Senior Software Engineer - Calibration, Localization & Mapping

Cosmic Robotics • San Francisco, CA

3d • Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer in Calibration, Localization, and Mapping to lead the design, development, and implementation of performant and scalable state estimation algorithms that enhance the capabilities of our mobile manipulation robot. The role takes technical ownership of software that fuses data from lidar, inertial sensors, vision, and proprioception to estimate the robot’s ego-motion in its operating environment. It works across the stack, balancing algorithmic performance, system constraints, and real-world reliability to deliver production-ready perception capabilities.

The company’s mission is to accelerate construction of critical infrastructure on Earth and pioneer technologies that enable humanity to build beyond Earth. Its Cosmic-1a system installs solar panels 10 times faster than current methods, supporting a clean energy future and autonomous construction.

Requirements

• PhD or Master’s degree and 4+ years of applied research experience in Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 5+ years of professional engineering experience.
• Experience leading technical projects or small teams, including setting technical direction, coordinating execution, and mentoring other engineers.
• Fluency in modern C++ (C++17 or later), Python, and CUDA.
• Strong mathematical skills, including deep understanding of 3D geometry, probability, and linear algebra.
• Deep expertise in state estimation as on-manifold nonlinear least-squares, including SO(3)/SE(3) parameterizations, marginalization, and filter- and optimization-based techniques.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to thrive in ambiguity and incomplete information.

Nice To Haves

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Hands-on experience delivering production-grade ML models in latency-sensitive, edge-deployed systems.
• Experience using foundation models and simulation tools such as Isaac Sim to accelerate data collection and model iteration.
• Experience optimizing or compressing models using tools such as TensorRT.
• Experience managing model lifecycles, including versioning, evaluation, and deployment.
• Experience with 3D scene representations such as TRIPS, Gaussian Splatting, TSDF, or vector maps.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and integrate robust, high-throughput, low-latency state estimation, pose estimation, mapping, and reconstruction algorithms for real-world robotic systems.
• Build simulation-based and on-robot evaluation.
• Build and maintain algorithms and workflows for intrinsics and extrinsics sensor calibration, as well as hand-eye calibration.
• Translate business and operational requirements into well-scoped technical work packages and execution plans.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with controls, platform, and hardware engineers to ensure system-level success.
• Maintain and elevate code quality through code reviews, automated testing, and documentation.
• Contribute to technical direction and engineering standards through strong leadership and adherence to best practices.
• Travel to customer projects for on-site testing and deployment of robotic equipment in the field.

What This Job Offers

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