Senior Robotics Systems Engineer - Real-Time Hardware & Software

Walden Robotics; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary and bonus

Equity

Insurance programs

401(k) with company match

Flexible PTO

Daily lunch

Job summary

Walden Robotics in Cambridge, MA is seeking a software-focused robotics engineer to own the interface between hardware and the rest of the system, bringing up sensors, actuators, and compute into a cohesive platform.

You will develop drivers and data pipelines, implement real-time control loops, and optimize EtherCAT-based communications for robust field operation, including Jetson targets, CUDA integration, and sensor calibration in collaboration with AI teams.

Qualifications

• Experience integrating sensors/actuators in robotic or complex electromechanical systems at software level.
• Strong C/C++ on embedded Linux; experience with drivers, HALs, or systems software.
• Experience designing and tuning real-time control loops (torque, velocity, position).
• Experience bringing up EtherCAT master/slave stack for real-time motor control or I/O; familiarity with Acontis, TwinCAT, or equivalent.
• Experience with NVIDIA Jetson platforms (Jetson AGX/Orin) including CUDA integration and peripheral bring-up.
• Experience with camera interfaces (GMSL) and pipelines (V4L2/GStreamer).
• System debugging across hardware/software with serial consoles, logic analyzers, and Linux tools.
• Fluent Python & C++ workflows across development stack.

Responsibilities

• Lead software-side integration of new sensors, actuators, and compute hardware—from driver development to system-level commissioning.
• Design, implement, and tune real-time control loops for robot joints/actuators with focus on performance and safety.
• Build and maintain low-latency sensor pipelines (cameras, LiDAR, IMU, etc.).
• Develop low-level software on Jetson targets, ensuring hardware/software co-optimization.
• Implement and optimize EtherCAT communication stacks for real-time I/O integration; debug timing issues.
• Collaborate with AI/software infra teams to expose hardware capabilities to the robotics stack.
• Develop hardware-in-the-loop testing, sensor calibration, and field diagnostics tools.

Skills

C/C++ programming

Embedded Linux

Real-time control

Python programming

System debugging

Tools

NVIDIA Jetson

CUDA integration

V4L2 / GStreamer

EtherCAT master/slave

Device tree configuration

Job description

Walden Robotics in Cambridge, MA is seeking a software-focused robotics engineer to own the interface between hardware and the rest of the system, bringing up sensors, actuators, and compute into a cohesive platform.

You will develop drivers and data pipelines, implement real-time control loops, and optimize EtherCAT-based communications for robust field operation, including Jetson targets, CUDA integration, and sensor calibration in collaboration with AI teams.