Senior Motor Controls Engineer

Lab37•Pittsburgh, PA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Lab37 Robotics develops and deploys robots designed for direct-to-customer food production. The Senior Motor Controls Engineer will help define how the company's robotic mechanisms move and ensure control decisions work reliably in production. The role explores control strategies to improve robotic mechanism performance, reliability, and cost, and turns promising approaches into robust, supportable implementations. As the team's primary motor-controls specialist, this engineer will guide motor and actuation decisions with mechanical engineering, own controls implementation, and collaborate with mechanical, electrical, test, embedded, and robot software engineers to validate performance and improve reliability. The position is based onsite in the Pittsburgh office five days a week.

Requirements

Demonstrated ownership of motor-control solutions from development through production or sustained real-world operation, including hands-on BLDC/PMSM control and practical stepper experience.
Strong applied controls fundamentals, including motor physics, commutation and FOC, feedback selection, discrete-time control, loop stability and tuning, saturation, and the effects of friction, backlash, compliance, and resonance.
Hands-on embedded C/C++ capability and ability to bring up and debug motor-control hardware.
Ability to reason about PWM/ADC timing, current sensing, encoders, real-time execution, and motor-driver interfaces.
An experimental approach using motion data, analysis tools, and oscilloscopes to test hypotheses, quantify margins, and distinguish electrical, mechanical, and software issues.
Independent engineering judgment and collaborative decision-making, including assessing feasibility, quantifying tradeoffs, explaining when control strategy or hardware changes are justified, and implementing agreed solutions.
Clear communication and durable ownership, including surfacing risks early, following failures through to prevention, collaborating across disciplines, and leaving tools and knowledge that help others work effectively.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing and delivering custom motor controllers or servo drives from the ground up, including hardware architecture, embedded firmware, control algorithms, production validation, and support.
Experience with CAN/CANopen or comparable industrial drive interfaces; motor power-stage integration, regenerative-energy management, or EMC troubleshooting.
Experience in robotics, appliances, food equipment, or other cost-sensitive electromechanical products with demanding duty cycles and field-service needs.

Responsibilities

Partner with mechanical, electrical, and test engineers to recommend and evaluate motor and drive options.
Determine when alternative control strategies can meet performance and reliability requirements using smaller or lower-cost actuators, and implement and validate those approaches.
Develop, integrate, and tune BLDC/PMSM and stepper control, including current/torque, velocity, and position loops.
Choose between commercial drives, controller ICs, and custom firmware as appropriate.
Evaluate alternative control strategies and quantify performance, cost, and reliability tradeoffs.
Establish operating limits and margins with the team, and carry promising approaches through implementation and validation.
Work with test, mechanical, and electrical engineers on instrumented experiments and automated tests.
Provide controls-specific measurements and analysis to characterize performance and validate behavior across operating conditions and component variation.
Diagnose issues across controls, electronics, firmware, and mechanics, and drive corrective changes.
Improve commissioning and support through calibration tools, validated configurations, telemetry, fault handling, design guidance, and clear documentation.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with multiple plans including HSA options.
Company-paid life and short- and long-term disability insurance.
Voluntary accident, critical illness, and hospital indemnity insurance.
Optional supplemental life insurance for employees, spouses, and children.
Pet insurance discount.
401(k).
Health Savings Account (HSA).
Flexible Spending Accounts for healthcare, dependent care, and commuter expenses.
Discretionary vacation days.
Eight paid holidays per year.
Paid sick time.
Paid bereavement leave.
Paid parental leave.
Potential eligibility for equity awards and an annual performance-based bonus.