Senior Autonomy Engineer - Ground Robotics
The Role
We’re hiring a Senior Autonomy Engineer to own the autonomy stack for our ground robot platform.
You’ve done this before — taken a robot from simulation to real-world deployment, and seen what breaks along the way. You understand that autonomy isn’t finished when it works once — it’s finished when it works every time.
You’ll be the technical authority on what “production-ready autonomy” means at Lucid Bots.
What You’ll Do
- Deliver autonomy systems that perform reliably in real-world environments
- Own the full autonomy stack — perception, localization, planning, navigation — and ensure consistent performance across deployments
- Enable parallel development through high-quality simulation
- Build and improve simulation environments that allow the team to develop and validate autonomy before hardware is finalized
- Systematically close the sim-to-real gap
- Quantify where simulation diverges from real-world behavior and drive improvements that increase field reliability
- Define what “done” looks like for autonomy
- Establish clear, measurable performance criteria for autonomous operation — not subjective definitions of success
- Build systems that scale beyond the demo
- Architect autonomy software that performs reliably across many customers, environments, and edge cases
- Raise the technical bar of the team
- Mentor engineers, review code and architecture, and guide the team toward production-grade systems
- Ensure hardware and autonomy are designed together
- Partner closely with hardware engineers to build systems optimized for automation from the start
What We’re Looking For
- 5–10 years of experience in robotics or autonomy systems
- Experience shipping at least one autonomous mobile robot to production
- Strong hands-on experience with ROS 2
- Deep expertise in at least two of: perception, SLAM/localization, motion planning, or controls
- Experience with robots operating in outdoor or unstructured environments
- Strong programming skills with production-quality code
What We’re Not Looking For
- Pure researchers without production experience
- Engineers who have only worked in simulation or controlled environments
- Candidates without experience shipping real robotic systems
Why Join Lucid Bots?
- Work directly with the founder of a fast-growing, venture-backed robotics startup.
- Be part of a team solving real-world problems with frontier technology.
- Get a front-row seat to fundraising, company building, and startup strategy at scale.
- Learn more in one year than most people do in five—this is a career accelerant.
- Help support the culture, pace, and systems of a company scaling fast and building things that matter.
Benefits:
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 3% retirement match
- 15 days of paid time off (PTO)
- 3 sick days
- 11 paid holidays, with 3 of those being floating holidays
- Employee stock option plan
We’d Love to Hear from You!
Don't just apply. Stand out.
The Reality: On paper, many resumes look the same. We don’t hire paper; we hire people. While a video is technically optional, it is the single best way to separate yourself from the stack.
The Promise: This is not a black hole. If you take the time to record it, we will take the time to watch it.
What to Send (2 mins max) Please do not read a script. Do not worry about editing or production value. Just open your camera and talk to us.
- Why here? Why are you excited about Lucid Bots specifically?
- Why you? What is the one thing about you that a resume can’t capture?
If you want the highest probability of an interview, send a video.
