Senior Robotics Software Engineer – Lunar Rover Localization Verified today
The Mission
Starpath develops and manufactures technologies that will enable humans to live on the Moon and Mars. You will work on robotic systems that locally produce essential commodities for a lunar civilization: water, power, and oxygen.
Senior Robotics Software Engineer - Lunar Rover Localization
You will own the software for accurately determining and tracking the position of lunar rovers as they navigate the Moon's surface. This requires strong technical understanding of localization algorithms and hands-on experience getting localization systems to work robustly on real robots in the real world.
The right candidate can decide on a technical approach, write the software to implement it, test the system on real rovers and in simulation, evaluate performance, understand strengths and weaknesses, decide whether to refine or pivot, and repeat this cycle quickly.
Responsibilities
- Design a technical approach that addresses the specific challenges of rover localization on the Moon
- Develop software for accurately determining rover position on the lunar surface based on sensor data (IMU, cameras, LIDAR, odometry, star tracker, sun sensors, terrain matching)
- Test and evaluate localization performance on rover prototypes at lunar analog test sites
- Test and evaluate localization performance in Gazebo-based mission simulations based on NASA lunar terrain data
- Work closely with the software team to integrate localization with other autonomy system components (path planning, hazard avoidance)
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years experience 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 excellence at coding via 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
- Experience programming in ROS/ROS2
- Experience with robot simulators (Gazebo, Mujoco)
- Experience developing software for aerospace applications
- Experience developing and deploying software in production
Employment Details
- Location: Hawthorne, CA
- Employment Type: Full-time
- Travel: Occasional
- Department: Starmine
Export Requirements
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, you must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.