Contractor, Robotics Engineer

Lila Sciences • Cambridge, MA

14h • Onsite

About The Position

Lila's Autonomous Science Platform is building a closed-loop, AI-driven scientific facility, and inter- and intra-cell transport in the AISF is a critical bottleneck on that path. We're bringing on a Robotics Engineer on a temporary basis to help unblock it. Sitting on the Next Gen Robotics team and based at Alewife, you'll work hands-on across the robotics stack — physical hardware and simulation — to integrate, tune, and debug systems that have to run reliably in production. The work spans ROS2 development, motion planning, and real-world hardware integration, with upstream science projects (including 1023-009-GRIDv1) gated on what you ship. This is a 3-month contract with potential to extend and potential to convert to full-time based on performance and ongoing need.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field, or equivalent hands-on industry experience
• Strong experience with ROS2: node development, launch files, message/service/action interfaces
• Solid understanding of robot kinematics — forward/inverse kinematics, Jacobians, transforms
• Proficiency in at least one robotic simulation platform: NVIDIA Isaac Sim and/or Gazebo
• Demonstrated experience working with physical robots — robotic arms, AMRs, and/or mobile manipulators
• Depth in at least one of: motion planning (MoveIt2, trajectory generation), autonomous navigation (Nav2), localization (SLAM, AMCL), perception (object detection, depth sensing), or sensor fusion (IMU, LiDAR, camera integration)

Nice To Haves

• Experience deploying robotic systems to production or field environments
• Strong Python and/or C++ in a ROS2 context
• Ability to debug hardware/software integration issues independently
• Experience in lab automation or scientific environments

Responsibilities

• Develop ROS2 nodes, launch files, and message/service/action interfaces to support inter- and intra-cell transport workflows
• Bring up and integrate physical robotic systems — including arms, AMRs, or mobile manipulators — into the AISF environment
• Build and maintain simulation environments in Isaac Sim and/or Gazebo to de-risk hardware deployments before they hit the floor
• Debug hardware and software integration failures end-to-end: kinematics, calibration, timing, and sensor issues
• Contribute domain depth in motion planning, navigation, localization, perception, or sensor fusion as the team's needs evolve
• Document configurations, failure modes, and operating procedures so the team can scale and maintain what you deploy

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Mid Level