Software Engineer, Robot Autonomy (Planning & Navigation)

About the role

As a Software Engineer on Robot Autonomy, you will be responsible for ensuring robots navigate dependably across real customer sites. You will shape technical choices for reliable navigation, including sensor selection, traversability estimation, and path planning to handle dynamic environments. The role focuses on field reliability, requiring you to diagnose and resolve issues to ensure robots complete patrols in challenging real-world conditions.

Responsibilities

• Design navigation and path-planning systems for complex sites.
• Integrate sensors to support ground segmentation and traversability estimation.
• Develop environment understanding and behavior prediction for dynamic obstacles.
• Reproduce and fix field failures across sensor data, maps, and planning layers.
• Validate navigation performance through logs, simulation, and physical field tests.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to implement new autonomy capabilities.
• Conduct regular site visits to observe robot behavior in real operating conditions.

Required skills

• ROS 2
• C++
• Python
• Path planning
• Mobile robot navigation
• LiDAR
• IMU
• Camera systems
• Obstacle avoidance
• Costmaps

Nice to have

• Legged robots
• Nav2
• Motion prediction
• Trajectory forecasting
• Socially aware navigation
• Elevation mapping
• Semantic segmentation
• Thermal cameras

Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in mechanical engineering, computer science, robotics, electrical engineering, or a related field
• Equivalent practical experience

Benefits

• Equity package
• Career growth opportunities

About the Company

Laelaps AI is a robotics company building intelligent software for physical security in the real world. Based in Zurich, the company is backed by visionary investors and aims to enable robots to handle critical tasks that humans should not have to perform.