Lead Robotics Engineer

PROTO; Lockhart, Northern (FL, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

PROTO is building a legged quadruped robot that carries a human rider from scratch. You will own the machine as it comes into existence—architecture, actuation strategy, prototype hardware, and the locomotion control stack.

You will work across mechanical design, motor control, and power electronics to ensure a cohesive, high-performance system. This role demands hands-on ownership, rapid experimentation, and collaboration across disciplines.

Qualifications

• Experience shipping high-power motion hardware you designed yourself.
• Background in EV or e-mobility powertrains is a plus.
• Experience across mechanical design, motor control, and power electronics.

Responsibilities

• Own the machine architecture from concept to prototype hardware.
• Define actuation strategy and locomotion control stack.
• Collaborate across mechanical, electrical, and software teams.

Skills

Mechatronics

Power electronics

Motor control

System architecture

Tools

C++

Python

Embedded real-time

CAN/CANopen

EtherCAT

Job description

Lead Robotics Engineer - Legged Systems

The role

We are building a legged quadruped robot that carries a human rider, starting from scratch. There is no platform to modify, no reference design to scale up, and no prior program here to inherit. You would be the technical owner of the machine as it comes into existence: architecture, actuation strategy, prototype hardware, and the locomotion control stack.

What we're looking for

The center of this role is mechatronics: you work across mechanical design, motor control, and power electronics without handing off at the boundaries

• High-power electronics: Multi-kilowatt DC bus architecture, motor drive and inverter design or deep integration, battery pack and BMS selection, and the thermal design that keeps all of it alive under sustained load.

• Motor control: Field-oriented control, torque control, encoder and current sensing, and real-time firmware on embedded targets.

• Actuation: High torque-density drivetrain design: motors, gearboxes, backdrivability, and the tradeoffs between them.

• Fluency in the practical stack: C++ and Python, a real-time control target, CAN or EtherCAT, and a simulator you trust and know the limits of.

Backgrounds that tend to fit

We are looking for people with experience in EV and e-mobility powertrain work, motor drive and inverter design, industrial servo and actuator manufacturing, or legged robotics. What matters is that you have shipped high-power motion hardware you designed yourself.