Senior Robotics Software Engineer

Pop-Up Talent; Wisconsin; On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Pop-Up Talent is seeking a Senior ROS2 Engineer to lead the development and shipping of ROS2 features that enable advanced machine behavior for autonomous robots. You will advance fleet management with telemetry, OTA updates, and remote operations.

You’ll tackle perception, sensor fusion, and decision-making in unstructured outdoor environments while collaborating with mechanical, electrical, and controls engineers and validation teams. Strong ROS2 and programming skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Proven ROS2 production experience.
• Strong C++ and/or Python skills.
• Experience with fleet management or distributed systems.
• Experience with computer vision and sensor fusion.
• Clear technical writing including design docs and postmortems.

Responsibilities

• Develop and ship ROS2 features that enhance machine behavior and unlock new capabilities.
• Build out the fleet management layer, including telemetry, OTA updates, remote operations, and fleet-wide observability.
• Work on perception, sensor fusion, and decision-making in unstructured outdoor environments.
• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, and controls engineers and field-test teams.
• Make architectural decisions that impact the platform two to three years into the future.
• Help shape how the software team hires, reviews, and scales as the company grows.

Skills

ROS2

C++/Python

Fleet management

Computer vision

Architecture decisions

Technical writing

Job description

Job Description

Senior Robotics Software Engineer

Full-Time | In-Person | Suamico, WI

We build full-size commercial autonomous robots that mow large properties without an operator in the seat. They run in real terrain, including wet grass, dust, heat, GPS dropouts, and unstructured environments, for municipalities, DOTs, and commercial contractors across North America.

Our machines ship today, and they work. What this category becomes over the next decade is still being written, and we plan to write most of it.

We’re hiring a Senior ROS2 Engineer to help us do it.

THE PROBLEM YOU'D OWN:

• The core of this job is developing in ROS2: building, extending, and shipping the software that makes our machines do what they do. New behaviors, new capabilities, and better decisions in the field are the day-to-day focus
• Within that, two areas have outsized leverage on where the platform goes, and you'd help us decide where to push hardest

The Fleet Problem:

• We're scaling toward thousands of units operating in the field. That means treating robots more like servers through telemetry, observability, OTA updates, fleet-wide health, remote diagnostics, mission orchestration, and the infrastructure that allows a small team to operate a large fleet reliably
• If you've done backend or distributed systems work and want to bring that discipline to robotics, this is where it comes into play

The Perception Problem:

• LiDAR is great until it isn't. It can't tell you a dark patch is standing water, that a shirt on the ground is soft, or that the object twenty feet ahead is a person, a deer, or a fence post. Those distinctions matter when deciding whether to stop, slow, reroute, or proceed
• Camera-based vision that complements LiDAR in unstructured outdoor environments is one of the highest-impact problems we're solving. If computer vision is your passion, there's a place for you here

We’d be thrilled to hire someone who is strong in one area and curious about the other. We don't expect both at world-class depth, but we do expect deep ROS2 experience. That's the constant.

WHAT YOU'D ACTUALLY DO:

• Develop and ship ROS2 features that enhance machine behavior and unlock new capabilities
• Build out the fleet management layer, including telemetry, OTA updates, remote operations, and fleet-wide observability
• Work on perception, sensor fusion, and decision-making in unstructured outdoor environments
• Collaborate directly with mechanical, electrical, and controls engineers, as well as technicians who validate and field-test what you build
• Make architectural decisions that impact the platform two to three years into the future
• Help shape how the software team hires, reviews, and scales as the company grows

WHAT YOU BRING:

• Strong production ROS2 experience. Not a class or side project. You've shipped and maintained ROS2 software that users depend on
• Solid C++ and/or Python skills with the ability to work comfortably in both
• Experience with at least one of the following: Fleet management or distributed systems at scale | Computer vision and sensor fusion in real-world environments
• A strong sense of when to build, when to integrate, and when to start over
• The judgment to operate as a senior individual contributor. You can scope your own work, challenge requirements when necessary, and deliver without constant oversight
• Clear technical writing, including design documents, postmortems, and code review feedback

BONUS POINTS:

• Outdoor or off-road robotics experience (agriculture, construction, defense, mining, or AMRs)
• Production computer vision in unstructured environments
• OTA update systems, fleet telemetry pipelines, and remote operations tooling
• Embedded Linux, real-time systems, or low-level controls experience
• GPS-denied or GPS-degraded localization
• Experience deploying systems at meaningful scale (hundreds or more units)

ABOUT THE TEAM:

The engineering team is ten people. No one is coasting.

There aren't layers of process between you and the machine. Code reviews matter. Design discussions are technical and direct. Decisions are made by the people closest to the work, and the company is led by an engineer who knows the difference between cheap and right. Trade-offs are made deliberately, not by default.

You’ll have