Robotics Software Engineer, Autonomy Integration

Join Contoro Robotics - Revolutionizing Warehouse Automation with Cutting-Edge Robotics

At Contoro Robotics, we're on a mission to solve labor challenges through advanced robotic solutions. Headquartered in Austin, TX, our fast-growing startup is transforming the supply chain industry with our flagship warehouse automation technology. Our team is made up of top-tier experts in robotics, AI, and logistics, working together to push the boundaries of automation.

We’re looking for talented and ambitious individuals to join us on this journey-helping shape the future of robotics while growing alongside a world-class team. If you're passionate about innovation, problem-solving, and making a real-world impact, we want to hear from you!

About Contoro

Contoro Robotics is an Austin-based startup focused on warehouse automation. We design and deploy autonomous truck-unloading robots that handle heavy and highly variable payloads in real customer environments.

The Role

We are hiring a robotics software engineer to improve how our autonomous robots execute motion and coordinate work across planning, robot control, end effectors, sensors, and material-handling equipment. You will develop production software that connects high-level autonomy decisions to reliable physical execution, with a focus on reducing cycle time, eliminating unnecessary delays, and improving recovery from real-world failures.

This role is well suited for an engineer who enjoys working across software and hardware boundaries, diagnosing system-level problems, and turning performance data into practical improvements on deployed robots.

Responsibilities

• Develop and improve software for robot trajectory execution, task sequencing, and hardware coordination

• Profile robot cycles and reduce delays across motion planning, trajectory execution, end-effector operation, sensing, and conveyor interaction

• Build and maintain reusable, validated robot motions for common operating scenarios and integrate them with online planning

• Extend behavior trees or state machines for autonomous task execution, event-driven coordination, fault handling, and recovery

• Integrate motion-planning outputs with industrial robot controllers, hardware interfaces, and safety constraints

• Diagnose production issues using logs, telemetry, simulation, and testing on physical robots

• Add instrumentation, automated tests, regression tests, and hardware validation for execution and autonomy software

• Collaborate with perception, motion planning, controls, hardware, test, and deployment engineers on cross-system improvements

• Participate in design reviews and contribute to system architecture and technical planning

Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience

• 3+ years of professional experience developing software for deployed robotic or automation systems

• Proficiency in modern C++ and Python in a production environment

• Experience developing with ROS or ROS 2 on Linux

• Hands-on experience integrating software with physical robots, actuators, sensors, or industrial automation equipment

• Working knowledge of robot kinematics, motion planning, trajectory execution, and controller interfaces

• Experience with behavior trees, state machines, or similar task-orchestration frameworks

• Strong debugging skills across software, communications, controls, and hardware interfaces

• Ability to design, test, and deliver reliable software across subsystem boundaries

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with industrial manipulators such as KUKA, ABB, FANUC, Universal Robots, or similar platforms

• Experience with MoveIt, Pilz, OMPL, Ruckig, ros2_control, or comparable robotics frameworks

• Experience profiling and improving robot cycle time, throughput, latency, or trajectory execution

• Familiarity with robot communication and industrial protocols such as EtherCAT, CAN, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, or OPC UA

• Experience with behavior-tree design, event-driven automation, or production recovery logic

• Experience building simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, or automated regression-testing systems

• Familiarity with Docker-based deployment and cloud-based logging or monitoring

• Prior work in warehouse automation, manufacturing, logistics, material handling, or robotic pick-and-place applications