Senior Robotics Navigation Engineer

Dexmate; Fremont (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Dexmate is seeking a Senior Robotics Navigation Engineer in California to own the localization, mapping, and navigation stack for humanoid robots. You will deploy 3D SLAM pipelines and real-time navigation algorithms on hardware, ensuring reliability at scale.

You will work with perception, controls, and hardware teams to integrate the navigation stack end-to-end and mentor junior engineers on the autonomy roadmap.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in robotics autonomy focusing on SLAM, localization, or state estimation.
• Proven deployment of navigation/SLAM on real autonomous platforms, not just simulation.
• Strong command of probabilistic robotics, sensor fusion, and nonlinear optimization.

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy production-grade 3D SLAM and localization systems using LiDAR, RGB-D, IMUs, wheels.
• Build state estimation pipelines with Kalman Filters, EKF, UKF, or factor graphs.
• Develop real-time 3D navigation: costmaps, path planners, traversability analysis.
• Calibrate multi-sensor rigs; ensure calibration quality.
• Collaborate across teams to integrate navigation into robot autonomy.

Skills

SLAM

Localization

State estimation

C++

ROS 2

GTSAM/Ceres

Kalman Filters

Multi-modal fusion

Education

MS/PhD in Robotics or CS

Tools

GTSAM

Ceres Solver

g2o

ROS 2

Job description

ABOUT DEXMATE

Dexmate is building the foundation for physical AI — combining a new generation of robots with a universal Physical AI OS, making robots as easy to build and deploy as software. Today, robotics is fragmented, slow, and closed: most builders are forced to reinvent the same stack again and again, and most ideas never make it past the prototype stage. We exist to change that. Our mission is to democratize robotics by lowering the barrier to entry, delivering a plug-and-play platform for developers, researchers, and enterprises, and cultivating an open ecosystem that accelerates the evolution of physical AI.

If you want to help shape the next layer of human capability — and believe the future of robotics should be built together, not in isolation — we'd love to build it with you.

THE ROLE

We are looking for a Senior Robotics Navigation Engineer to own the localization, mapping, and navigation stack for our humanoid robots. You will design and implement 3D SLAM pipelines, multi-modal state estimation systems, and real-time navigation algorithms that enable our robots to understand where they are, build accurate maps of their environment, and move through it reliably.

This is a production-focused role. You are not prototyping algorithms in simulation — you are deploying them on hardware, validating them in real environments, and owning their reliability at scale. We want engineers who have closed that loop before: on self-driving cars, AGVs, mobile robots, or similar deployed autonomous systems.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design, implement, and deploy production-grade 3D SLAM and localization systems fusing data from LiDAR, RGB-D cameras, IMUs, wheel encoders, and proprioceptive signals
• Build and maintain state estimation pipelines — Kalman Filters, Extended Kalman Filters (EKF), Unscented Kalman Filters (UKF), or Factor Graph backends (GTSAM, Ceres, g2o) — with reliable accuracy in dynamic, GPS-denied, and perceptually degraded environments
• Develop real-time 3D navigation algorithms: costmap generation from point clouds, global and local path planners (sampling-based, optimization-based), and traversability analysis
• Implement sensor calibration pipelines (intrinsic and extrinsic) for multi-sensor rigs; own the calibration quality that underpins system accuracy
• Design and build the evaluation and regression frameworks that prove the navigation stack is working correctly — logging, metrics, replay tooling, and failure analysis infrastructure
• Collaborate with perception, controls, and hardware teams to integrate the navigation stack end-to-end into the full robot autonomy system
• Troubleshoot and resolve challenging field failures; own root cause analysis and system-level fixes when localization or navigation breaks in deployment
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical roadmap planning for the autonomy stack

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years of industry experience in robotics autonomy, with a primary focus on SLAM, localization, or state estimation
• Proven track record of deploying navigation or SLAM systems on real autonomous platforms — self-driving vehicles, AGVs, mobile robots, or equivalent — not just simulation or research prototypes
• Deep theoretical and practical command of probabilistic robotics: Bayesian filtering, sensor fusion, covariance modeling, and non-linear optimization
• Hands-on experience with 3D SLAM modalities: LiDAR SLAM, Visual SLAM (VSLAM), Visual-Inertial Odometry (VIO), or multi-modal fusion
• Proficiency in C++ (C++14/17 or newer) for real-time, performance-critical code; strong software engineering fundamentals
• Experience with optimization libraries: GTSAM, Ceres Solver, g2o, or equivalent factor graph backends
• Familiarity with ROS/ROS 2 and standard robotics tooling
• Ability to explain why a localization module failed in a specific scenario to both a technical peer and a non-technical stakeholder

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• Experience with learning-based or hybrid approaches to localization and mapping (e.g., neural implicit maps, foundation model-assisted SLAM)
• Background in semantic SLAM or scene understanding — associating geometric maps with object-level semantics
• Experience with GPU acceleration (CUDA) for perception or navigation pipelines
• GNSS/RTK fusion experience for outdoor or GPS-blended deployments
• Familiarity with map management at scale: map storage, versioning, sharing across a robot fleet, and lifecycle management
• Prior experience in a startup or fast-moving R&D environment with an emphasis on shipping
• Contributions to open-source SLAM or navigation frameworks (ORB-SLAM, RTAB-Map, Cartographer, LIO-SAM, KISS-ICP, etc.)