Senior Autonomy Software Engineer – Robotics & Real-World Ops

Forterra; Clarksburg (MD); On-site; USD 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Premium healthcare

Paid time off

Parental leave

Tuition reimbursement

401(k) matching

Equity

Job summary

Forterra is seeking a senior software engineer with a passion for autonomous systems. You will design, develop, and field software solutions that enable intelligent behavior in robotics and automation technologies for our fleet of ground vehicles used by national security customers worldwide.

The ideal candidate has a strong software development background, familiarity with robotics and autonomous systems, and a proven track record collaborating with cross‑functional teams to create robust,

Qualifications

• 3+ years of relevant experience in software development for autonomous systems.
• Experience integrating software on hardware products.
• Strong programming skills in C++, Python, or Java.
• Ability to deliver production‑quality software in a CI environment.
• Solid understanding of algorithms, data structures, and software design principles.
• Demonstrates clean, maintainable code and documentation practices.
• Experience working in teams and proactively solving problems.

Responsibilities

• Bring autonomy into real operations by integrating and deploying our autonomy stack on customer hardware and validating it in real conditions.
• Build with users and stakeholders by collaborating with end users to deliver new behaviors and payload integrations.
• Optimize the full system by considering sensing, compute, controls, and subsystems to improve performance.
• Close the loop from test to deploy by analyzing results and driving issue resolution with engineering teams.
• Improve the core autonomy stack by identifying shortfalls and implementing enhancements with cross‑functional teams.
• Connect product needs to R&D execution by translating customer requirements into autonomy capabilities.
• Travel 10–25% (up to 50% in some roles) and be willing to commute to Arlington, VA as needed.

Skills

C++

Python

Java

Education

B.S. in computer science, engineering, robotics, or related field

Tools

ROS2

Job description

Forterra is seeking a senior software engineer with a passion for autonomous systems. You will design, develop, and field software solutions that enable intelligent behavior in robotics and automation technologies for our fleet of ground vehicles used by national security customers worldwide.

The ideal candidate has a strong software development background, familiarity with robotics and autonomous systems, and a proven track record collaborating with cross‑functional teams to create robust,