Software Engineer

black.ai; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

black.ai is looking for a strong generalist software engineer in San Francisco to enhance their next version of a surgical robot. You will build core control software and improve system-level integration, collaborating with teams to deliver end-to-end features.

The ideal candidate will have over 5 years of experience, strong C++ and Python skills, and a background in robotics or medical devices. The position offers a hybrid work model.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building non-trivial production software, ideally in a system-level context.
• Strong C++ and Python coding skills.
• Comfortable with concurrency, real-time constraints, IPC.

Responsibilities

• Build and improve core robot control software in C++.
• Own system-level orchestration code in Python.
• Collaborate closely with ML, hardware, and clinical teams.

Skills

Strong C++

Python

Systems thinking

Strong communication

Pragmatic instincts

Education

BS or MS in computer science, robotics, or related field

Tools

ROS2

gRPC/protobuf

Linux

Job description

Location

San Francisco

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

Engineering

About Remedy Robotics

Cardiovascular disease is the #1 cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Much of this could be prevented with better access to specialist care. Take stroke as an example: any delay in treatment can lead to permanent disability or death. However, due to a lack of specialist surgeons, the most effective intervention can only be performed in 2% of US hospitals. For patients who present to one of the 98% of hospitals that do not offer the surgery, treatment is either significantly delayed or not offered at all because timely transfer is not feasible.

Our mission is to bring state-of-the‑art vascular intervention to anyone, anytime, regardless of their location. Our team of medical clinicians, roboticists, and machine learning experts are working to bridge this gap by building the world’s first remotely‑operated, semi‑autonomous endovascular surgical robot.

We’ve already done what nobody else could—using our system, doctors from around the world were able to remotely perform this procedure from as far as 8000 miles away. We now need your help to bring this technology out of the laboratory and into hospitals everywhere.

The Role

We’re looking for a strong generalist software engineer to help us ship the next version of our surgical robot. You’ll work across our software stack — robot control, system‑level orchestration, user‑facing tools — and pick up whatever needs picking up. This role suits someone who has more interest in building a working product than in specializing in one layer of the stack.

You Will

• Build and improve core robot control software in C++
• Own system‑level orchestration code in Python that ties our subsystems together
• Improve our simulation and test infrastructure
• Move across the stack as needed — whatever is currently the bottleneck
• Collaborate closely with ML, hardware, and clinical teams to ship end‑to‑end features
• Help define and harden the software architecture as we move toward IDE submission and clinical trial

You Have

• 5+ years building non‑trivial production software, ideally in a system‑level context (robotics, embedded, medical devices, scientific instruments, autonomy)
• Strong C++ and Python
• Advanced fluency with coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, or equivalents) — you use them as a daily force multiplier and have strong opinions on how to get good output from them
• Systems thinking — comfortable with concurrency, real‑time constraints, IPC, and the tradeoffs that come with them
• Pragmatic instincts about when to optimize, when to ship, and when to rewrite
• Strong communication — you write clear code, clear PR descriptions, and clear design docs
• Comfort working in a small team where the lines between domains are blurry
• BS or MS in computer science, robotics, or related field

Nice to Haves

• Experience with robotics middleware (ROS2, custom IPC, gRPC/protobuf)
• Real‑time Linux experience
• Motion control or control theory exposure
• TypeScript and frontend work — enough to be powerful when needed
• Linux driver or kernel‑adjacent experience
• Medical device or other regulated software experience (IEC 62304, safety‑critical patterns)
• Simulation infrastructure (MuJoCo, Gazebo, custom)