Senior Manager, Robotics Software Engineering

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Own the technical roadmap for DAG's robotic-software platform: defining architecture, interfaces, and milestones that allow rapid iteration of AI algorithms while guaranteeing deterministic, real-time performance.
• Lead & mentor a hybrid team. Inspire robotic system and software engineers; set clear goals, conduct code/design reviews, and nurture career growth.
• Build the core middleware. Extend and harden our ROS 2-based stack (simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, real-time control) so that new robots or sensors plug-in with minimal glue code.
• Integrate multimodal perception. Collaborate with the hardware team to streamline integration of high-bandwidth multimodal tactile data alongside vision and force feedback; provide ease of use interface and data schema for AI researchers.
• Productize research code. Introduce lightweight CI, automated testing, and performance monitoring that keep experiments reproducible without slowing innovation.
• Accelerate AI deployment. Partner with the AI Engineers to wrap RL agents, diffusion policies, or VLA-style controllers behind clean service layers, supporting on-device (Jetson/Orin) and remote compute.
• Champion cross-team collaboration. Translate mechanical and electrical constraints into software requirements; ensure that controls, perception, and learning modules co-evolve smoothly.
• Drive hiring, performance reviews, and career development to scale the team and maintain a high engineering bar.
• Stay updated with the latest advancements in robotics software and AI to continuously enhance the team's capabilities.

Requirements

• Master's degree in computer science, robotics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related field.
• 8+ years developing robotics or embedded systems, with 3+ years leading engineers on software projects.
• Strong C++ 14/17 and Python skills; fluency with modern build + package tools (CMake, Bazel, colcon).
• Expertise with robotic middleware platforms, especially ROS/ROS2.
• Experience with real-time operating systems (RTOS) and embedded systems is a plus.
• Familiarity with deploying AI/ML workloads on edge GPUs or distributed clusters; understand latency, bandwidth, and safety trade-offs.
• Experience with software development best practices, including version control systems like Git, testing, and continuous integration.
• Working knowledge of simulation tools (especially IsaacSim).
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to work collaboratively in an interdisciplinary team environment.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Proven ability to scope ambiguous research problems, prioritize for impact, and communicate technical vision to peers and leadership.
• Bonus: contributions to open-source robotics projects, publications in manipulation or robot-learning venues.

Nice to Have

• Contributions to open-source robotics projects, publications in manipulation or robot-learning venues.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in relevant engineering or computer science fields.
• 8+ years developing robotics or embedded systems.
• 3+ years leading engineers on software projects.

Benefits & Perks

• Discretionary performance-based bonus.
• Medical, vision and dental coverage.
• 401k plan.
• Paid vacation, holidays, and sick time.
• Other benefits.