Senior Robotics Engineer

Senior Robotics Engineer

Zurich, Switzerland | onsite | full-time

mimic is an early-stage deep tech robotics & AI start-up based in Zurich and supported by leading VCs. We give industry workers a helping hand for tedious manual labour tasks and mitigate labour shortages with a versatile automation platform. Our automation solutions, driven by dexterous robotic hands and cutting-edge AI trained on human observations, bring a new level of AI embodiment to the real world.

As a Senior Robotics Engineer, you will develop, deploy and test infrastructure for teleoperation and autonomous operation in the context of dexterous robotic manipulation, and closely work with our robotics and AI team to achieve safe and robust operation on site.

Responsibilities

• Own the middleware: Engineer low-latency, highly reliable middleware bridging from VLA/VAM AI models to the firmware layer. Ensure strict control loop timing, deterministic packet scheduling, and seamless translation of learned policies into physical action.
• Control Systems: Lead the design of the control algorithms that make our physical AI interact with the world. Design, implement and test middleware across multiple robot platforms.
• Safety, Certification & Tooling: Lead the charge on building a certified, reliable, and safe real-time control stack ready for client deployment at scale.

What you bring

• Strong Proficiency in C++, Rust, and/or Python, with 5+ years of real production experience building real-time robotics systems or complex control stacks.
• Deep Robotics Expertise: Thorough understanding of robot kinematics, dynamics, and modern control theory, combined with practical Linux systems programming (scheduling, RTOS principles, hardware interfaces).
• Systems Mindset: An ability to optimize the stack end-to-end. A mindset fiercely focused on determinism, physical safety, scalability, and hard real-time correctness.
• Deployed to production Track record of deploying highly reliable, physical robotic systems in commercial settings.
• Fluent English speaker.
• Master’s Degree or Ph.D. in Robotics, Mechatronics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.

Nice to have

• Deep familiarity with the quirks of multi-DOF manipulators and dexterous end-effectors.
• Experience in hard real-time distributed systems and industrial communication protocols (e.g., EtherCAT, CAN, ROS2).
• Experience in safety certification standards for robotic manipulators
• Experience interfacing directly with VLA/VAM models or deploying end-to-end learned policies onto physical hardware.

You will have the opportunity to shape a robotics & AI company from the ground up. In flat hierarchies, you will work directly with the founders and some of the best talents in the robotics space. At mimic, you are accepted for who you are. As part of our ongoing journey towards creating a diverse and inclusive environment, we encourage everyone to apply, and we are looking forward to you bringing along your knowledge, personal experiences, and fresh perspectives. Together, we can solve some of the greatest challenges in robotics.