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Senior / Staff Engineer, Robotics

Brightai — AI · Artificial Intelligence (AI) · Automation/Workflow Software

Palo Alto, California Senior+ Posted Jun 2, 2026
PythonC++React NativeCloudML

About the role

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.)

What the index says about this role

  • First seen by JobLarper — Aug 2, 2026, 5 days ago. Older postings collect hundreds of applicants — a tailored résumé matters more the longer a role has been live.
  • No pay range in our index for this listing. Across 1,685 indexed Software Engineer roles in US that do publish one, the middle half sits between $185k and $285k, median $225k — JobLarper's read of the market, not a figure from Brightai.
  • What Software Engineer roles ask for — across 10,230 indexed openings: REST/APIs (46%), Backend (42%), Cloud (38%), Python (38%), Go (25%). This posting names Cloud, Python, ML.

Derived from the 27,000 roles JobLarper indexes daily from official company boards — not from the job description above.

⚡ JobLarper watched this role appear on Brightai's official board on Jun 2, 2026. Sign up free to get alerted minutes after roles like this go live, and tailor your real résumé to the exact description — nothing invented.

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