Senior Motion Planning Engineer

TEEMA; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity option

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Flexible paid time off

Job summary

TEEMA is partnering with an innovative robotics company to hire a Senior Motion Planning Engineer. The role focuses on developing planning and decision-making systems enabling autonomous robots to navigate complex tasks, with hands-on work on physical platforms and production-quality code. You will lead architecture decisions and mentor engineers within a growing robotics team. This position offers competitive compensation and benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience developing autonomy, motion planning, task planning, or decision-making systems for robots or autonomous vehicles.
• Experience deploying autonomous systems in production or real-world environments.
• Strong understanding of motion planning, task planning, behavior trees, or similar planning frameworks.
• Proficiency in Python and C++.
• Experience with ROS 2, Linux, Docker, and CI/CD workflows.
• Experience integrating planning with perception and control, including execution monitoring and failure recovery.
• Ability to lead technical initiatives, make architectural decisions, and mentor engineers.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop motion-planning and task-planning systems for autonomous robots.
• Build planning architectures that integrate classical control, optimization, and learned policies.
• Develop execution monitoring, fault detection, and recovery mechanisms.
• Integrate planning systems with perception, world models, and robot control.
• Improve the reliability, scalability, and performance of autonomous systems operating in real-world environments.
• Establish technical direction, contribute production-quality code, and mentor other engineers.
• Test and validate planning systems on physical robotic platforms.

Skills

Python

C++

ROS 2

Linux

Docker

CI/CD

Motion planning

Task planning

Mentorship

Tools

MoveIt

OMPL

CI/CD tooling

Job description

We’re partnering with an innovative robotics and automation company developing advanced autonomous systems for complex, real-world environments.

The company is building next-generation technology at the intersection of robotics, AI, and intelligent automation. This is an opportunity to join a growing engineering team and help bring sophisticated autonomous systems from development into real-world operation.

The Role

We’re looking for a Senior Motion Planning Engineer to develop the planning and decision-making systems that enable robots to navigate complex tasks, execute actions reliably, and adapt to changing conditions.

You’ll take ownership of core planning architecture, collaborate across robotics disciplines, and work directly with physical systems. This role combines deep technical problem-solving with hands-on development and the opportunity to shape the direction of a growing robotics platform.

What You’ll Do

• Design and develop motion-planning and task-planning systems for autonomous robots.
• Build planning architectures that integrate classical control, optimization, and learned policies.
• Develop execution monitoring, fault detection, and recovery mechanisms.
• Integrate planning systems with perception, world models, and robot control.
• Improve the reliability, scalability, and performance of autonomous systems operating in real-world environments.
• Establish technical direction, contribute production-quality code, and mentor other engineers.
• Test and validate planning systems on physical robotic platforms.

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of experience developing autonomy, motion planning, task planning, or decision-making systems for robots or autonomous vehicles.
• Experience deploying autonomous systems in production or real-world environments.
• Strong understanding of motion planning, task planning, behavior trees, or similar planning frameworks.
• Proficiency in Python and C++.
• Experience with ROS 2, Linux, Docker, and CI/CD workflows.
• Experience integrating planning with perception and control, including execution monitoring and failure recovery.
• Ability to lead technical initiatives, make architectural decisions, and mentor engineers.

Nice to have: Experience with optimization tools such as MoveIt or OMPL, learned policies, LLM-based reasoning for robotics, multi-robot coordination, or industrial automation.

Why Join?

• Solve challenging robotics and autonomy problems with tangible real-world applications.
• Help shape the architecture of an evolving robotics platform.
• Work directly with physical robots and see your work move beyond simulation.
• Collaborate closely with an entrepreneurial engineering team.
• Competitive compensation, equity, medical, dental, vision, disability coverage, and flexible paid time off.

Interested in pushing the boundaries of robotics and autonomous systems? We’d love to hear from you.