Robotics Lead (Boulder, CO)

Careers

Building the software that takes robots where they’ve never worked.

• See open roles

About the role

Tackle complex and exciting robotics problems in a rapidly growing industry, with a team of world-class professionals. We work smart, leveraging open source with the latest algorithms, research, and techniques.

We have a culture of customer obsession, freedom & responsibility, radical transparency, and candid feedback. We believe in taking the initiative to do it right and ensuring that the best idea wins.

You’ll work alongside some of the brightest minds in robotics — a team with 8 PhDs and 11 master’s degrees in the field, plus 234+ years of combined experience.

PickNik is full of people whose main motivation has been tackling interesting problems - there's always new things to learn from other's backgrounds.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate arms and mobile bases so robots can drive up, perceive, and manipulate anywhere in an unstructured environment.
• Plan and execute synchronized motion across multiple arms in real-time C++, with collision-aware trajectories.
• Detect and localize objects, plan collision-free grasps, and place them with precision — the core loop behind assembly, kitting, and machine tending.
• Reconstruct a scene from camera and depth data, then plan collision-free motion through it on the fly — perception and planning working as one closed loop.
• All powered by the latest AI technology — VLMs, VLAs, segmentation models, and more.

Requirements

• 11+ yrs Shipping advanced manipulation software
• 12–24 mo Earlier our customers launch
• 250+ Companies building on our platform
• Build production robotics ever since

Qualifications

• Robotics is littered with startups that didn’t make it. PickNik has shipped production manipulation software since 2015 — funded by revenue from customers like NASA, Google, Meta, and hundreds of others. You can do the best work of your career without betting it on a company that might not be here next year.

Skills

• Open-source expertise
• Real-time C++ programming
• Collision-aware trajectory planning
• Object detection and localization
• Scene reconstruction and motion planning
• Advanced AI technologies

Benefits

• Customer obsession
• Freedom & responsibility
• Radical transparency
• Candid feedback
• Challenging and rewarding work
• Mentorship from experienced team
• Variety of projects and opportunities
• Opportunity to contribute to various aspects of robotics

Pay

Competitive salary based on experience and qualifications.

Schedule

Full-time position.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Retirement plans
• Flexible work schedule
• Professional development opportunities
• Regular tech talks
• Access to open-source tools and resources

Company Culture

• Customer obsession
• Freedom & responsibility
• Radical transparency
• Candid feedback
• Challenging and rewarding work
• Mentorship from experienced team
• Variety of projects and opportunities
• Opportunity to contribute to various aspects of robotics

Contact

Email recruiting@picknik.ai with additional questions.