About the Role
Join a small engineering team developing autonomous directed-energy systems in the defense sector. As a senior individual contributor, you will own the precision motion control stack, helping deliver reliable pointing and tracking performance on real hardware.
What You'll Do
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Architect and tune precision pointing and tracking control loops, including closed-loop sensor-to-actuator control at hundreds of hertz.
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Develop state estimation and sensor fusion using IMU, encoder, and vision feedback.
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Identify and model gimbal, mount, and actuator dynamics, then compensate for resonance, friction, backlash, and saturation.
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Build simulation and hardware-in-the-loop infrastructure to develop and validate controls.
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Characterize system performance on hardware and in field tests, and document controls standards and tuning practices.
What We're Looking For
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At least 4 years of robotics experience, including hands-on design and tuning of closed-loop controllers on motion hardware.
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Strong grounding in classical and state-space controls, including LQR and MPC, plus practical state estimation using Kalman-family or complementary filters.
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Experience with system identification, frequency-domain tuning, structural resonance compensation, and closing the simulation-to-hardware gap.
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Modern C++ for real-time control, and Python or MATLAB/Simulink for modeling and analysis.
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Direct experience with servo drives, brushless motors, encoders, and IMUs, as well as real-time latency and jitter constraints.
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Comfort working across mechanical, electrical, and software engineering; gimbal, precision-pointing, tracking, or defense systems experience is relevant.
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary: $180,000 to $200,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
Location
On-site in San Francisco, California, United States.
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