Founding Robotics Engineer - Cosmic Robotics : Job Details

Founding Engineer - Robotics

Location: San Francisco, CA (full time, in-person)

Company Overview

We are tackling one of the most critical challenges of our time: building infrastructure faster, safer, and more efficiently to meet the demands of humanity on Earth – and beyond.

Our mission is to accelerate the construction of critical infrastructure on Earth while pioneering technologies to enable humanity to build more ambitiously than ever. Starting with Cosmic-1 – a system that installs solar panels 10x faster than today's methods, helping us transition to a clean energy future and laying the groundwork for the future of autonomous construction.

The Role

As a Founding Engineer, you will own a critical Cosmic-1 subsystem and lead development from concept to deployment. As a core member of the team, you will help define the era of autonomous construction.

This is an opportunity to:

• Work on hard, meaningful problems that impact the future of infrastructure and energy.
• Collaborate with a world-class team from NASA, SpaceX, Autodesk, Google X, Built Robotics, and others.
• Rapidly learn, grow, and lead within a quickly scaling company.

Responsibilities

• Own the development of a Cosmic-1 subsystem such as:

- Vehicle: Navigation, localization, SLAM, controls

- Perception: Pose estimation, obstacle detection

- Systems: Distributed systems, infrastructure, optimization, safety

• Design, build, test, and deploy robotics behaviors in our facility and customer sites in the field
• Work closely with hardware to develop robust, integrated solutions
• Set milestones, plan roadmaps, and deliver on ambitious timelines
• Recruit, mentor, and build a world-class engineering organization

Requirements

• 3+ years of professional engineering experience
• Proficiency in C++, Python, Linux development
• Strong fundamentals in software architecture, planning, and execution
• Excellent communication and project management skills
• Thrive in fast-paced environments and push boundaries to meet deadlines

Bonus

• Advanced degree in robotics or a related field
• 5+ years of professional engineering experience in robotics
• Experience developing with ROS 2 and associated packages (Nav2, MoveIt)
• Experience in robotics simulation packages (e.g., Gazebo, Isaac Sim)