Lead Robotics Software Engineer, Autonomous Systems

Thirdwaveautomation; Union City (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Flexible schedule

Meals provided daily

Stock options/equity

401k matching

Job summary

TWA, based in Union City, California, is seeking experienced software (robotics) development engineers to join our team and work on the automation stack for forklifts. You will contribute across motion planning, perception, and control, shaping features and trade-offs for our autonomous robotics product.

This role combines hands-on coding with system design, mentoring, and collaboration in an AI‑first environment using Cursor and Copilot.

Qualifications

• 7+ years hands-on robotics software development with shipped products.
• Bachelor's degree in Robotics, CS or related field; Master's preferred.
• Excellent OOP skills in C++ with Python experience.
• Proficient in C++ and Python for robust software design.
• Experience with AI-assisted development (Cursor, Copilot, LLMs).
• Strong foundation in geometry and sensor processing (LiDAR, Vision).
• Experience with motion planning and vehicle dynamics desirable.

Responsibilities

• Take the Lead on critical features from concept to deployment for forklift automation.
• Tackle uncharted problems in planning, SLAM, and data fusion.
• Improve product maturity and scalability for rapid deployments.
• Influence strategic direction and contribute to roadmap planning.
• Build in an AI-first environment using AI-assisted tools to accelerate SDLC.
• Provide technical leadership and mentor junior engineers.

Skills

C++

Python

Robotics

Motion planning

SLAM

AI-assisted development

OOP design

Education

Bachelor's degree in Robotics/CS

Master's degree preferred

Tools

ROS

SLAM software

Job description

TWA, based in Union City, California, is seeking experienced software (robotics) development engineers to join our team and work on the automation stack for forklifts. You will contribute across motion planning, perception, and control, shaping features and trade-offs for our autonomous robotics product.

This role combines hands-on coding with system design, mentoring, and collaboration in an AI‑first environment using Cursor and Copilot.