Staff Software Engineer, Technical Lead

Job Description

Chef Robotics is accelerating the deployment of intelligent machines in the physical world, starting with food production—a sector facing the largest labor shortage in the U.S., with 1.14M unfilled jobs today and 3.1M projected by 2030. These roles cannot be offshored, making robotics essential to keeping production onshore and strengthening America’s manufacturing base. Backed by investors like Kleiner Perkins, Construct, Bloomberg Beta, and Promus Ventures, and supported by a world-class team from companies such as Cruise, Zoox, Google, Tesla, and Amazon Robotics, Chef is rapidly scaling with multiple multi-year contracts and a mission to put an intelligent robot in every commercial kitchen.

About the Role

We’re seeking a Staff Software Engineer to provide hands-on technical leadership for the core software platform that powers our production robotic systems. This role owns the on-robot software stack end to end, from Linux-based platform software and robotics middleware through fleet management, deployment, and cloud connectivity.

You'll work across software and data engineering, partnering closely with Autonomy, Hardware, Product, and Field Operations to deliver production-ready robotic systems for Tier 1 food production customers.Technical Architecture & Platform Leadership

Define and evolve the architecture for on-robot software, including OS configuration, hardware abstraction, middleware, and system services

Lead middleware architecture decisions for real-time robot control, sensor integration, and inter-process communication

Establish patterns for full-stack development, connecting on-robot systems to cloud services and web interfacesHands-On Engineering

Write production code for high-impact features across the stack: robotics middleware, backend services, and cloud infrastructure

Lead critical technical initiatives, including robotic platform software, cloud data pipelines, and fleet management platform

Build robust deployment, monitoring, and OTA update systems for production robot fleets

Debug the most challenging issues from kernel/driver level through the application layerEngineering Excellence & Mentorship

Establish engineering standards and processes that balance rigor with startup agility

Champion reliability, observability, and testing practices across embedded and cloud systems

Mentor engineers through code reviews, design discussions, and pairing sessions

Collaborate with Hardware and Autonomy teams on system integration and performance optimization

Build and maintain internal and developer tooling that acts as a force multiplier across the organizationRequired Qualification

8+ years of software engineering with 3+ years in technical leadership roles

Track record delivering production robotic systems, IoT devices, or autonomous systems at scale

Experience designing reliable systems for B2B/enterprise deployments

On-device platform expertise: OS configuration, device drivers, system services, networking stack configuration

Robotics middleware: ROS/ROS2, real-time systems, sensor integration

Infrastructure: Containerization (Docker/K8s), CI/CD pipelines, monitoring/observabilityNice to have

Collaborative robots (Universal Robots UR5E or similar cobots)

Over-the-air update systems and remote device management at scale

Background in manufacturing/production environments

Track record at high-growth hardware/robotics startups

Cloud experience: AWS/GCP/Azure

Full-stack development: Backend services (Python/C++), APIs, database design, web interfaces

Chef is an early-stage startup where equity is a major part of the compensation package. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

In addition to salary and early-stage equity, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, commuter benefits, flexible paid time off (PTO), catered lunch, and 401(k) matching.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Full-time