Head of Software Engineering

ABOUT US:

Skip is on a mission to make life joyful through powered movement.

Movement is a powerful way to build physical, mental and social health. Yet it is elusive for 2 billion people due to age, injury, or disability. We are building products that will restore mobility for millions and enable a new frontier of joyful movement experiences. We want to build a future where a grandparent can easily outrun their grandkids and no one is left behind at the trailhead.

Skip is a 22-person early-stage start-up that spun out of Google X in 2023. With deep cross-disciplinary expertise and key partnerships (e.g. with Arc’teryx) we are uniquely positioned to launch the first commercially successful wearable robotic device, the MO/GO, develop a platform to launch future Movewear products and transform millions of lives in the coming years.

THE ROLE:

We are seeking a highly motivated and adaptable individual who will explore the peaks and valleys of all problems that may come up while building a new category of consumer product.

You will lead our small software team, and with a collaborative approach to our senior SWEs, you'll be responsible for our entire software stack as we build a new consumer robotics platform. You’ll be responsible for technical roadmapping, efficient execution and growing the team over time.

Some of the specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Design our nextgen system architecture, as we go from prototypes -> fleet of 10,000+ MO/GOs shipped to customers homes in the next 18 months

• Roadmap our software platform for the next 5 years, including support for multiple products and huge datasets.

• Personally contribute to critical path items; write high-quality code and tests for both on-device and cloud software components, ensuring high-quality and reliable performance

• Assist in integration of mobile Apps with backend services, databases, and APIs to facilitate data storage, retrieval, and analysis.

• Enable our AI controls engineers to expand our data pipeline, train and deploy individualized ML models for thousands of unique users

• Hire exceptional people.

• Mentor junior team members, role model high standards and encourage the team to be productive collaborators with each other, and emerging AI tools

• Contribute to the improvement of software development processes and practices. Engage in code reviews and knowledge sharing to promote a culture of continuous learning. Document development decisions and user workflows, maintaining clarity for future updates and scalability.

• Collaborate with electrical and firmware engineers to ensure that our actuators and sensors are reliably meeting performance targets

• Wear prototypes several hours a week to participate in data collection, test new models and provide feedback

• Bring joy to the team, participate in embarrassing team events, tolerate KZ’s terrible music choices

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years’ experience in professional software engineering

• 5+ years of experience with consumer hardware products.

• 5+ years of experience with embedded systems and firmware

• Excellent coding skills in C++, Python, Linux, and general debugging

• Experience with cloud infrastructure like GCP

• Experience with IoT and edge devices (BLE, wifi etc)

• Ability to relocate to work at the Skip Bay Area office

• Sense of humour, tolerant of Aussie & Canadian spelling

Bonus Points

• Experience with robotics or mechatronics

• Experience with machine learning / ML Ops

• Experience with cloud infrastructure like GCP

• Experience in start-up environments

• Personal motivation to improve human movement

• Taylor Swift fan. Good taste in background music :)

This is a full time hybrid position working at the Skip office in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco.

Skip is an equal opportunity employer. Our hiring decisions are based on need and competence to satisfy said need. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other legally protected status.

Any and all offers of employment extended by Skip are conditional on candidates’ ability to provide satisfactory proof of eligibility to maintain full-time employment in the United States.