Principal Robotics Engineer - R&D

Boston Engineering Corporation•Waltham, MA

2d•$150,000 - $190,000•Onsite

About The Position

Boston Engineering is seeking a Principal Robotics Engineer to provide hands-on technical leadership and systems engineering ownership for robotic inspection systems. The primary focus is the Surface Mobility Platform (SMP), with secondary support for micro underwater remotely operated vehicles (mROV). Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, the role translates customer needs into integrated, verified systems and leads the engineering transition from prototypes to commercial production. The engineer guides mechanical, electrical, controls, and software engineers through architecture and interface decisions, integration, demonstrations, and field troubleshooting. Secondary mROV work includes agreed architecture, reusable capabilities, and targeted integration. The role combines technical leadership with hands-on development and integration. It includes ownership of system architecture, requirements, interfaces, verification and validation, technical tradeoffs, and production-readiness contributions. The position also involves mentoring engineers, supporting customer demonstrations and proposals, and informing product concepts and technology roadmaps. This is an office-based role in Waltham, Massachusetts, with minimal travel. Relocation is not available. The position is restricted to US persons because of access to export-controlled technology; proof of status is required prior to employment.

Requirements

10 or more years of relevant engineering experience, including at least 5 years in robotics.
Demonstrated delivery or integration of mobile robotic or comparably complex robotic systems, including hands-on integration and troubleshooting.
Depth in a relevant engineering discipline and sufficient breadth to lead tradeoffs across hardware, software, controls, embedded computing, and sensing.
Experience owning systems engineering work, including requirements development and allocation, architecture, interface management, technical trade studies, and verification planning using traceability and experimental evidence.
Demonstrated technical contribution to transitioning robotic or complex electromechanical prototypes to commercial production.
Hands-on proficiency in CAD design and assembly modeling; ability to interpret engineering drawings and mechanical constraints and resolve electromechanical interfaces.
Ability to lead multidisciplinary technical work, communicate risk, and document interfaces and engineering decisions.
BS in Mechanical, Electrical, Robotics, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline, or equivalent relevant practical experience.
Must be a US person (US citizen, permanent resident, or other protected individual under the Immigration and Naturalization Act); proof of status is required prior to employment.

Nice To Haves

Inspection robotics, crawler or surface-adhering platforms, challenging industrial environments, and field support relevant to SMP.
Underwater or marine robotics for secondary mROV work.
Supplier qualification, design for manufacturability and assembly, production documentation, and pilot builds.
Localization, mapping, path planning, closed-loop control, and ROS, ROS 2, or comparable middleware.
MS in a relevant discipline.
SolidWorks experience is preferred.

Responsibilities

Own systems engineering and the integrated technical plan for assigned SMP efforts, with secondary mROV support; translate stakeholder needs into requirements, subsystem allocations, architecture, interfaces, and verification and validation criteria.
Work hands-on in development and integration, resolve difficult technical problems, lead root-cause investigations, and guide trade studies and cross-disciplinary design decisions within agreed decision and escalation boundaries.
Lead integration of hardware, robotics software, and controls across embedded computing, sensing and sensor processing, motion control, inspection payloads, operator interfaces, vehicle-to-operator communications, and data capture; address localization, navigation, mobility, or adhesion as applicable.
Establish architecture baselines and configuration compatibility across mechanical revisions, electronics, firmware, software, and calibration data; identify shared capabilities while preserving product-specific constraints and interfaces.
Lead engineering reviews, integration milestones, verification and validation, failure investigations, and regression testing; maintain traceability from needs and requirements to test evidence and surface technical, schedule, and resource risks early.
Lead engineering efforts supporting production readiness with manufacturing, quality, and supply-chain teams, including manufacturability, component and sourcing risks, assembly efficiency, repeatable pilot builds, release and service documentation, reliability, maintainability, calibration, and field diagnostics.
Evaluate new product concepts and competitive products to inform performance targets, differentiation, and technology roadmaps.
Support intellectual property development through invention disclosures and technical input to patent activities.
Mentor engineers and contribute to proposals, customer demonstrations, field preparation, and clear explanations of system capability and limitations.