Robot Platform Software Engineer, Wireless Networking

Essential Duties and Responsibilities / Key Accountabilities

• Define functional and non-functional network requirements including latency budgets, bandwidth minimums, and security posture for various traffic classes.
• Evaluate and recommend candidate technologies such as WiFi 6/6E, private 5G, and LTE against defined robot requirements.
• Engineer wireless links to sustain ~100 Hz control and telemetry traffic with bounded tail latency using MAC- and IP-layer QoS.
• Optimize bandwidth to reduce aggregate traffic to fit specific WiFi channels through video encoding and telemetry decimation.
• Configure and harden the robot's wireless stack on embedded Linux, including roaming, addressing, and reconnection handling.
• Partner with hardware/RF teams to characterize radio modules, antenna placement, and self-interference from power electronics.
• Design robot-side network health telemetry and diagnostic trouble codes integrated into the telemetry pipeline.
• Design link-loss detection, watchdog logic, and safe-state transitions to ensure operational safety over wireless links.

Skills and Requirements

• Proficiency in C++ within a Linux environment for system-level and real-time performance-sensitive code.
• Solid command of TCP/IP, UDP, and QoS mechanisms with the ability to perform latency and jitter analysis.
• Working knowledge of 802.11 internals (WiFi 6/6E) and RF propagation/interference fundamentals.
• Hands-on experience with the Linux wireless stack (nl80211, wpa_supplicant) and network drivers.
• Familiarity with network security (WPA3-Enterprise, 802.1X/EAP) and certificate/PKI lifecycles.
• Experience with robotics/embedded middleware like ROS2/DDS and containerization tools like Docker.
• Nice to have: private 5G/CBRS deployment, video codec experience (H.264/H.265/AV1) and GStreamer pipeline tuning, multi-robot/fleet networking, and RF lab/measurement experience.

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer/Electrical Engineering, or a related field; Master's degree preferred.
• An EE/RF or networking background is a strong plus given the wireless focus of this role.
• 4+ years of experience in software engineering with a focus on system-level software, including demonstrable depth in networking, wireless, or embedded-Linux connectivity.