(Senior) Robotics Software Engineer (m/f/d)

About Us

STARK is a defense technology company revolutionizing the way autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. We design, develop and manufacture high-performance unmanned vehicles that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost effective - giving NATO and its allies a decisive edge in the most contested environments.

We’re focused on delivering deployable, high-performance systems-not future promises. In a time of rising threats, STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe-today.

About the team

Minerva is STARK's command and control software - the brain that connects operators to autonomous systems across multiple domains in real time. The Minerva team is a small, senior software group based in Berlin and Munich, working directly with our systems and hardware teams to build mission-critical C2 capabilities deployed in active operational environments.

We move fast, ship real software, and operate under constraints most engineers never encounter - low-bandwidth networks, air-gapped devices, high-stakes decision loops. There is no room for abstraction for its own sake. Everything we build ends up in the hands of real operators in the field.

Your mission

As a Robotics Engineer with a focus on embedded perception systems, you will play a critical role in enabling real-time autonomy onboard next-generation UAV platforms. You will work directly with camera data pipelines, ROS2-based systems, and embedded compute platforms to build robust, efficient, and scalable perception functionality.

You will contribute as a highly skilled individual contributor-hands-on with the system-bridging diverse codebases and enabling data flows across native ROS2 nodes, legacy frameworks, and containerized third-party modules. Your work will be essential to ensuring that our autonomous systems operate reliably in real-world, resource-constrained environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop and integrate real-time perception pipelines on embedded platforms such as the Jetson Nano NX.

• Migrate legacy monolithic systems to ROS2, refactoring and modularizing components for better scalability and maintainability.

• Enable and optimize image data access across native and containerized components (e.g., Dockerized ROS2 processes).

• Design and implement low-level camera and sensor drivers for real-time vision acquisition.

• Collaborate with AI, controls, and hardware teams to ensure tight integration between perception and other onboard subsystems.

• Profile and debug system performance under embedded constraints (compute, thermal, bandwidth), ensuring stability and robustness in field deployments.

• Contribute to system-level architecture discussions with a focus on communication reliability and modularity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field.

• Strong experience with ROS2, including real-world deployment and integration of perception modules.

• Proficient in Python and C++ for embedded and robotics development.

• Solid background in robotics, autonomous systems, embedded development, or aerospace applications.

• Familiarity with embedded Linux platforms, particularly NVIDIA Jetson devices.

• Experience integrating containerized processes (e.g., Docker) into onboard robotic systems.

• Ability to navigate and coordinate between different frameworks (ROS2, legacy/custom codebases, third-party modules).

• Strong problem-solving and debugging skills, especially in real-time or resource-constrained environments.

• Effective communicator and team player in multidisciplinary engineering teams.

• Self-driven, organized, and adaptable to fast-paced development cycles.

• Willingness to travel occasionally for field testing and deployment.