Senior / Staff Engineer, Robotics

BrightAI is a high-growth company at the forefront of AI, IoT, Cloud, and Mobile technologies. We are dedicated to revolutionizing industries and transforming the way businesses operate. Our team is composed of the best and brightest minds, many of whom have played key roles in leading companies such as Microsoft, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings, and Samsung. As we continue to expand, we are seeking innovative individuals to join us on this exciting journey.

We are looking for a Staff Engineer to help guide our product development efforts and steer cross-functional engineering teams in a fast-paced, innovation-driven environment. As a Robotics Technical Lead Engineer at BrightAI, you will be responsible for driving architecture, leading engineering execution, and mentoring top-tier talent to deliver world-class robotics/AI platforms. Your technical expertise and leadership will shape the future of our products-with a focus on cutting-edge autonomous robotics solutions.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end technical architecture of the robotic system, ensuring seamless integration between hardware (sensors, actuators) and software (ROS/ROS2, perception, navigation, control).
• Partner with Product Managers and Engineering management to define the technical roadmap, breaking down complex product requirements into executable engineering milestones.
• Enforce high standards for code quality, safety-critical systems, and architectural integrity through rigorous design and code reviews.
• Lead the evaluation of new technologies, sensors (LiDAR, cameras, IMUs), and algorithms to keep the company at the forefront of the robotics industry.
• Lead the design and development of edge-based systems, from initial concept through production
• Collaborate closely with the product team to drive technical development
• Must have an excellent demeanor engaging customers.  Provide a pleasant working experience externally and internally to the organization.  This position is customer facing.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across hardware, software, AI, and product teams to bring reliable, autonomous robotics to market
• Be capable of translating business/product requirements into technical requirements.  Understand and adjust product requirements to align with best technical practices.
• Drive the internal development and report technical status internally and externally.
• Guide the integration of embedded software with custom hardware, ensuring stable and scalable solutions
• Drive the overall technical roadmap, ensuring alignment across software, firmware, hardware, and cloud integration
• Provide technical leadership to cross-functional teams and mentor engineers in embedded systems design and debugging
• Work closely with electrical and hardware engineers to ensure seamless hardware-software integration and platform bring-up
• Strong background in kinematics, sensing, and motion control.
• Stay hands-on with code and systems-level debugging when needed, especially during early bring-up and troubleshooting phases
• Establish and maintain documentation, development processes, and tools to support embedded platform stability and scalability
• Contribute to hiring and team growth through mentoring, technical interviews, and strategic planning

Skills and Expertise

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• 6+ years of experience developing robotics systems, with at least 2 years in a leadership role
• Experience in Embedded Linux development
• Expert-level knowledge of ROS / ROS2 and simulation environments
• Significant understanding of the following areas:
• Perception & Computer Vision (OpenCV, PCL, Object Detection, Segmentation).
• Localization & Mapping (SLAM, Kalman Filters, state estimation).
• Navigation & Motion Planning (A*, Dijkstra, MPC, trajectory optimization).
• Controls & Kinematics (PID, forward/inverse kinematics).
• Command of C/C++, with working knowledge of Python, Bash, or other scripting languages
• Understanding of embedded system constraints and optimization techniques for performance and memory
• Comfortable with Git, CI/CD pipelines, and collaborative development workflows
• Experience working with cross-functional teams across hardware, software, and systems engineering
• Excellent communication, documentation, and team leadership skills

Bonus

• Experience integrating AI/ML workloads on embedded Linux platforms
• Knowledge of real-time operating systems (RTOS) and hybrid RTOS/Linux environments
• Experience with secure provisioning and OTA updates for Linux-based devices
• Familiarity with containerized workloads on embedded Linux (e.g., Docker, Balena)
• Exposure to cloud connectivity for edge devices (AWS IoT, Azure IoT, MQTT, etc.)