Senior Robotics Controls Engineer
Compensation: $150K–$250K base + equity (no bonus)
Location: South San Francisco, CA
Work Policy: 5 days/week in-office
Sponsorship: Visa transfers supported (not open to OPT candidates)
Stage: Seed-stage surgical robotics company | $14M raised
Hiring Target: 1
Who Are We?
Were building autonomous surgical robots designed to dramatically shorten the learning curve for complex procedures. Our systems combine robotics, motion planning, computer vision, and real-time control to execute surgical steps with speed and precision.
This is a high-priority hire. The team is moving quickly and eager to engage strong candidates immediately.
What's in It for You?
Work on cutting-edge robotic control systems with real-world clinical impact.
Own motion planning and control algorithms in a production robotic platform.
Join a well-funded seed-stage company with commercial traction.
High autonomy and direct collaboration with founders.
Competitive base salary plus meaningful equity.
Relocation assistance ($5K–$10K).
What Will You Do?
Develop and implement control systems and motion planning for a surgical robotics platform.
Design algorithms for trajectory planning, behavior planning, and robotic actuation.
Work on state estimation, inverse kinematics, and Model Predictive Control (MPC).
Integrate 2D/3D sensor inputs (Lidar, cameras, TOF, IMUs) into control logic.
Contribute to real-time, low-latency robotic systems with high accuracy requirements.
Collaborate closely with hardware, ML, and UI teams to deliver production-ready robotic capabilities.
What Will You Need?
Bachelors degree in Robotics, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field (strong academic background required).
3+ years of robotics engineering or closely related experience.
Deep understanding of control systems (linear and non-linear).
Strong software development skills in C++ and/or Python.
Experience with ROS or ROS2.
Startup mindset: high ownership, urgency, and comfort working in fast-paced environments.
Strongly Preferred
Masters degree.
Experience in autonomous vehicles or aerospace (Guidance, Navigation & Control, embedded flight control).
Knowledge of surgical robotics systems.
Experience with Model Predictive Control (MPC), system identification, and advanced control theory.
Background in robotics software engineering involving object tracking, sensor fusion, or real-time systems.
Must Not Have
Manufacturing Controls engineer background (industrial/PLC-focused).
Primarily MATLAB-only experience without production-grade software development.
Additional High-Signal Experience
Robotics Controls
Control Theory
Flight Controls
State Estimation
Inverse Kinematics
Model Predictive Control (MPC)
Behavior Planning
Trajectory Planning
System Identification
Embedded flight control software
Pre-Screen Questions (Required for Submission)
Has the candidate owned and taken a project all the way to production?
What was the most challenging problem they have solved?
Is the candidate available to travel up to once per month?
Is the candidate comfortable viewing live surgical procedures onsite?
I am a born survivor who LOVES a challenge. I specialize in People Operations, Talent Acquisition, and Recruiting for early stage tech startups.
For me, making the hire is just one part of what it means to be a great Talent Leader. I work with teams to build culture and create processes for sustainable long-term growth.
That means structured interview processes, continual feedback loops with hiring managers, and an amazing candidate experience. It means letting the data drive the evolution of our hiring process. It means creating an unforgettable onboarding experience for everyone who comes into the company.
When it comes to recruiting, I’m not afraid to look outside the more traditional channels to find your candidate. (Just ask me about the time I hired a Lisp Engineer from Facebook!)
Born and raised in Texas, I have been on my own and working since I was 14. My adventures have taken me to Honolulu, through a paralegal career, co-founding my own startup, into college admissions, and somehow found my way to recruiting here in Los Angeles.
My background naturally lent itself to recruiting – an opportunity to intersect my years of professional experience and my desire to help others.
The key to my success lies in my ability to listen and collaborate with both hiring teams and candidates. Through that, I am able to provide end-to-end service and client/candidate satisfaction.
My current focus is developing teams for Technology Startups - From Leadership to interns and everything in between. I build HR, Ops, Engineering, Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, Technical Support, Product and Support teams. I love working with Software Engineers (hello, Full Stack Node.js Devs!)
In the past, I’ve recruited for Cyber Security, eDiscovery, Legal, Information Security, Information Technology, Finance, Executive/C-Level, Operations, Management, HR, Sales, and Administrative roles.
