The organization I volunteer for has a recruiting wing to help with the nonprofit side. They have this new position open. If you have the required experience and are interested, send me a DM with your elevator pitch and I will contact the hiring manager on your behalf. In addition to that, use the link below to apply.
https://servicetosuccess.com/jobs/robotics-software-systems-engineer/Robotics Software Systems EngineerLocation: Hybrid (3 days onsite in Arlington / 2 days remote)
Compensation: Highly competitive and including significant equity in the company. Our client is committed to working with exceptional candidates to meet compensation goals when there is a fit. $300k
About Our Client
Our client is a
venture-backed maritime technology company focused on advancing maritime domain awareness and improving safety on the seas.
The company develops
robotic AI-powered sensing platforms deployed on vessels worldwide, delivering unprecedented insight into maritime environments through advanced sensor fusion and edge computing.
Headquartered in
Washington, D.C., the organization operates as a team with staff across the United States. The culture is mission-driven and fast moving, with teams collaborating across time zones and operating at an incredible pace in demanding real-world environments.
Company snapshot:
- \~55 full-time employees
- Tens of millions in revenue and growing rapidly
- Global deployments across maritime environments
Why This Opportunity
This role offers the chance to help build a
cutting-edge robotics sensing platform deployed globally across maritime environments.
You will work on systems that combine
AI, robotics, infrared sensing, and distributed edge computing to deliver real-world operational impact. Engineers in this role contribute directly to technology operating in mission-critical environments where reliability, autonomy, and performance matter.
It is an opportunity to join a rapidly scaling team building advanced sensing infrastructure that enables better awareness, safety, and decision-making across the world’s oceans.
Role Overview
Our client is seeking a
Robotics Software Systems Engineer to develop and maintain the software infrastructure behind a distributed edge sensing platform deployed across maritime environments.
This role sits at the intersection of
robotics, real-time sensing, and distributed systems. Engineers in this position design software that coordinates multiple onboard sensors including
infrared imaging systems (FLIR and similar), optical cameras, GPS, IMUs, radar, SDRs, and subsea acoustic sensors.
A major focus of the role is developing reliable systems for
infrared sensing and thermal imaging, enabling detection and tracking capabilities in low-light, nighttime, and adverse maritime conditions.
You will work across the stack, from
hardware-near ROS development to cloud messaging pipelines, ensuring that sensing systems collect, process, and transmit high-value data reliably even in remote environments with constrained bandwidth.
This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy building
real-world robotic systems that must operate autonomously and reliably in harsh environments.
What You Will Do
- Design and maintain core system software responsible for sensor control, data acquisition, and stream management across multiple sensing platforms.
- Develop and optimize software for infrared imaging systems (FLIR and similar) including sensor integration, calibration, and data capture pipelines.
- Build robotics control software for camera systems, stabilization, and automated tracking functions.
- Enhance inter-process communication frameworks using ROS2.
- Integrate and synchronize data inputs from infrared cameras, optical cameras, GPS, IMU, radar, lidar, acoustic sensors, and additional sensing technologies.
- Optimize data transmission pipelines to ensure reliable artifact delivery over constrained bandwidth connections such as satellite uplinks.
- Implement compression, serialization, and networking strategies to support long-range deployments.
- Develop and maintain software modules for the configuration and management of edge devices including SDRs, cameras, and sensing hardware.
- Collaborate with AI and backend teams to define data schemas, delivery pipelines, and observability frameworks for monitoring sensor and model performance.
- Build tools for local testing, diagnostics, and monitoring of deployed systems in the field.
- Improve system reliability, logging, and performance to support long-duration autonomous deployments.
What Our Client Is Looking For
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
- 4+ years of experience developing production-quality robotics, embedded systems, or distributed software, ideally with some of that being at a startup.
- Strong programming experience in Python and C++.
- Extensive development experience in Linux environments.
- Hands-on experience working with infrared sensing systems such as FLIR or similar thermal imaging platforms.
- Experience integrating sensor systems including GPS, IMU, radar, lidar, cameras, or acoustic sensors.
- Experience with ROS2 or comparable robotics middleware frameworks.
- Solid understanding of networking, message serialization, compression, and communication over constrained bandwidth links.
- Experience building software for systems deployed in remote or field environments with intermittent connectivity.
- Strong debugging, testing, and documentation practices for distributed systems.
Nice to Have
- Experience with software-defined radio (SDR) systems.
- Background in maritime, aerospace, or defense robotics deployments.
- Experience developing high-reliability IoT or edge-compute platforms.
- Experience with real-time video processing or computer vision pipelines involving thermal or infrared imaging.
DO NOT WRITE A COVER LETTER. WRITE “I MEET THE REQUIREMENTS” IF YOU CAN WORK ONSITE FOR THE HYBRID PORTION OF THE ROLE IN ARLINGTON AND HAVE THE REQUISITE EXPERIENCE.
Job Category: Engineering
Job Type: Full TimeHybrid
Job Location: Arlington