Manager, Robotics Software

ICON Technology, Inc.; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

ICON is seeking a Manager to lead and grow the Robotics Software team at its Austin, TX headquarters. You will guide growth, retention, and effectiveness while applying your technical leadership to architecture decisions and capacity planning.

You will own standards for robotics software, drive code quality and test coverage, and lead architecture reviews with staff engineers. This role reports to the Director of Robotics and requires building a strong, capable team able to deliver on external

Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Robotics, or Electrical Engineering.
• 7+ years developing production software in C++ or a comparable systems language with robotics/real-time experience.
• 3+ years directly managing teams of five or more engineers, including performance management and hiring.
• Sufficient depth to evaluate architecture and design decisions and to credibly disagree with senior staff.
• Ability to earn trust and contribute to a performance-driven culture.
• Experience leading software ships on physical hardware with external milestones.
• Experience establishing engineering standards and test infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Manage, coach, and grow a team of robotics engineers and contractors.
• Hold weekly 1:1s and maintain a development plan for every direct report.
• Own interview and onboarding process and ensure new hires succeed past six months.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards for robotics software (definition of done, code review, test coverage).
• Partner with staff engineers on architecture and design reviews, providing independent judgment.
• Plan and allocate engineering capacity across concurrent programs with clear decisions.
• Provide leadership with a current view of work, risks, and constraints.
• Support internalization of knowledge and IP from external partners.
• Protect capacity for tooling, test infrastructure, and technical debt against schedules.

Skills

C++ development

Team leadership

Architecture evaluation

Robotics software

Performance management

Hiring & coaching

Education

B.S. in CS/Robotics/EE

Job description

ICON is looking for a Manager to lead and grow the Robotics Software team. You will lead a team of robotics engineers, and your first job is their growth, retention, and effectiveness. You will pair that with your technical expertise to help set standards, make architecture decisions, and give leadership a clear picture of capacity and risk. This role is based at ICON's Austin, TX headquarters and reports to the Director of Robotics.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Manage, coach, and grow a team of robotics engineers and contractors.
• Hold weekly 1:1s and maintain a written development plan for every direct report.
• Own the interview and onboarding process and be accountable for whether new hires succeed past six months.
• Establish, document, maintain, and enforce engineering standards for robotics software, including definition of done, code review expectations, test coverage, and subsystem ownership.
• Partner with staff engineers on architecture and design review, providing independent technical judgment.
• Work with project, product, and design teams to plan and contend for engineering capacity across concurrent programs, making allocation decisions explicit and planned.
• Provide the Director of Robotics and cross-functional stakeholders with a clear, current picture of the team's work, risks, and constraints.
• Support the internalization of technical knowledge and IP from external development partners.
• Protect capacity for tooling, test infrastructure, and technical debt against feature and field schedule pressure.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• B.S. in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field.
• 7+ years developing production software in C++ or a comparable systems language, with hands-on experience in robotics, embedded, motion control, or real-time systems.
• 3+ years directly managing teams of five or more engineers, including performance management and hiring.
• Sufficient current technical depth to evaluate architecture and design decisions and to disagree credibly with senior technical staff.
• Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a culture of performance.
• Experience leading a team that ships software running on physical hardware, subject to external and dated milestones.
• Experience establishing engineering standards and test infrastructure.
• Demonstrated success developing engineers with specific examples of people you have moved to higher levels of responsibility.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Background in large-scale industrial robotics, construction technology, autonomous systems, or heavy equipment.
• Familiarity with real-time Linux, EtherCAT or comparable industrial fieldbus protocols, and motion control architectures.
• Exposure to functional safety standards for robotic systems (ISO 13849, IEC 62061, or equivalent).

ICON is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an innovative, inclusive, diverse and discrimination-free work environment. Employment with ICON is based on merit, competence, and qualifications. It is our policy to administer all personnel actions, including recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting employees, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or ancestry, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other legally protected classification in accordance with applicable federal and state laws. Consistent with the obligations of these laws, ICON will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Furthermore, as a federal government contractor, the Company maintains an affirmative action program which furthers its commitment and complies with recordkeeping and reporting requirements under certain federal civil rights laws and regulations, including Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended) and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (as amended).

As part of our compliance with these obligations, the Company invites you to voluntarily self-identify as set forth below. Provision of such information is entirely voluntary and a decision to provide or not provide such information will not have any effect on your employment or subject you to any adverse treatment. Any and all information provided will be considered confidential, will be kept separate from your application and/or personnel file, and will only be used in accordance with applicable laws, orders and regulations, including those that require the information to be summarized and reported to the federal government for civil rights enforcement purposes.

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