Senior Motor Controls Engineer

Lab37•Pittsburgh, PA

6d•$158,000 - $218,000•Onsite

About The Position

Lab37 Robotics develops and deploys robots for direct-to-customer food production. The Senior Motor Controls Engineer will help define how robotic mechanisms move and ensure their control strategies work reliably in production environments. This role explores ways controls can improve mechanism performance, reliability, and cost, then turns promising approaches into robust, supportable implementations. As the primary motor-controls specialist on a multidisciplinary team, the 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 at the Pittsburgh office five days a week.

Requirements

Demonstrated ownership of motor-control solutions from development through production or sustained real-world operation.
Hands-on BLDC/PMSM control experience 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 and causes.
Independent engineering judgment and collaborative decision-making, including assessing feasibility, quantifying tradeoffs, explaining when control strategies or hardware changes are justified, and implementing agreed solutions.
Clear communication and durable ownership, including surfacing risks, following failures through to prevention, and collaborating across disciplines.

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.
CAN/CANopen or comparable industrial drive interfaces.
Motor power-stage integration, regenerative-energy management, or EMC troubleshooting.
Experience with 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 a different control strategy can meet performance and reliability requirements using a smaller or lower-cost actuator, then implement and validate that approach.
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.
Contribute 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, including resonance, lost motion, feedback errors, overheating, and intermittent faults, and drive corrective changes.
Improve commissioning and support through calibration tools, validated configurations, useful telemetry, fault handling, design guidance, and clear documentation.
Surface risks early, follow failures through to prevention, collaborate across disciplines, and leave tools and knowledge that help others work effectively.

Benefits

Equity awards may be available.
Annual performance-based bonus may be available.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including multiple plans and HSA options.
Company-paid short- and long-term life and disability insurance.
Voluntary accident, critical illness, and hospital indemnity insurance.
Optional supplemental life insurance for the employee, spouse, 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.