Senior Software Engineer, Factory Operating System
Industry: Robotics
Location: San Francisco (5 days onsite)
Comp: $180K–$240K base + generous early‑stage equity
Updated, 4/1/26:
Prioritize candidates with clear, hands-on production experience building large-scale visual/perception data pipelines (video, sensor, LiDAR) rather than those focused only on AI/ML research or infra improvements.
- We need senior IC profiles who have driven 0→1 system builds and technical architecture without a purely director/managerial focus.
- Must have direct robotics exposure in candidates’ backgrounds—experience in hybrid cloud/on-prem infrastructure for robotics is a must, not just generic backend systems.
Role Snapshot
Founding‑level, hands‑on software IC responsible for backend and data infrastructure powering a factory operating system. You’ll architect and build the systems connecting robotic manufacturing cells, visual/perception data pipelines, and hybrid cloud + on‑prem compute.
This is not an ML research role and not pure infrastructure — it’s production systems for robotics.
What You’ll Own
- Backend services for planning, scheduling, telemetry, and data capture
- Large‑scale visual/perception pipelines (video, camera, LiDAR, sensor data)
- Hybrid architecture (embedded/on‑prem compute + cloud); factory ↔ cloud data flows
- 0→1 system design, technical architecture, and production delivery
- Technical Engineering; close collaboration with robotics & manufacturing
Must‑Have Experience (Non‑Negotiable)
- Production systems, not research only
- Built and shipped large‑scale visual/perception data pipelines (video / sensor / LiDAR)
- Distributed backend systems at TB–PB scale
- Strong Python and C++ in production
- Hybrid cloud + on‑prem infrastructure
- Infra as Code (Terraform), containers/orchestration
- 0→1 ownership or major architectural ownership as a Senior IC / Tech Engineer
- Direct robotics exposure (factory, AV, robotics, or hardware‑adjacent systems)
Tech Stack
Python, C++, AWS or Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes/containers, Terraform, microservices
Strong Signals
- Robotics, AV, manufacturing systems, CV or perception infra background
- Has designed systems from scratch and shipped to production
- Thrives in early‑stage, fast‑moving environments
- Comfortable with dual‑use / defense‑adjacent work
- Wants to be onsite 5 days/week
Hard No’s
- NLP / LLM‑only infra (text pipelines)
- Frontend‑focused engineers
- Pure ML research / academia with no production ownership
- Small‑scale or non‑visual data systems only
- Anyone unwilling to be onsite 5 days/week or relocate indefinitely
Target Backgrounds (Examples)
Autonomous Vehicles (Waymo, Cruise, Zoox, Aurora)
Robotics (Boston Dynamics, Covariant, Figure, Agility, Skydio, Intrinsic)
Hardware + AI (Tesla, Rivian, Shield AI, Anduril)
Select Big Tech vision / robotics / perception infra teams
Submission Rule
We cannot submit candidates without confirmed onsite commitment and real production visual‑data experience.
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