Software Engineer, Systems

Kovari; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

On-site in San Francisco

Equipment budget

Job summary

Kovari in San Francisco seeks a software engineer to own the robot software stack, from onboard runtime to fleet updates and diagnostics.

You will ship robust real-time software across edge devices, iterating in the field with sensors, controllers, and compute. Strong C++/Rust and Python, plus ROS 2, are essential for success in this role.

Join a hands-on, in-person team building frontier robotics software and delivering reliable autonomous capabilities.

Qualifications

• Experience with real-time or embedded Linux systems.
• Strong programming background in C++/Rust and Python.
• Experience with ROS 2 or similar robotics middleware.
• Familiarity with CAN, EtherCAT, Ethernet, and USB communications.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the onboard runtime, middleware, and real-time control loops.
• Write drivers and integrations for sensors, motor controllers, and compute.
• Own Linux, networking, and security on robots and edge devices.
• Build OTA updates, logging, monitoring, and remote diagnostics for the fleet.
• Profile and optimize latency, throughput, and resource use on edge hardware.
• Debug failures on deployed robots and harden the stack against them.

Skills

C++

Rust

Python

Real-time systems

Embedded Linux

Networking

Tools

ROS 2

CAN

EtherCAT

Ethernet

USB

Containers

Job description

About Kovari

Kovari develops frontier technology to transform physical businesses. We partner with established operators to change how they run, and we build and operate businesses of our own through our subsidiaries.

We are a small team of builders, operators, and researchers. We deploy on site, alongside the businesses we serve, and iterate in the field. We have raised over $6M from leading investors.

We are based in San Francisco and work in person.

The Role

You will own the software foundation our robots run on, from the onboard runtime and drivers to networking, updates, and fleet reliability. When a robot is in the field, your code keeps it alive, fast, and recoverable.

What You’ll Do

• Build and maintain the onboard runtime, middleware, and real-time control loops
• Write drivers and integrations for sensors, motor controllers, and compute
• Own Linux, networking, and security on robots and edge devices
• Build OTA updates, logging, monitoring, and remote diagnostics for the fleet
• Profile and optimize latency, throughput, and resource use on edge hardware
• Debug failures on deployed robots and harden the stack against them

What You Bring

• Strong C++ or Rust, plus Python
• Experience with real-time or embedded Linux systems
• Familiarity with ROS 2 or similar robotics middleware
• Experience with comms buses and protocols (CAN, EtherCAT, Ethernet, USB)
• Comfort with networking, containers, and fleet deployment tooling
• Bonus: robotics, autonomous vehicles, or drones in production
• Bias toward action: ship fast, test on hardware, fix what breaks

Values

• Pace of learning trumps everything.
• Relentless refinement of our craft.
• Low ego, high ownership.
• All‑in on the mission. We work in person, and this isn’t a 9‑to‑5.