Robot Platform Engineer
Posted 1 Jun 2026
Advertised as “Robot Platform Engineer (human)”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Management level
- Individual contributor
- Employment
- On-Site
- Contract
- Full-time
No salary listed for this role.
Your mission & challenges
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Robot abstraction integration: working in robot abstraction layer code — implementing the abstraction surface that maps your platform's hardware capabilities (joints, limbs, end-effectors, sensors) to the shared platform API. Conceptually similar to authoring a ros2_control hardware interface, an OROCOS RTT component, or a vendor-SDK adapter — but more vertically integrated.
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Middleware wiring for your platform: typically ROS 2 launch graph + ros2_control YAML + DDS QoS on platforms using the standard middleware path; OROCOS RTT component pipelines on platforms with hard-RT control loops that exceed ROS 2 callback timing budgets; Apex.OS on SIL/PLd-certified configurations (Industrial MM). Sensor topic plumbing and ObsAssembler wiring regardless of middleware choice. Partnered with the Robotics Middleware Engineer for the broader middleware stack architecture.
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Operational state machine: BOOT → HOMING → OPERATIONAL → FAULT → E-STOP → RECOVERY for your specific platform, including all transition guards, entry/exit actions, and timeout handling.
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Mode switching: active controller selection, mode transition guards, safe mode entry/exit, gravity-compensation-only mode.
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Power-on/off sequences: boot sequencing, drive enable/disable ordering, homing procedure orchestration, controlled shutdown.
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Watchdog and fault management: fault classification (recoverable vs safety-critical), recovery action selection, escalation to E-stop.
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Robot-level health monitoring: aggregating diagnostics, joint state health, drive temperature, joint limit proximity, communication latency.
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gRPC server implementation: mode commands, state queries, fault acknowledgement, streaming joint state, operational state, diagnostics.
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Proto message co-ownership for the robot control API with the Platform Architect and Robot Client SDK Engineer.
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Platform integration test suite: end-to-end CI test coverage in simulation (MuJoCo / Isaac Sim) and on real hardware.
What we can look forward to
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Strong C++ — modern features (C++17 or later), real-time-safe patterns, allocation discipline.
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State machine design experience for complex robotic systems: clean separation of states, transition guards, fault handling. Familiarity with hierarchical state machine patterns (Boost.SML, sc::statechart, BehaviorTree.CPP, or equivalent).