Staff Robotics Software Engineer

SR2 | Socially Responsible Recruitment | Certified B Corporation™; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Hands-on hardware

Job summary

SR2 | Socially Responsible Recruitment | Certified B Corporation™ seeks a Staff Robotics Software Engineer focused on autonomy for defense applications. You will own the autonomy software stack for uncrewed systems, from perception to planning and control, and work on real hardware in a hybrid onsite environment in Austin.

You will lead architecture decisions, collaborate with hardware, firmware and ML engineers, and mentor peers as the team scales toward field deployment.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building robotics or autonomy software on real hardware.
• Proficient in C++ (Python a plus) and Linux.
• Experience with ROS/ROS 2 or equivalent middleware.
• Demonstrated technical leadership and architecture ownership.
• U.S. citizenship required for security clearance eligibility.

Responsibilities

• Designing and owning core autonomy software: perception, state estimation, planning and control.
• Taking systems from prototype to fielded hardware, including testing on real platforms.
• Setting technical direction and raising the bar for robotics software quality.
• Collaborating with hardware, firmware and ML engineers, and sometimes end users.

Skills

Robotics software

C++

Linux

ROS 2

Perception

SLAM

Motion planning

Controls

Leadership

US citizenship

Tools

ROS 2 middleware

Middleware

Job description

Staff Robotics Software Engineer | Autonomy | Defense

Location / Onsite or Hybrid | $200K - $350K base + equity

You'll own the autonomy software stack for uncrewed systems that have to work in the real world, not just in simulation. GPS-denied, comms-degraded, no second chances.

We're a venture-backed defense technology company with systems already in the field. The engineering team is small and senior, and this hire will shape the architecture that the next 50 engineers build on.

What you'll work on

• Designing and owning core autonomy software: perception, state estimation, planning and control
• Taking systems from prototype to fielded hardware, including testing on real platforms
• Setting technical direction and raising the bar for how the team writes, tests and ships robotics software
• Working directly with hardware, firmware and ML engineers, and occasionally with end users

What we’re looking for

• 8+ years building robotics or autonomy software, with systems that have run on real hardware
• Strong modern C++ (Python a plus), Linux, and ROS/ROS 2 or equivalent middleware
• Deep expertise in at least one of: perception, localization/SLAM, motion planning, or controls
• A track record of technical leadership: you’ve owned architecture decisions and made other engineers better
• US citizenship (required for security clearance eligibility)

Nice to have

• Active or previous security clearance
• Experience with aerial, maritime or ground uncrewed systems
• Sim-to-real, HIL testing or safety-critical software experience

Why this role

• Real ownership: your decisions will ship, not sit in a slide deck
• Meaningful equity at an early stage
• Hardware you can actually touch and test