robotic systems engineer

mundane
Palo Alto, US
On-site

Job Description

  • *Start Date:**

ASAP

  • *About Us**

Mundane is a venture-backed seed-stage robot learning startup founded by a team of Stanford researchers and builders. We’re deploying a massive fleet of humanoid robots to perform mundane tasks in commercial environments, collecting data to build the next generation of embodied intelligence. We’re a fast-paced, execution-driven team of engineers, roboticists, and dreamers.

  • *About the Role**

As a

  • *Robotic Systems Engineer**

, you will own critical layers of the humanoid robot stack — spanning embedded firmware, middleware, controls, and system integration. You’ll bridge low-level hardware interfaces with high-level behavioral systems, ensuring our robots operate safely, reliably, and efficiently in real-world environments.

This is a deeply hands-on role for an engineer who thrives at the intersection of embedded systems and large-scale robotic software. You’ll work across hardware, controls, perception, and ML teams to transform research behaviors into production-grade deployments — building the core systems that serve as the nervous system and coordination layer of our humanoids.

  • *Responsibilities**
  • Design and maintain embedded firmware, low-level drivers, and real-time communication interfaces for sensors and actuators.
  • Develop middleware, state machine architectures, and distributed control frameworks coordinating robot behavior.
  • Build and optimize control interfaces bridging research algorithms with deployed hardware (motion, manipulation, locomotion).
  • Implement safety systems, fail-safes, and recovery mechanisms for real-world humanoid deployments.
  • Lead board bring-up, hardware/software integration, and system validation in collaboration with hardware teams.
  • Develop telemetry, monitoring, and debugging infrastructure for deployed robots.
  • Create robust testing and validation frameworks to ensure production reliability and continuous improvement.
  • Interface with deployment and operations teams to diagnose field issues, patch live systems, and maintain uptime.
  • *Qualifications**
  • 5+ years of experience in robotics, embedded systems, autonomous systems, or large-scale hardware/software integration.
  • Strong proficiency in C++ and Python; solid experience with C for embedded systems.
  • Deep familiarity with ROS2, middleware design, distributed systems, and control architectures.
  • Experience with microcontrollers, embedded Linux, or RTOS platforms.
  • Hands-on experience with communication protocols (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet).
  • Strong systems-level debugging skills across hardware and software boundaries.
  • Demonstrated ability to integrate research code into safety-critical, real-world robotic systems.
  • *Bonus**
  • Experience with teleoperation, VR interfaces, or remote robot control systems.
  • Background in robot learning, behavior trees, motion planning, or multi-robot coordination.
  • Experience with motor control, safety-critical embedded systems, or real-time optimization.
  • *What You’ll Get**
  • Ownership over the embedded and middleware systems that make humanoid robots safe and deployable at scale.
  • The ability to ship new behaviors and firmware to live robots within weeks, not quarters.
  • Early equity with meaningful upside in a venture-backed robotics company.
  • Deep exposure across the full robotics stack — hardware, controls, perception, ML, and fleet operations.
  • A foundational role in scaling embodied intelligence from research prototypes to large-scale deployment.
  • *Perks:**

Competitive salary + equity, flexible PTO, legendary merch, coffee, robots, sauna & cold plunge (pending).

  • *Our Privacy Policy:**

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Skills & Requirements

Technical Skills

embedded firmwarelow-level driversreal-time communication interfacesmiddlewarestate machine architecturesdistributed control frameworkscontrol interfacessafety systemsfail-safesrecovery mechanismsboard bring-uphardware/software integrationsystem validationtelemetrymonitoringdebugging infrastructuretestingvalidationC++PythonCROS2middleware designdistributed systemscontrol architecturesmicrocontrollersembedded LinuxRTOS platformscommunication protocolsCANSPII2CUARTEthernetsystems-level debuggingresearch codesafety-criticalreal-world robotic systemsteleoperationVR interfacesremote robot control systemsrobot learningbehavior treesmotion planningmulti-robot coordinationmotor controlsafety-critical embedded systemsreal-time optimizationroboticsembedded systemsautonomous systemslarge-scale hardware/software integration

Salary

$100,000 - $160,000

year

Level

senior

Posted

3/25/2026

Apply Now

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