Spacer Robotics · 3 weeks ago
Staff Autonomy Engineer
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$100K/yr - $225K/yr
6+ years expSpacer Robotics is building autonomous, non-humanoid robotic systems to construct infrastructure in extreme environments. We’re seeking a Staff Autonomy Engineer to join the core team building Spacer’s first prototype to a production level robot, responsible for designing, integrating, and testing robotic subsystems.
Robotics
Responsibilities
Own the end-to-end autonomy architecture, from raw sensor data to reliable robot behavior
Define technical direction, architecture trade-offs, and long-term autonomy roadmap
Lead autonomy-related design reviews, root-cause analysis, and performance optimization
Lead integration, calibration, and validation of LiDAR, cameras (mono/stereo/depth), IMU, wheel encoders, force/torque, and proximity sensors
Design and implement robust sensor fusion pipelines using EKF, UKF, factor graphs, or optimization-based methods
Ensure proper time synchronization, frame alignment (TF), and data integrity across sensors
Select sensors based on environmental constraints (dust, vibration, lighting, outdoor/industrial conditions)
Design, implement, and tune SLAM and localization systems for long-duration, real-world operation
Lead LiDAR-based SLAM, visual-inertial SLAM, and hybrid approaches
Integrate, extend, or replace frameworks such as Nav2, Cartographer, LIO-SAM, Isaac ROS SLAM, or custom pipelines
Develop and tune global and local planners (A*, D*, Hybrid A*, RRT, MPC-based planners)
Integrate obstacle detection, costmaps, and dynamic obstacle handling
Establish quantitative metrics for accuracy, robustness, drift, and recovery behavior
Architect, develop, and maintain a ROS2-based autonomy stack
Design node architectures, lifecycle management, diagnostics, logging, and fault detection
Optimize ROS2 performance for real-time constraints on embedded and edge platforms
Manage TF trees, message interfaces, QoS policies, and system observability
Select and justify appropriate compute platforms (MCUs, embedded CPUs, GPUs, accelerators) for autonomy workloads
Balance performance, power, thermal, cost, and reliability constraints
Optimize pipelines for CPU/GPU usage, memory, and real-time performance
Work with hardware teams on bring-up, drivers, and system-level optimization
Qualification
Required
6+ years of experience in robotics autonomy, perception and navigation
Expert-level proficiency in C, C++, and Python for production robotics systems
Strong experience with ROS2 in real-world deployments
Proficiency with Git for version control and collaborative development
Working knowledge of Docker for reproducible builds, deployment, and CI pipelines
Deep experience with sensor fusion & filtering (EKF, UKF, factor graphs)
Deep experience with SLAM & localization
Deep experience with LiDAR-based perception
Strong understanding of robot kinematics and dynamics
Strong understanding of coordinate frames and transformations
Strong understanding of real-time and embedded system constraints
Proven track record of delivering autonomy on physical robots, not only in simulation
Experience leading autonomy architecture for a commercial robotics product
Ready to roll up the sleeves and join an early stage startup environment
Preferred
Experience with industrial, construction, mobile robotics
Familiarity with Isaac ROS, CUDA, and GPU-accelerated perception
Experience selecting and scaling compute across MCUs, Jetson, x86, and edge AI platforms
Knowledge of functional safety, fault tolerance, and degraded autonomy modes
Company
Spacer Robotics
Next-Generation AI Robots for Construction
2-10 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageCompany data provided by crunchbase