Senior Robotics Software Engineer – Lead & Build Real-World Systems

Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Retirement plan

Tuition benefits

Paid time off

Bus pass

Fitness center access

Job summary

Carnegie Mellon University, through the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) in Pittsburgh, seeks a Senior Software Engineer to design and deploy software powering advanced robotic systems. You will work with multidisciplinary teams across the product lifecycle to deliver robust, real-world solutions.

You will prototype and integrate software with hardware, lead architecture decisions, and mentor engineers while advancing cutting-edge robotics in industrial, commercial, and defense

Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or equivalent experience with 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• Advanced C++ in a Linux environment with scalable architectures.
• Proficiency in Python for data analysis, automation, and validation.
• Experience with network protocols, IPC, hardware driver integration, or real-time data streaming.
• Strong technical communication skills and ability to mentor teams.
• Familiarity with robotics middleware or simulation environments (ROS/ROS 2) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, document, test, troubleshoot, and maintain software applications and integrated systems for robotic platforms and supporting infrastructure.
• Architect and build complex systems balancing scalability with hardware constraints.
• Provide technical leadership, drive architecture, data pipelines, and system requirements.
• Collaborate with hardware, UI/UX, product leads, and sponsors to translate needs into technical specs.
• Mentor junior engineers and promote best practices in development.
• Develop tools, CI/CD pipelines, logging/telemetry, and real-time communication protocols for robotics systems.
• Lead R&D and prototype new techniques in C++ and Python to solve robotics problems.
• Lead full lifecycle testing from unit tests to field testing with real hardware.

Skills

Advanced C++

Python scripting

System architecture

IPC networking

Technical leadership

Git workflows

Education

B.S. in CS/Engineering

Tools

ROS / ROS 2

Gazebo

Embedded Linux

CI/CD pipelines

RTOS

Job description

Carnegie Mellon University, through the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) in Pittsburgh, seeks a Senior Software Engineer to design and deploy software powering advanced robotic systems. You will work with multidisciplinary teams across the product lifecycle to deliver robust, real-world solutions.

You will prototype and integrate software with hardware, lead architecture decisions, and mentor engineers while advancing cutting-edge robotics in industrial, commercial, and defense