Staff Engineer, Applied ML for Robotics Motion Planning

Picklerobot; Lake Charles (LA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Unlimited vacation

Paid federal and state holidays

401(k) contributions of 5%

Company-covered travel expenses

Job summary

Pickle Robot Company is seeking a Software Engineer for its Task & Motion Planning team. You will design and implement planning systems that decide what boxes to pick, how to grasp, and how to move safely in cluttered trailers, shipping production C++ and Python components.

You’ll work closely with robotics experts to translate prototypes into robust, scalable software that runs on real robots daily. The role emphasizes strong software fundamentals, proof of correctness, performance

Qualifications

• 2–4 years of production software experience in C++ (C++17+) with Python proficiency.
• Strong fundamentals in software design, data structures, algorithms, and performance optimization.
• Experience owning components end-to-end: design, testing, deployment, and support.
• Interest in motion planning, grasping, and real-time robotics concepts.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain production C++ and Python components of our planning stack, including motion planning, grasp selection, collision checking, and task sequencing.
• Take algorithms, your own and your teammates', from prototype to deployment, owning the architecture, performance, and robustness of the implementation.
• Profile and optimize performance-critical code so planners meet real-time cycle-time targets on robot hardware.
• Build the testing, simulation, and benchmarking infrastructure that lets the team change planning code with confidence.
• Improve the reliability of the planning stack in the field by debugging failures from production logs, building tooling for triage, and fixing root causes.
• Help raise the bar for code quality through design reviews, code reviews, and good engineering practices.

Skills

C++

Python

Software design

Performance optimization

Robotics basics

Education

Bachelor's in CS/CE

Tools

OMPL

Drake

FCL

Pinocchio

Job description

Pickle Robot Company is seeking a Software Engineer for its Task & Motion Planning team. You will design and implement planning systems that decide what boxes to pick, how to grasp, and how to move safely in cluttered trailers, shipping production C++ and Python components.

You’ll work closely with robotics experts to translate prototypes into robust, scalable software that runs on real robots daily. The role emphasizes strong software fundamentals, proof of correctness, performance