[Phenix Space] Founding Robotics Engineer

Cox Exponential • San Francisco, CA

18h

About The Position

Phenix Space is seeking a Robotics Engineer to lead the development of our space robotic module. This role will focus on real-time control, perception, and decision-making for robotic operations in orbit. You will work on robotic control, computer vision, motion planning, and autonomy, ensuring our robotic system can diagnose, assemble, repair, and interact with satellites autonomously. This is an opportunity to develop cutting-edge robotics for space applications and shape the future of autonomous satellite servicing.

Requirements

• Master’s or PhD in robotics engineering/computer science or equivalent work experience.
• 3+ years of experience in robotics.
• Strong background in robotics software development (C++, Python).
• Expertise in motion planning, kinematics, and control theory for robotic manipulation.
• Experience in computer vision (OpenCV, PCL, PyTorch/TensorFlow, real-time object detection).
• Expertise on real world production robotic products.
• Experience building and using digital twins for robotics.
• Understanding of real-time computing, low-latency processing, and low level system programming.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience in space robotics, orbital mechanics, or satellite systems.
• Prior experience with space flight software and communication protocols used in spacecraft.
• Familiarity with satellite telemetry data processing and anomaly detection techniques.
• Experience with software deployment strategies and tooling such as but not limited to docker containers, terraform, ansible, etc.
• Prior experience deploying and programming with micro-controllers.
• Proficiency in physics-based simulation frameworks (Gazebo, Mujoco, Isaac Sim, or custom simulators).

Responsibilities

• Develop real-time motion planning and control algorithms for a space-rated robotic arm.
• Implement Cartesian motion control and force control, ensuring safe, precise, and collision-free movements in microgravity.
• Design and optimize visual servoing algorithms for closed-loop control in dynamic space environments.
• Build reliable manipulation strategies and influence hardware design.
• Develop damage detection algorithms to assess satellite integrity using multi-modal vision data (RGB, depth, infrared).
• Implement anomaly detection models for satellite telemetry and visual data streams, improving predictive maintenance.
• Integrate real-time telemetry visualization into the Phenix Space UI for mission operations.
• Own the autonomy stack across simulation, HIL, and flight using high-fidelity physics-based simulation to close the gap between ground testing and on-orbit behavior.
• Conduct performance benchmarking for AI and motion control under real-world space constraints.
• Develop testing frameworks for robustness, reliability, and edge-case handling in space environments.

Benefits

• Be the owner of the Phenix Space robotics stack.
• Work in a fast-moving, high-stakes engineering environment where your contributions will directly shape the future of space infrastructure.
• Solve complex challenges in robotic actuation, space-rated computing, and AI-driven control.
• Collaborate with leading experts in robotics, aerospace, and AI to push the boundaries of autonomous servicing technologies.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level