Robotics Real-Time Controls Engineer

Tutor; Watertown (MA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Tutor is seeking a controls engineer to own the safety-critical control code for robot arms used in customer facilities. You will design, test, and verify the loop turning motion commands into torque, with real hardware-in-the-loop validation and continuous integration.

You will work on timing, stability, and failure modes, ensuring the code remains correct as the hardware and software evolve. The role requires experience with real-time systems and safety-critical software.

Qualifications

• Real-time control experience on physical systems.
• Experience in a mission-critical codebase with potential physical consequences.
• Comfort with dynamics, inertia, stopping distances and related physics.
• Strong systems software: C++ and Python, real-time Linux, safety-critical separation.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing.

Responsibilities

• Own the safety-critical control code for robot arms: limits, stop behavior, collision response, and monitoring.
• Work on the control loop itself: timing, stability, and failure modes from command to drives.
• Organize code to be trusted: small, testable, and reviewable safety-critical parts.
• Build hardware-in-the-loop testing: bench and CI against real arms and safety hardware.
• Keep evidence current: stopping-time measurements and tests updated with code/hardware changes.
• Document the design: decisions, limits, and rationale for other engineers.

Skills

Real-time control

Robotics experience

C++

Python

Linux RT

Safety-critical code

Hardware-in-the-loop testing

Job description

Tutor is seeking a controls engineer to own the safety-critical control code for robot arms used in customer facilities. You will design, test, and verify the loop turning motion commands into torque, with real hardware-in-the-loop validation and continuous integration.

You will work on timing, stability, and failure modes, ensuring the code remains correct as the hardware and software evolve. The role requires experience with real-time systems and safety-critical software.