Lead Robotics Engineer: Motion Planning

Summary

Headquartered in sunny Los Angeles, GrayMatter Robotics is a well-capitalized AI robotics startup serving the manufacturing industry.  We empower shop floor workers with our smart robots that assist with tedious and ergonomically challenging tasks, specifically in automated surface finishing. Our proprietary GMR-AI™ software is integrated with state-of-the-art industrial robots, sensors, and tools to create application-specific turnkey solutions for customers through a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model.

We help manufacturers improve the quality of life for their workforce while increasing production capacity, and reducing scrap, repair, and rework costs. As a Lead Robotics Engineer: Motion Planning, you will join our Robotics Software team onsite in our Carson, CA office to support internal teams and develop algorithms and architecture for production software by working with physical robots, sensors, and tools. The role will focus on the fundamentals of planning, learning, and control to solve practical problems.

Role & Responsibilities

• Develop new algorithms within manipulation and motion planning for robotic systems and help with configuration in the field

• Implement algorithms, systems, and architecture for high-DOF robotic systems working in a constrained environment

• Develop high-performance production-ready software packages and systems by enabling GPU programming and other hardware acceleration methods

• Stay up to date with new research and novel findings in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence and translate advancements into production-ready tools

• Test and evaluate current state-of-art algorithms and techniques of planning, learning, and control

• Maintain current knowledge of the product and related hardware to offer technical assistance to both internal and external teams, at our facilities and customer locations

• Effectively identify and resolve software issues through systematic debugging, ensuring optimal functionality of the system

• Allocate 50% of the time to assist the application team for POCs, FATs and deployments, complementing core software development responsibilities with support in application-related tasks and collaborations

• Travel to client locations as needed for on-site system-level debugging, ensuring the restoration and maintenance of optimal system functionality

• Other duties and projects

Export Control Requirements

In order to comply with the export regulations of the United States Government, it is required that the applicant must fall under one of the following categories: (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident (i.e. current green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science or similar engineering discipline

• 6+ years of demonstrated industry experience in developing, implementing, and testing algorithms for planning/learning/control

• Software development for complex function-based software that interacts with sensor inputs, control loops, and redundancy

• Proficiency in C++

• Experience deploying software systems in production environments

• Experience implementing motion planning algorithms for dexterous manipulators in constrained environments

• Strong intuition/understanding of motion planning and the underlying manifold

• Experience in optimization-based or sampling-based motion planning algorithms

• Architecture best practices; large-scale system design

• Proficiency in working with ROS2 and other open-source libraries relevant to robotics

• Ability to communicate and collaborate effectively across multiple teams

• Willingness to work in a fast-paced environment with quickly changing priorities

• Must meet export control requirements in the United States and maintain ongoing work authorization beginning at the time of hire through the entirety of employment.

Preferred Qualifications

• MS/PhD degree in Robotics, Computer Science or similar engineering discipline

• 7+ years experience in developing, implementing, and testing algorithms for planning/learning/control

• Experience in GPU programming and other hardware acceleration methods

• Experience in optimization-based or sampling-based motion planning algorithms

• Developed and delivered complete software products that meet rigorous functional and safety-critical requirements

• Experience developing software for complex function-based software that interacts with sensor inputs, control loops, and redundancy

GrayMatter Robotics provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage and embrace applicants of all backgrounds to apply!

GrayMatter Robotics is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you believe you require accommodations during the recruiting process, please contact [email protected] to submit your request.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Compensation for this position includes the base salary range of $150,000 - $190,000 USD plus equity. We also provide comprehensive benefits and perks which include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, unlimited PTO, 401(k) plan + employer match, regular offsite events, a discretionary fund for enhancing productivity and so much more! The range listed on job postings reflect the minimum and maximum new hire salary across levels in Los Angeles, CA.