Senior Robotic Software Engineer (Embedded Linux & Real-Time Systems)

Title: Senior Robotic Software Engineer

Duration: Full Time/Direct Hire

Compensation: Base Salary $170K - $200K + Competitive Equity

Location: Onsite at Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA

Visa Sponsorship: Sponsorship available with relocation support

Headcount: 1

Interview process: 4 rounds!

Why you should join

1. The client is building autonomous robots for the largest industrial project in human history — the AI data center buildout. They're partnered with the world's biggest AI infrastructure companies and deploying their first robots soon.
2. $17M seed round with top investors. True autonomy and decision-making power — every engineer owns their projects and has the resources to move fast.
3. Senior Software Engineer role owning the full data path from cameras to actuators. You'll work kernel-to-controls on real robots daily in SF — building the real-time middleware that keeps vision inference and motor commands on the same clock.

Deal breaker:

Work experience:

• Built high- performance software running on embedded Linux hardware (not servers)

Hard skills

• Strong Linux kernel knowledge and embedded systems experience

Miscellaneous:

• Must work on-site in San Francisco (Dogpatch) 5 days/week

Baseline:

Seniority:

• 3 - 7 years of experience in platform/embedded software engineering on hardware systems, using Rust, C, and Python

Work experience:

• Integrated multiple sensors (cameras, force sensors, network) and moved high- bandwidth data through real- time pipelines

Education:

• CS, EE, or ECE degree from a strong engineering program

Hard skills:

• Proficient in Rust and C/C++ for systems-level programming with timing guarantees

Soft skills:

• Hands- on builder — prefers implementing and debugging over architecting from a distance

Nice-to-have

• Experience with Nix and/or Bazel build infrastructure
• FRC (high school) or Formula SAE / college robotics team experience

Traits to avoid:

• Pure backend/cloud/server- side engineers with no hardware platform experience

Interested in relocating to United State? Check out our comprehensive Relocation Jobs in United State page with detailed relocation packages and benefits.

• Engineers who only worked on RTOS- based embedded (need full Linux experience)
• Architects who haven't shipped code on real hardware recently

About the role:

We are looking for a Senior Robotic Software Engineer with 3-5 years of experience to own the integration and data flow between sensors, ML models, and actuators on our autonomous robots building data centers. You'll work close to the hardware—from kernel and firmware up through perception and controls layers—shipping performance-critical code to real robots daily. This is a hands-on, generalist robotics software role at a 15-person team building the robot workforce for the largest industrial buildout in human history. We need someone who has cut their teeth running code on real hardware platforms, understands how to move high-bandwidth sensor data through embedded Linux systems at single-digit millisecond latency, and can integrate cameras, force sensors, and actuators into a deterministic middleware stack. You'll have true autonomy and decision-making power with the resources to back it up.

What will you be doing?

• Integrating camera systems, laser sensors, force sensors, and actuators into the core middleware system on embedded Linux platforms
• Owning the software side of precision insertion systems with sub-millimeter force-aware alignment
• Building and maintaining real-time data pipelines that move hundreds of megabytes across perception, planning, and control at single-digit millisecond latency
• Working across firmware, embedded Linux, and kernel layers to ensure deterministic behavior on hardware platforms
• Collaborating closely with electrical and mechanical teams on sensor integration and hardware bring-up, with significant robot testing involved

Tech stack:

Rust, C++, Python, Linux Kernel, Embedded Linux, Nix, Bazel, HIL Testing, CI/CD, ROS