Robotics Software Engineer - Controls

We are partnering with Ghost Robotics and have announced the search for a Robotics Software Engineer (Controls)

Description

Ghost Robotics is a robotics company building autonomous systems that operate in complex, dynamic environments. Our perception stack enables our robots to understand, localize, and navigate the world in real time, and we place a strong emphasis on robustness, performance, and maintainable engineering.

We are seeking a Senior Controls Engineer to design, implement, and deploy cutting-edge control algorithms for dynamic legged robotic systems operating in complex real-world environments. You will work across dynamics, optimization, state estimation, and real-time software owning both algorithmic innovation and system-level performance on hardware.

This role is ideal for engineers who thrive on high-velocity problem solving, deep technical ownership, and hands-on testing and validation.

Responsibilities

· Design, implement, and validate advanced control architectures (e.g., model-based, optimization-based, learning-augmented controllers) for agility and robustness.

· Develop, maintain, and validate state estimation and sensor fusion pipelines (IMU, joint encoders, contact/force sensing).

· Lead gait generation, footstep planning, contact scheduling, and disturbance recovery tuning.

· Perform rigorous offline and real-time testing in simulation and hardware environments.

· Debug and analyze system performance using logs, visualization tools, hardware experiments, and fleet data.

· Build automated diagnostics, analysis scripts, and tools to improve robot reliability and field performance.

· Collaborate closely with mechanical, perception, embedded, and systems teams to ensure end-to-end performance and robustness.

· Write clean, maintainable, real-time-safe code in C++ and Python.

· Mentor junior engineers and contribute to long-term architectural decisions.