Senior Staff Software Engineer, Motion Planning

Role overview A humanoid robotics team is hiring a senior technical leader to own the motion planning roadmap for commercially deployed bipedal robots used in warehouses, manufacturing, and distribution centers. The role is focused on architecting a planning stack that enables safe, collision-free whole-body, manipulation, grasping, and loco-manipulation behaviors in dynamic, real-world environments.

Responsibilities - Set the technical direction for collision-free motion planning across whole-body, manipulation, grasping, and loco-manipulation - Design, implement, test, and deploy motion planning and trajectory optimization algorithms for high-degree-of-freedom humanoids - Architect a modular, observable planning stack that integrates cleanly with perception, state estimation, and control - Develop planning algorithms that are robust to environmental uncertainty and imperfect state estimation - Lead cross-team architectural discussions and partner with state estimation, navigation, controls, and behaviors teams

Requirements - Industry experience deploying manipulation algorithms on high-DOF robots in real-world commercial settings - Production experience with mobile manipulation robots operating in customer environments - Deep expertise in sample-based motion planning, trajectory optimization, and model predictive control - Strong background in planning under geometric and kinodynamic constraints, including contact, friction, and collision - Solid mathematical fundamentals in search and numerical optimization, covering both convex and non-convex problems - Fluency in modern C++ (C++17/20) and Python for high-performance, multithreaded, real-time robotics software - Demonstrated track record architecting large-scale autonomy systems with clean interfaces across perception, estimation, planning, and control, plus mentoring of senior engineers

Nice to have - Hands-on work with humanoid or similar robots, including whole-body MPC and whole-body trajectory optimization - Experience with loco-manipulation and task and motion planning under uncertainty - Use of machine learning or offline trajectory optimization to accelerate online planning - Familiarity with perception and scene understanding as inputs to planning - Publications at top robotics venues such as RSS, ICRA, or IROS

Benefits and work setup - Fully remote, with a hybrid option available near offices in Salem, OR, Pittsburgh, PA, or Fremont, CA - Anticipated base salary range of approximately $216,000 to $337,000 USD, dependent on location, skills, and experience - 401(k) plan with a 6% company match, equity in the form of stock options, and an annual discretionary bonus - 100% company-paid medical, dental, vision, and short- and long-term disability insurance for employees, with benefits active from day one - Flexible unlimited PTO for exempt staff, plus 12 paid company holidays including a winter shutdown - Employee Assistance Program, generous paid parental leave, professional development support, tuition reimbursement, and relocation assistance for eligible roles