Robotics Forward Deployed Engineer

Destro AI; Washington (District of Columbia); Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Destro AI in the Washington, DC area is hiring a Robotics Forward Deployed Engineer to own the software that runs MothershipOS in live customer warehouses. This field role demands off-hours work, extensive travel, and on-site deployments to ensure rapid stabilization and deployment success.

You will write production-grade code in Python or C++, build deployment tools, and coordinate with customer IT and engineering teams to uphold system reliability.

Qualifications

• 2 to 6 years of experience in systems engineering, robotics software, backend engineering, infrastructure, or field engineering.
• Comfortable being paged off-hours and traveling on short notice.
• Able to operate independently in ambiguous, high-pressure environments without a fully specified solution.
• Calm under pressure, direct with customers, and demonstrates strong ownership.

Responsibilities

• Write, test, and maintain production code running MothershipOS at customer sites, including deployment tooling and diagnostic utilities.
• Design and build internal tools that make field deployments faster and more repeatable.
• Translate field learnings into production-hardening fixes and improvements in the core codebase.
• Maintain clear technical documentation and runbooks so issues can be diagnosed consistently across sites.
• Deploy and validate Destro's software stack in live warehouses, working directly with customer operations, IT, and engineering teams.
• Own production issues end-to-end during launch and stabilization, including off-hours incidents.
• Improve uptime, throughput, and reliability of deployed systems through both code and infrastructure changes.
• Build and maintain containerized services (Docker Compose) running on Destro-managed servers and edge devices.
• Work with cloud infrastructure (GCP) for image management, versioning, and deployment tooling.
• Configure and troubleshoot networking, including VLANs, DHCP, internal DNS, and certificate-based service security.
• Debug across the full stack: robot state faults, sensor issues, API failures, container networking, database queries, and monitoring dashboards.

Skills

Python

C++

Git

Tools

Docker/Docker Compose

Linux administration

Networking

API protocols REST/WebSockets/MQTT

Job description

About Destro AI

Destro AI is building the intelligence layer for robotics — the system that coordinates robots, humans, and workflows across complex real-world operations. Founded by former leaders from HAI Robotics, Dexterity, and Matic, Destro is built on a simple thesis: robotics has solved movement, but not decision‑making. Destro is backed by investors who have previously invested in and built companies like Brex, Figma, Notion, and Instacart.Destro's MothershipOS is a shared brain across all robots, unlocking complex factory and warehouse workflows. Unlike traditional systems that rely on local intelligence on each robot, Destro brings global intelligence across the entire operation. Destro recently closed its Seed round at one of the highest valuations for a robotics company at this stage, and is already deploying in production with large enterprise operators.

About The Role

We're hiring a Robotics Forward Deployed Engineer, to own the software that runs MothershipOS in live customer warehouses. This role is responsible for writing and maintaining production code, not solely for troubleshooting it, and will serve as the engineering presence on‑site when systems need to be brought up, stabilized, or restored to full function.

Schedule Expectations

This is a field deployment role, not a standard office‑hours position. Warehouse operations run multiple shifts, and go‑lives, incidents, and integrations are not confined to business hours. Regular work outside standard business hours should be expected, including nights and weekends. Go‑lives are frequently scheduled during off‑hours or weekend downtime windows to avoid disrupting customer operations. This role may be paged for production issues, including robot faults, network outages, and server failures, outside normal hours, and is expected to respond promptly, either remotely or on‑site. Extensive travel to customer sites is required, at times on short notice. Candidates seeking a fixed 9‑to‑5, Monday‑through‑Friday schedule are unlikely to find this role a fit.

What You'll Do

• SoftwareWrite, test, and maintain the software services that run MothershipOS at customer sites, including deployment tooling and diagnostic utilities.
• Design and build internal tools that make field deployments faster and more repeatable.
• Translate field learnings into production‑hardening fixes and improvements in the core codebase.
• Maintain clear technical documentation and runbooks so issues can be diagnosed consistently across sites.
• Field DeploymentDeploy and validate Destro's software stack in live warehouses, working directly with customer operations, IT, and engineering teams.
• Own production issues end‑to‑end during launch and stabilization, including off‑hours incidents.
• Improve uptime, throughput, and reliability of deployed systems through both code and infrastructure changes.
• Systems and InfrastructureBuild and maintain containerized services (Docker Compose) running on Destro‑managed servers and edge devices.
• Work with cloud infrastructure (GCP) for image management, versioning, and deployment tooling.
• Configure and troubleshoot networking, including VLANs, DHCP, internal DNS, and certificate‑based service security.
• Debug across the full stack: robot state faults, sensor issues, API failures, container networking, database queries, and monitoring dashboards.

Who You Are

2 to 6 years of experience in systems engineering, robotics software, backend engineering, infrastructure, or field engineering, with genuine software development experience rather than field support alone.

Comfortable being paged off‑hours and traveling on short notice.

Able to operate independently in ambiguous, high‑pressure environments without a fully specified solution.

Calm under pressure, direct with customers, and demonstrates strong ownership.

Technical Skills Required

• Strong Python or C++, with the ability to write maintainable, production‑grade code.
• Hands‑on Docker/Docker Compose experience, including building, deploying, debugging, and versioning images.
• Linux/server administration: command line, logs, processes, systemd, firewalls.
• Networking fundamentals: DHCP, DNS, VLANs, static IP reservations, TLS/certificates.
• Experience with APIs and communication protocols (REST, WebSockets, MQTT).
• Proficiency with Git and standard software development workflows.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience with AMRs, warehouse automation, or fleet management.
• Cloud deployment experience, ideally GCP.
• Familiarity with observability tooling such as Grafana, Prometheus, or time‑series databases.
• WMS/WES/ERP integration experience.

Nice to Have

• Experience with robot task allocation, scheduling, or routing.
• Experience with wearables, scanners, or other warehouse hardware.