Senior/Staff Robotics Controls Engineer

Title: Senior/Staff Robotics Controls Engineer

Duration: Full Time/Direct Hire

Location: On-site in San Francisco, CA

Comp range: Range between Base $170K - $300K + Equity + Benefits + Relocation assistance!

Visa Sponsorship: Open to visa transfers & sponsorships (OPT, H1B, TN)

Openings: 8

Interview Process: 3 rounds!

Why you should join

1. Building Physical AI for the real world — autonomous haul trucks in mining and autonomous vehicles in transport. Founded by Travis Kalanick after Uber, with $1.25B+ in funding from Microsoft and the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
2. This is an engineering-first culture where engineers make the key decisions — not ops or finance. You'll work on live production systems with 100+ autonomous trucks already hauling millions of tons in real mines.
3. Robotics Controls Engineer role based in San Francisco (5 days on-site). Comp ranges from $180K–$220K base for senior and up to $300K for staff — plus equity and benefits.

Hiring manager notes:

Must Have:

1. Hands- on experience with ROS, Linux, and MPC — dealbreaker if no ROS/Linux

Required:

1. 3 - 10 years of experience in robotics controls engineering, using Python, ROS, and Linux
2. Deployed localization, lateral/longitudinal control, or navigation on real autonomous vehicles
3. Strong Python and C++ for production control systems
4. State estimation experience (Kalman filters, EKF/UKF, sensor fusion)
5. Fast- paced, high- urgency execution style — ships in production, not just research
6. BS/MS/PhD in Robotics, Mechanical, Aerospace, or Electrical Engineering

Nice to Have:

1. Experience in autonomous mining (e. g. , Caterpillar, Komatsu, Hexagon, Freeport)
2. Experience in autonomous vehicles at companies like Aurora, Tesla, Uber, or Nuro
3. MS or PhD in a controls- related discipline

Red Flag:

• Purely academic/research background with no industry deployment experience

Role Overview

We are looking for a Robotics Controls Engineer with 3+ years of experience to design and tune the core control systems that enable 200+ ton autonomous haul trucks to operate safely in mining environments. You'll work on localization, path following, longitudinal and lateral control, and steering systems — solving uniquely challenging navigation and localization problems in remote, unstructured mining sites. This is a high-impact, engineering-first role, where engineers drive decisions and ship real production systems. We have 100+ autonomous trucks in live operation today, and you'll be instrumental in scaling that further. Candidates with mining autonomy experience (e.g., Hexagon, Caterpillar, Komatsu) are especially valued, though strong autonomous vehicle backgrounds are also welcome.

What will you be doing?

• Design, implement, and tune control algorithms (MPC, PID) for autonomous haul trucks operating across varying payloads and terrain grades
• Develop state estimation and localization pipelines that fuse GPS/RTK, IMU, and other sensor modalities — including handling GPS dropouts in remote mining sites
• Analyze system performance through field testing on real trucks and log replay, debugging control issues and identifying root causes
• Collaborate with perception, planning, and hardware teams to integrate control systems into production autonomous vehicles
• Travel periodically (up to 15%) to customer mining sites for deployment, testing, and tuning

Tech stack

Python, C++, ROS, Linux, MPC, NumPy, SciPy, NVIDIA Jetson, GPS/RTK, IMU, CAN Bus, Kalman Filters (EKF/UKF)