Senior Autonomy Engineer - Ground Robotics

Lucid Bots; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

3% retirement match

15 days of paid time off (PTO)

3 sick days

11 paid holidays

Employee stock option plan

Job summary

A robotics company based in Charlotte is hiring a Senior Autonomy Engineer to own the autonomy stack for its ground robot platform. Responsibilities include delivering reliable autonomy systems, building simulation environments, and establishing performance criteria. Candidates should have 5–10 years of experience in robotics, strong programming skills, and hands-on experience with ROS 2. Join a fast-growing team committed to solving real-world problems with innovative technology.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of experience in robotics or autonomy systems.
• Experience shipping at least one autonomous mobile robot to production.
• Strong hands-on experience with ROS 2.

Responsibilities

• Deliver autonomy systems that perform reliably in real-world environments.
• Build and improve simulation environments.
• Define clear, measurable performance criteria.

Skills

Robotics or autonomy systems experience

Experience with ROS 2

Programming skills

Deep expertise in perception

Experience with outdoor robots

Job description

About Lucid Bots

Lucid Bots is an AI robotics company building the world’s most productive and responsible robots. Our mission is simple: extend human reach. We design intelligent machines that take on dangerous, demanding, and repetitive work—so people don’t have to.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, we design, engineer, manufacture, and support our products in the United States. Our production-ready robots are deployed by customers around the world to improve safety, increase productivity, and elevate operational standards. We are one of the fastest-growing manufacturing companies in the United States, recently ranked fourth nationally. Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator (S19), Cubit Capital, Idea Fund Partners, Danu Ventures, and others, we are scaling quickly at the intersection of AI, hardware, and real-world impact. We’re building more than robots—we’re building the future of physical AI.

Our Core Values And How We Work Together

• Expedition Behavior - We climb as one. No silos, no ‘that’s not my job.’ We protect the team and share the load.
• Grow with Humility - We’re relentless learners. We seek feedback, own mistakes, and get better every day.
• Lift People Up - Humans come first. We care fiercely, speak honestly, and design for real people in real conditions.
• Build the Extraordinary - We take ownership, reject the ordinary, and run toward hard problems.

We live Above the Line: we take responsibility, create solutions, and shape the future.

The Role

We’re hiring a Senior Autonomy Engineer to own the autonomy stack for our ground robot platform.

You’ve done this before — taken a robot from simulation to real-world deployment, and seen what breaks along the way. You understand that autonomy isn’t finished when it works once — it’s finished when it works every time.

You’ll be the technical authority on what “production-ready autonomy” means at Lucid Bots.

What You’ll Do

• Deliver autonomy systems that perform reliably in real-world environments; Own the full autonomy stack—perception, localization, planning, navigation—and ensure consistent performance across deployments.
• Enable parallel development through high-quality simulation; Build and improve simulation environments that allow the team to develop and validate autonomy before hardware is finalized.
• Systematically close the sim-to-real gap; Quantify where simulation diverges from real-world behavior and drive improvements that increase field reliability.
• Define what “done” looks like for autonomy; Establish clear, measurable performance criteria for autonomous operation — not subjective definitions of success.
• Build systems that scale beyond the demo; Architect autonomy software that performs reliably across many customers, environments, and edge cases.
• Raise the technical bar of the team; Mentor engineers, review code and architecture, and guide the team toward production-grade systems.
• Ensure hardware and autonomy are designed together; Partner closely with hardware engineers to build systems optimized for automation from the start.

What We’re Looking For

• 5–10 years of experience in robotics or autonomy systems
• Experience shipping at least one autonomous mobile robot to production
• Strong hands‑on experience with ROS 2
• Deep expertise in at least two of: perception, SLAM/localization, motion planning, or controls
• Experience with robots operating in outdoor or unstructured environments
• Strong programming skills with production-quality code

What We’re Not Looking For

• Pure researchers without production experience
• Engineers who have only worked in simulation or controlled environments
• Candidates without experience shipping real robotic systems

Why Join Lucid Bots?

• Work directly with the founder of a fast-growing, venture-backed robotics startup.
• Be part of a team solving real-world problems with frontier technology.
• Get a front‑row seat to fundraising, company building, and startup strategy at scale.
• Learn more in one year than most people do in five—this is a career accelerant.
• Help support the culture, pace, and systems of a company scaling fast and building things that matter.

Benefits

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 3% retirement match
• 15 days of paid time off (PTO)
• 3 sick days
• 11 paid holidays, with 3 of those being floating holidays
• Employee stock option plan

We’d Love to Hear from You!

Don't just apply. Stand out.

The Reality: On paper, many resumes look the same. We don’t hire paper; we hire people. While a video is technically optional, it is the single best way to separate yourself from the stack.

The Promise: This is not a black hole. If you take the time to record it, we will take the time to watch it.

What to Send (2 mins max)

Please do not read a script. Do not worry about editing or production value. Just open your camera and talk to us.

• Why here? Why are you excited about Lucid Bots specifically?
• Why you? What is the one thing about you that a resume can’t capture?

If you want the highest probability of an interview, send a video.