Senior Software Engineer

Recruiting From Scratch; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive equity

Visa sponsorship available

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Recruiting From Scratch is seeking a Senior Software Engineer in San Francisco to lead the design and development of autonomous robotic software. You will build backend services, real-time infrastructure, and control software that connect perception to robots in production environments.

The role involves ownership across software powering robotic platforms, collaboration with hardware teams, and delivering reliable, scalable systems for enterprise deployments.

Qualifications

• 4–10 years of professional software engineering experience with a focus on systems or backend development.
• Strong experience building production software in Rust or willingness to transition to Rust.
• Experience developing software for robotics, autonomous systems, embedded platforms, or hardware-integrated applications.
• Strong understanding of Linux, networking, concurrency, and real-time software systems.
• Experience building production services that interact with physical hardware.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain the core software systems powering autonomous robotic platforms.
• Develop high-performance backend services and real-time infrastructure using Rust.
• Build software for robotic control, teleoperation, fleet management, and hardware communication.
• Develop streaming pipelines and low-latency systems integrating perception, planning, and control.
• Collaborate with mechanical, firmware, and robotics engineers to solve cross-disciplinary challenges.

Skills

Rust

Systems programming

Robotics experience

Linux

Networking

Real-time systems

Education

Bachelor's in CS/Robotics

Master's degree in related field

Tools

ROS2

CAN

EtherCAT

UART

I2C

Job description

Senior Software Engineer

Location: San Francisco, CA

Company Stage of Funding: Seed Robotics Startup ($12.4M Raised)

Office Type: Onsite (5--6 Days Per Week)

Salary: $160,000--$250,000 Equity

Company Description

We're representing an early-stage robotics company building autonomous systems that perform complex physical tasks inside data centers. Rather than focusing on consumer robotics, the team is developing vertically integrated hardware and software that enables robots to automate highly dexterous work such as GPU replacement, precision cabling, hardware repairs, and other infrastructure maintenance.

Backed by leading venture investors and operating with a small, high-caliber engineering team, the company is building both the robotic platform and the software stack from the ground up. This role offers broad ownership across robotics software, real-time systems, fleet infrastructure, and hardware integration while working directly on robots deployed into production environments.

What You Will Do

• Design, build, and maintain the core software systems that power autonomous robotic platforms.
• Develop high-performance backend services and real-time infrastructure using Rust and modern systems programming techniques.
• Build software for robotic control, teleoperation, fleet management, and hardware communication.
• Develop streaming pipelines and low-latency systems that connect perception, planning, and robot control.
• Integrate sensors, cameras, robotic hardware, and firmware into reliable production software.
• Collaborate closely with mechanical, firmware, and robotics engineers to solve cross-disciplinary technical challenges.
• Improve reliability, observability, and performance across deployed robotic systems.
• Own projects from architecture through deployment with significant autonomy.
• Contribute to software hardening efforts that prepare robots for real-world customer deployments.
• Solve new technical challenges as they arise across robotics infrastructure, networking, embedded systems, and cloud services.

Ideal Candidate Background

• 4--10 years of professional software engineering experience with a focus on systems or backend development.
• Strong experience building production software in Rust, or deep expertise in another systems language with the willingness to transition to Rust.
• Experience developing software for robotics, autonomous systems, embedded platforms, or hardware-integrated applications.
• Strong understanding of Linux, networking, concurrency, and real-time software systems.
• Experience building production services that interact with physical hardware.
• Familiarity with robotics middleware, hardware communication protocols, or distributed robotic systems.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, or a related technical field.
• Strong problem-solving ability and comfort working across multiple technical domains.
• High ownership mindset with the ability to independently drive projects from concept through deployment.

Preferred

• Experience with ROS2, robotic manipulation, or teleoperation systems.
• Familiarity with robotic arms, inverse kinematics, motion planning, or robot control systems.
• Experience with hardware interfaces such as CAN, EtherCAT, UART, I2C, or similar protocols.
• Background building real-time streaming infrastructure or low-latency distributed systems.
• Experience at robotics, autonomous vehicle, aerospace, or hardware-focused startups.
• Passion for building production robotics systems that operate in real customer environments.
• Comfortable working in fast-paced startup environments with significant ownership.
• Interest in AI, robotics infrastructure, and autonomous industrial systems.

Compensation and Benefits and Other Things

• Base salary: $160,000--$250,000.
• Competitive equity package.
• Visa sponsorship and transfers available, including H-1B, OPT, and TN candidates.
• Relocation assistance available on a case-by-case basis.
• Five to six days onsite in San Francisco.
• Opportunity to join a small engineering team with direct ownership over software powering production robotic systems.
• Work closely with founders and help build autonomous robots designed for enterprise-scale deployment in modern data centers.

Salary Range: $160,000-$250,000 base.