Senior Robotics Software Engineer – Lunar Rover Localization Verified today
About Starpath
Starpath develops and manufactures technologies for human settlement on the Moon and Mars. We are building robotic systems to produce water, power, and oxygen at scale on the lunar surface. Our goal is to launch rovers to the Moon within 1-2 years, demonstrate industrial-scale ISRU for refueling landers, and establish a permanent human lunar base.
The Role
You will own the software for accurately determining and tracking the position of our lunar rovers as they navigate the Moon's surface. This requires strong understanding of localization algorithms and hands-on experience making these systems work robustly on real robots in the real world.
You will decide on a technical approach, write software to implement it, test on real rover prototypes and in simulation, evaluate performance, identify strengths and weaknesses, decide whether to refine or pivot, and repeat this cycle quickly. We are a zero-bureaucracy environment where people thrive by working hard, facing difficult challenges, and making rapid progress.
Responsibilities
- Design a technical approach for rover localization on the Moon
- Develop software to determine rover position on the lunar surface using sensor data (IMU, cameras, LIDAR, odometry, star tracker, sun sensors, terrain matching)
- Test and evaluate localization performance on rover prototypes at our lunar analog test site
- Test and evaluate localization performance in Gazebo-based mission simulations using NASA lunar terrain data
- Integrate localization with other autonomy system components (path planning, hazard avoidance)
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years programming in Python and/or C/C++
- Experience developing software to control real robots
- Experience with non-GPS robot localization techniques (INS, EKF, factor graphs, SLAM)
- Evidence of exceptional engineering ability
- Degree in Computer Science or related field, OR demonstrated coding excellence through significant professional experience
- Outstanding communications skills
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with outdoor robots and/or autonomous vehicles
- Experience with robots operating in natural terrain
- Experience with LIDAR-based localization (LIDAR odometry, LIDAR SLAM)
- Experience with vision-based localization (visual odometry, VSLAM)
- Experience with terrain matching techniques for localization
- Programming in ROS/ROS2
- Robot simulators (Gazebo, Mujoco)
- Software development for aerospace applications
- Production software deployment experience
Position Details
Location: Hawthorne, CA
Salary: $155,000-$200,000 per year plus equity package; compensation scales with experience.
Benefits: PTO, health, dental, and vision coverage included.
U.S. Person Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, Refugee under 8 U.S.C. Section 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. Section 1158, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.