Lead Software Engineer - Robotics

Job Description

Seeking an accomplished and forward-thinking engineer to take on a senior technical leadership role as Lead Robotics Software Engineer.

In this position, you will guide the architecture, development, and long-term evolution of the core robotics software platform that powers our clinical robotic systems. You will be responsible not only for designing high-performance, safety-critical software across kinematics, perception, sensor fusion, and controls — but also for driving the technical decisions, engineering practices, and cross-functional alignment that enable the entire robotics organization to deliver at a higher level.

This role is ideal for an engineer who thrives at the intersection of hands-on development and team leadership, and who has a track record of building real-world robotic products with exceptional performance and reliability.

What You’ll Do

Own the overall software architecture for robotics, setting the long-term technical direction of the full stack — including state estimation, planning, control frameworks, real-time infrastructure, and safety systems.

Lead multiple technical workstreams, ensuring that perception, planning, controls, and systems software integrate seamlessly into a unified, high-performance platform.

Solve complex, system-level challenges, such as timing budgets, throughput requirements, deterministic real-time execution, and robust error handling across distributed components.

Establish engineering standards and design patterns that elevate code quality, maintainability, and long-term scalability.

Drive technical reviews and architectural decision-making, guiding the team through trade-offs involving latency, reliability, computational footprint, and deployment constraints.

Mentor and develop robotics software engineers, providing hands-on coaching in areas such as ROS2 best practices, real-time C++, perception/control integration, and performance optimization.

Partner with hardware, systems, and clinical engineering to define system behavior, safety envelopes, and the requirements for mission-critical features.

Lead validation of robotic behaviors in the lab and clinical-like environments, ensuring safe operation in proximity to patients and clinicians.

Enable Scalable architecture design across multiple robotic platforms and Formalize the software development practices, documentation, and peer-review processes

Advance the team’s capabilities in algorithmic sophistication, including multi-sensor fusion, motion generation, collision avoidance, and modeling — raising the bar on technical excellence.

Stay ahead of emerging technologies (e.g., improved middleware, optimized control frameworks, new sensor stacks), making informed recommendations about where to adopt and where to innovate internally.

Represent the robotics software organization in cross-functional leadership discussions, helping set priorities and drive clarity between engineering, product, and operational needs.

About You

Degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

7+ years building and delivering production robotics systems, including real-world deployment, clinical/industrial environments, or complex research-to-product transitions.

Demonstrated experience leading architecture, design, and integration for multi-component robotic systems.

Strong depth in one or more core areas: whole-body control, model-predictive control, multi-sensor fusion, motion planning, mapping, or collision modeling.

Expert-level C++ skills with strong Python capability.

Deep experience building and deploying robotics systems in ROS2, including DDS configuration, lifecycle management, real-time execution, and system bring-up.

Proven ability to guide teams through ambiguity, resolve technical disagreements, and drive toward solutions that balance performance, safety, and delivery.

Clear and confident communicator capable of presenting complex technical concepts to executives, clinicians, and cross-functional partners.

Motivated by building technology that improves human outcomes, contributes to clinician workflow, and delivers precision and safety at every level.

Authorized to work in the United States indefinitely.

Bonus Points

Experience delivering robotics systems in medical, manufacturing, or other semi-structured domains, ideally robotic arm applications

Familiarity with Medical compliance and/or medical device product development

Prior leadership in building and maintaining safety-critical or real-time software systems.

History of refactoring or evolving legacy systems into cleaner, more scalable architectures

Familiarity with functional safety practices and certification.

Experience building test frameworks for robotics software, including simulation-based validation, HIL/SIL testing, or CI pipelines.

Benefits

Equity: Company stock options.

Insurance Coverage: medical, dental, and vision insurance available

Unlimited PTO and a full winter shutdown

Relocation Assistance: Relocation assistance is available to move you near facility in the Columbus, OH area

Full-time