Lead Autonomous Robotics Engineer - Drones & Manipulation

Valinor; Cookeville (TN); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary & equity

Health, dental, vision insurance

401(k)

Unlimited PTO

Development stipends

Fertility benefits

Job summary

Valinor is seeking a Lead Robotics Engineer to own the autonomy stack end to end—from perception to control—for rugged, field‑deployable defense platforms. This hands‑on leadership role spans architecture direction and mentoring a small cross‑functional team of engineers.

You will drive system integration, sim‑to‑real validation, testing standards, and field‑operation safety, delivering reliable autonomous systems in contested environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Robotics, EE/ME, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
• Experience leading mission-critical or fielded systems in defense/aerospace.
• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python with real-time/embedded systems fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Architect and own the full autonomy stack (perception, state estimation, planning, and control) across autonomous aerial platforms and robotic manipulators.
• Lead integration and tuning of flight control software (PX4/ArduPilot or in‑house controllers) for stability in real-world environments.
• Design, develop, and bring up robotic arm systems with sim-to-real validation and on‑hardware tuning.
• Develop computer vision and sensor-fusion pipelines for navigation, detection, alignment, and autonomous docking.
• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, and software teams to integrate sensors and components.
• Establish standards for simulation, testing, and safe field operation; drive architecture decisions.
• Mentor a small team of robotics/software engineers; lead prototype bring‑up and field testing.

Skills

C++

Python

ROS/ROS2

MoveIt/OMPL

Computer Vision

State Estimation

Planning & Control

PX4/ArduPilot

Kinematics & Dynamics

Hardware-in-the-loop

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Robotics/EE/ME/Aerospace

Master's preferred

Tools

PX4/ArduPilot

Gazebo

CUDA

ISAAC Sim

Job description

Valinor is seeking a Lead Robotics Engineer to own the autonomy stack end to end—from perception to control—for rugged, field‑deployable defense platforms. This hands‑on leadership role spans architecture direction and mentoring a small cross‑functional team of engineers.

You will drive system integration, sim‑to‑real validation, testing standards, and field‑operation safety, delivering reliable autonomous systems in contested environments.