Principal Robotics Engineer

About the Role

Symbotic is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join our Perception organization in Austin, TX, where our loading dock automation and automated forklift engineering is concentrated. You will play a central, hands-on role in designing and developing perception software for these systems and will help grow and mentor other engineers as this work scales.

The ideal candidate thrives in a creative, collaborative, and agile development environment and is comfortable stepping beyond Perception into areas like Controls, system architecture, CI, program-level planning, or owning customer-facing KPIs, as is typical for senior engineers working on autonomous vehicle systems.

Responsibilities

• Play a central, hands-on role designing and developing real-time, high-performance perception software for automated forklift and loading dock automation systems.
• Serve as a leading technical contributor within the Perception organization, operating in close integration with the broader Symbotic engineering org.
• Mentor and grow other engineers, helping build technical capability on the team as this work scales.
• Analyze and address the root cause of issues affecting product performance, applying systems-level thinking about how perception interacts with the rest of the system.
• Drive project scoping and requirement specification, providing leadership with the technical insight needed to create long-term technical roadmaps.
• Represent engineering in technical discussions with customer program stakeholders on the direction and scope of the loading dock automation / automated forklift program, including ownership of relevant customer-facing KPIs as needed.
• Operate with a broader technical scope beyond Perception when the work calls for it — spanning areas such as Controls, system architecture, CI/CD practices, or cross-team planning.
• Build high-quality software in a dynamic, fast-paced environment, and drive best practices and quality standards.

Requirements

• A minimum of a Master's degree in a related discipline (Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mathematics, etc.).
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience developing software for complex, real-time systems.
• Deep expertise in Perception for robotics: SLAM, sensor fusion, state estimation, computer vision, and processing multiple cameras and/or LiDARs in real time.
• A track record of taking complex robotic systems into production and making them work reliably, with evidence of measurable value delivered (uptime, throughput, reduced faults, etc.).
• Experience leading complex engineering efforts and delivering results while maintaining a healthy team.
• Experience mentoring or growing other engineers.
• Comfort and prior experience operating with a broader technical scope beyond Perception (e.g., Controls, system architecture, CI/CD, planning, or customer-facing KPI ownership).
• Experience with Linux development, Docker, and CI/CD tools.
• Comfortable with asynchronous or multithreaded programming.
• Experience with event-driven architectures, messaging systems, and protocols (e.g., ROS, ROS2).
• Experience with Agile development methodology.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including comfort engaging directly with customer/program stakeholders on technical scope and tradeoffs.
• Willingness to be based in / work extensively from Austin, TX.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience developing software for embedded or GPU-accelerated platforms (e.g., Nvidia).
• Prior experience with autonomous mobile robots, automated forklifts, or similarly complex, safety-relevant automated systems.

Schedule

Up to 10% of travel may be required. Employees must have a valid driver’s license and the ability to drive and/or fly to client and other customer locations.

The employee is responsible for owning a credit card and managing expenses personally to be reimbursed bi-weekly.

Pay

The base range for this position in Austin, TX is $180,000.00 - $247,500.00. Base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The compensation package includes medical, dental, vision, disability, 401K, PTO, and other benefits.