Controls Engineer

Rainfall Ventures; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision plans

Daily meals stipend

Job summary

Rainfall Ventures in San Francisco, CA is seeking a Senior Controls Engineer to advance real-time control and motion systems for our bimanual wheeled robots in production settings.

You will ship code on real hardware, optimize IK solvers, and build sensor fusion pipelines for precise localization, contributing to safer and more reliable autonomous/ teleoperated transitions.

Qualifications

• Strong fundamentals in classical control theory with hands-on hardware experience.
• Proficiency in Python and C/C++ for real-time robotic apps.
• Experience with inverse kinematics solvers and simulation tools (PyBullet, MuJoCo, Drake).
• Experience with rigid-body kinematics and coordinate frame transforms (SE(3), quaternions).
• Experience with sensor fusion using IMU and encoders.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement real-time supervisory control systems for smooth handoff between autonomous and teleoperated modes.
• Improve inverse kinematics solvers for multi-arm manipulation across the reachable workspace.
• Develop sensor fusion pipelines for precise mobile base localization and orientation control.
• Integrate new actuators for bimanual arm systems with safety limit implementation.

Skills

Control theory fundamentals

Python and C/C++

Inverse kinematics

Rigid-body kinematics

Sensor fusion

Tools

ROS/ROS2

CAN bus communication

Motor control interfaces

Python

C/C++

Job description

About This Role

Our robots operate in real production environments where control reliability isn't optional - it's the difference between a deployed system and a demo. As a Senior Controls Engineer, you'll work directly on the low-level control and motion systems that make our bimanual wheeled robots safe, precise, and production-ready. This is not a paper-reading internship. You'll ship code that runs on real hardware, debug edge cases that only surface on the factory floor, and see the direct impact of your work on deployed robot performance.

What You'll Do

• Design and implement real-time supervisory control systems for smooth handoff between autonomous and teleoperated modes, including trajectory blending and forward-consistent motion during transitions.


• Improve inverse kinematics solvers for multi-arm manipulation - resolving singularities, boundary failures, and ensuring robust solutions across the full reachable workspace.


• Develop sensor fusion pipelines (IMU, odometry, vision) for precise mobile base localization and orientation control under tight angular tolerances.


• Integrate new actuators for bimanual arm systems - including motor driver communication, torque/position/velocity control mode configuration, gain tuning, and safety limit implementation.

Required Qualifications

• Strong fundamentals in classical control theory (PID, impedance/admittance control, state estimation) with hands-on experience implementing controllers on physical hardware.


• Proficiency in Python and C/C++ for real-time embedded or robotic applications.


• Hands-on experience with inverse kinematics solvers and simulation environments (PyBullet, MuJoCo, Drake, or similar), including practical familiarity with IK libraries or custom Jacobian-based implementations.


• Experience with rigid-body kinematics, coordinate frame transformations (homogeneous transforms, SE(3), quaternion representations)


• Experience with sensor fusion techniques (Kalman filtering, complementary filters) using IMU, encoders, or similar proprioceptive sensors.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience with ROS/ROS2, CAN bus communication, or motor control interfaces.


• Familiarity with trajectory smoothing and interpolation methods (spline-based planning, Ruckig, or similar time-optimal trajectory libraries).


• Experience with wheeled or mobile robot platforms, including human in the loop data collection framework.

Benefits

• Medical, dental & vision plans ($0 payroll deduction)


• Daily meals stipend.

Interview Process

• Phone screen + 2 virtual technical interviews + onsite

Expected Compensation

• $100,000 - $200,000 annual salary + cash and stock awards + benefits


• The pay offered for this position may vary based on several individual factors, including job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include additional components/benefits depending on the specific role. This information will be shared if an employment offer is extended.

This is a full-time, five-day-a-week onsite role in our San Francisco, CA, office.