Sr. Embedded Software Developer (Humanoid Robotics)

Schaeffler•Troy, MI

About The Position

Schaeffler is seeking an experienced Robotics/Actuator Embedded Software Engineer for its humanoid robotics team. The role owns the design, architecture, and delivery of advanced actuator control software and related features for humanoid robots, and offers an opportunity to shape actuator-control technical direction and system-level performance across embedded systems, robotics, and AI. The engineer will develop real-time actuator control algorithms and software, integrate actuator capabilities into the humanoid platform, lead hardware and simulation testing and model-correlation work, and contribute to system architecture and technical roadmaps. The role also includes mentoring engineers and promoting strong software engineering practices. The position requires legal authorization to work in the United States.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a closely related field.
At least 5 years of professional experience developing real-time control software for robotics, actuators, or other embedded electromechanical systems.
Deep expertise in control systems, embedded software, and real-time systems, with a record of delivering production-quality solutions.
Strong proficiency in C and Python and ability to write efficient, maintainable, well-structured code.
Hands-on experience with robotics concepts, including kinematics, dynamics, actuators, sensors, and system integration.
Experience with simulation tools or environments such as MATLAB/Simulink, MuJoCo, Isaac Sim, Gazebo, or equivalent, and their use in control or learning pipelines.
Experience with software engineering practices including Git, testing, debugging, and collaborative code review.
Ability to lead technical discussions, mentor others, and communicate complex ideas across multidisciplinary teams.
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Master’s or PhD degree.
Experience developing motor control, including field-oriented control (FOC), impedance/admittance control, or advanced state estimation such as Kalman filters or observers.
Experience with real-time operating systems or industrial communication protocols such as EtherCAT or EtherNet/IP.
Hands-on experience taking control software from concept through hardware validation and deployment.
Senior-level technical project contributions, mentoring junior engineers, and technical strategy or roadmap work.

Responsibilities

Architect, develop, and optimize real-time control algorithms and features for humanoid robot actuators, including position, torque, impedance, and hybrid control modes.
Design and implement embedded and high-level software for actuator control loops, state estimation, safety monitoring, and fault handling.
Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, and systems engineers to integrate actuator capabilities into the humanoid platform and address cross-domain issues.
Lead system identification, parameter estimation, and correlation between physical hardware and digital models; establish ongoing model-fidelity metrics and processes.
Define and execute testing, debugging, and performance-analysis strategies on hardware and simulation platforms; establish verification and validation approaches for control and twin systems.
Mentor junior engineers; participate in and lead design and code reviews; help establish team software engineering best practices.
Influence technical roadmap decisions and contribute to long-term architecture for actuator controls, simulation infrastructure, and related tools.
Track advances in robot control, simulation, and reinforcement learning, and evaluate and introduce techniques that improve system performance.