This is a hands-on role for an engineer with experience shipping robotics controls or motion systems on physical hardware, with strong knowledge of PID, LQR, impedance control, trajectory optimization, kinematics and dynamics.

What You'll Do

• Design, implement and tune low-level controllers for multi-DOF robotic arms, including position, velocity, torque, impedance and admittance control.
• Build and maintain real-time control loops and interfaces to motor drivers and actuators using technologies such as EtherCAT and CAN.
• Develop and integrate motion planning systems, including collision-free planning, trajectory optimization and retiming.
• Develop kinematics and dynamics models, including FK/IK, Jacobians, rigid-body dynamics, system identification and calibration.
• Deploy controllers and planners on physical robots and solve simulation-to-real hardware issues.
• Diagnose issues involving latency, actuators, sensing, dynamics, calibration and mechanical limitations.
• Work closely with perception, learning, mechanical and electrical teams to deliver smooth, safe and repeatable robot motion.
• Improve the reliability and performance of the robotics software stack through testing, instrumentation and systematic debugging.

Required Qualifications

• BS, MS or PhD in Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering or a related field.
• 4+ years of hands-on experience developing and shipping robotics controls or motion systems on physical hardware.
• Experience developing controls or motion systems for robotic arms, industrial manipulators, cobots or similar platforms.
• Strong understanding of classical control, including PID, LQR, state-space methods and preferably impedance/admittance control.
• Experience with motion-planning frameworks such as MoveIt, cuRobo, OMPL, TrajOpt or similar.
• Strong fundamentals in kinematics, dynamics, control theory and real-time systems.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python.
• Experience with ROS or ROS 2.
• Proven ability to take robotics algorithms from simulation to physical hardware.
• Strong debugging skills and comfort working directly with robots, sensors and actuators.

Nice to Have

• Experience with perception, depth sensing, point clouds, pose estimation or manipulation-focused calibration.
• Experience with imitation learning, diffusion policies or reinforcement learning.
• Familiarity with world models and Vision-Language-Action (VLA) systems.
• Experience with Isaac Sim/Lab, MuJoCo, Gazebo, Drake or similar simulation platforms.
• Background in real-time or embedded control systems.
• Experience with actuator electronics, motor controllers or robotic hardware.
• Publications, patents, open-source robotics contributions or significant personal robotics projects.

What We're Looking For

The ideal candidate combines strong controls and robotics fundamentals with practical hardware experience. You should enjoy moving between equations, code, logs and physical robots to understand why systems behave differently in the real world.

This is an opportunity to take ownership across the manipulation stack, from low-level actuator control through motion planning and real-world deployment.

Our client welcomes applicants from all backgrounds and is committed to building an inclusive and equal-opportunity workplace.