USD per year
Robotics Engineer, Staff
Location
Austin
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
On-site
Department
Software Engineering
Compensation
- Lead/Principal $200K – $270K 3 Offers Equity
Location: Onsite 6 Austin, TX Employment Type: FullTime Job Title: Lead Robotics Engineer Company Overview 9 Mothers Defense develops AI-enabled systems to counter unmanned aerial threats. Our first product, EDDA, is an autonomous counter-sUAS point-defense platform designed to detect, track, and neutralize Group 1 drone threats. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas. Position Summary 9 Mothers is seeking a Robotics Lead to own the control systems and motion engineering for our counter-sUAS platform. The Robotics Lead is responsible for the design, implementation, and tuning of the high-bandwidth control loops and state estimation that enable EDDA to track and engage small, fast-moving aerial targets with precision. This is a senior individual contributor position focused on control theory. Essential Duties
- Design, implement, and tune the control stack for EDDA's motion system, including actuators and gimbaled subsystems.
- Develop and maintain high-bandwidth control loops, including PID, feedforward, and model-predictive control as appropriate to the application.
- Develop and maintain state estimation pipelines that fuse inertial measurement unit data, encoder feedback, and perception output into a consistent target track.
- Characterize and model mechanical nonlinearities 6 including backlash, cogging, stiction, inertia, and structural modes 6 and develop compensation strategies.
- Build calibration, logging, and replay tools to support field performance analysis.
- Continuously improve slew rate, settling time, and pointing accuracy as the hardware platform evolves.
Requirements
- 6+ years of professional experience in production controls engineering within motion systems, robotics, aerospace, or comparable real-time domains.
- Strong command of modern control theory, including state-space methods, observers, and model-predictive control.
- Proficiency in Rust, C, or C++ for real-time code, and Python for analysis and tooling.
- Demonstrated track record of bringing a complex physical system to production-grade performance.
- U.S. citizenship and ability to pass a background check.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with gimbal, turret, or pointing-system design.
- System identification and model-based control experience.
- Hands-on experience with motor drivers, CAN bus, and RTOS targets.
- Experience with ROS 2 or DDS middleware in production.
- Active security clearance or eligibility to obtain one.
- Prior defense startup experience
- Passion for building robots or engineering projects as a hobby
Benefits
- Meaningful Early Equity: You aren't just an employee; you are a foundational owner. Your contributions directly drive the value of your stake in the company.
- Direct Roadmap Influence: Forget the bureaucracy of big defense. You will have a seat at the table directly shaping our product and technology trajectory from day one.
- Mission-Critical Work: We don't build for "what if." We build systems the Department of War actively needs to counter immediate real-world threats.
- The Builder's Playground: Work in a brand-new lab fully optimized for rapid prototyping equipped with NVIDIA Jetsons high-end scopes and 3-D printers.
- 100% Employer-Paid Premiums: We cover 100% of your medical dental and vision insurance premiums and cover 50% of healthcare premiums for your dependents.
- Unlimited PTO: We value results not clock-watching Take the time you need to stay sharp and recharge.
- Zero Red Tape: You report to the founders You have autonomy to make technical decisions that would take months of committee approval at a larger firm.
- Austin-Based Culture: Join an onsite team in Austin TX where we prioritize high-bandwidth collaboration rapid field-testing.
- Relocation Assistance: We want best talent in room If you aren't in Austin yet we9ll help you get here make your transition Silicon Hills seamless.
About the Interview 1 Initial Screening with recruiter -30 min phone call 2nd Round Onsite Interview - CTO + Director + VP + peer(s) (~6 hours in-person) will fly out candidates that are not local 3 Reference checks & offer Compensation Range: $200K - $270K
Builds counter-drone defense systems for modern battlefield engagements that legacy C-sUAS was not designed for. Focuses on hardware tempo measured in months, not decades. Mission-driven to close the gap caused by slow procurement cycles with operator-first design and vertically scoped end-to-end system ownership.
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