Robotics Integration Engineer
Hands-on builder role at a camera-based robotics perception startup: physically integrate the perception stack onto test vehicles and aircraft — enclosures, mounts, cable harnesses, power distribution, and drive-by-wire — then document and maintain the fleet. Centers on parametric CAD, 3D printing/machining, and electrical integration.
- Compensation
- $135K–$175K / yr
- Location
- HQ - Redwood City
- Work setup
- Onsite
- Seniority
- C level
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 5+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Mechanical design of enclosures, brackets, sensor mounts, camera bars, and vehicle/airframe interfaces in parametric CAD
- Build what you design: run 3D printers, machine and finish prototypes, manage outside vendors
- Design, build, and document cable harnesses end to end (pinouts, connector selection, as-builts, spares)
- Integrate electrical components: power distribution, DC-DC conversion, fusing, grounding, batteries, load budgets
- Install, wire, and maintain drive-by-wire systems including CAN wiring, actuators, E-stops and safety interlocks
- Integrate and bench-characterize motors, speed controllers, servos, and gimbals
- Take builds from parts to documented, verified platforms; support field test campaigns and client demos
- Own procurement and vendor management for fasteners, stock, sheet metal, machining, connectors
- On-site 4-5 days/week in Redwood City, CA, with regular time at the Petaluma vehicle site
- Travel roughly 10-20%, primarily domestic field testing at ranges and test sites
- Able to lift and carry equipment up to 50 lbs and do regular on-site physical work
- Willing to work in field conditions (outdoors, dust, heat) with occasional weekend or early-morning work
- U.S. person as defined under ITAR (citizen, lawful permanent resident, asylee, or refugee) or qualifies for a license exception
Full description
Company Overview
Compound Eye teaches machines to understand their surroundings in 3D and in real time using only passive sensors like cameras. Our VIDAS™ technology enables vehicles, drones, and other robots to determine their position and navigate their environment without LiDAR, radar, or GPS. Compound Eye has customers in both defense and commercial robotics and is backed by Khosla Ventures, RTX Ventures, and other leading investors.
The Role
We're hiring a Robotics Integration Engineer to report directly to our VP of Engineering.
We build the perception stack that lets vehicles and aircraft understand where they are and what's around them using cameras. To prove it, that stack has to leave the lab and live on real machines: a Polaris RZR running drive-by-wire on a test range, a Group II VTOL aircraft, compact heavy machinery, a trunk-mounted compute rack, a camera bar bolted to a roof at highway speed. Someone has to make those physical systems actually exist, survive, and be rebuildable by the next person.
You'll partner with our Field Robotics Engineer to execute the mechanical and physical integration of our test platforms and products: enclosures, mounts, cable harnesses, power distribution, drive-by-wire installation, actuation, and the bring-up that turns a pile of well-chosen components into a machine that works in the dirt at 6am.
This is deliberately a builder's role. You are the person who takes an Orin carrier board, a set of GMSL2 cameras, a DC-DC converter, a DbW kit, and a target vehicle, and turns them into an integrated, serviceable, documented system with a real enclosure and a harness that doesn't chafe through in three months.
We're looking for a natural maker. You probably have a 3D printer at home and opinions about it. You can walk up to a manual mill and take a cut without supervision. You've ordered parts from SendCutSend, and you designed those parts knowing how they'd be cut. When something physical is broken or missing, your instinct is to go build it.
Our current fleet was built quickly and under deadline pressure, which means much of it is one-off, undocumented, and more fragile than it should be. The first year of this job is turning that into hardware we can reproduce, service, and hand to a field engineer with confidence.
Key Responsibilities
- Own mechanical design of enclosures, brackets, sensor mounts, camera bars, and vehicle/airframe interfaces in parametric CAD, designed for how parts actually get made.
- Build what you design: run our printers, machine and finish your own prototypes, and manage outside vendors for the rest.
- Design, build, and document cable harnesses end to end, from pinouts and connector selection through as-builts and spares.