Clera
Principal Robotics Software Engineer
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, US
- Arrangement
- On-site
- Employment type
- Full-time
- Level
- Principal
- Posted
- 12 November 2026 (3 days ago)
Checked 2 days agoApplications go to the employer, never to RoleSprint
About this role
ABOUT THE ROLE
Join the robotics team at a defense technology company developing autonomous systems to detect and counter drone threats. This is a senior, hands-on individual contributor role focused on production C++ running on physical robotic hardware.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Write and own critical production C++ across the robotics software stack.
- Manage timing, threading, latency, and safety contracts across perception, tracking, control, and autonomy.
- Move software from prototype to reliable field use through release processes, packaging, deployment, CI/CD, quality assurance, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
- Mentor and support the growth of the robotics team while continuing to code hands-on.
- Investigate and resolve issues that emerge on real hardware, including during field testing.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- 10 or more years of hands-on robotics software engineering experience and a record of shipping robotic systems.
- Recent experience writing production C++ for physical systems, including personally implementing tracking, calibration, and sensor fusion.
- Experience taking robotics software from prototype to repeatable release for field, operator, fleet, or customer use.
- Broad experience across sensors, perception, tracking, control, middleware, and deployment, including ownership of timing and latency architecture across a system.
- Experience with robotics CI/CD, quality assurance, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and formal release and deployment processes.
- Experience mentoring or growing a team while remaining a hands-on individual contributor.
- ROS or ROS 2, cameras, IMUs, encoders, gimbal systems, and defense, aerospace, or safety-critical software experience are useful.
- Must be a U.S. person due to export control requirements.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
Base salary: $235,000 to $305,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
LOCATION
On-site in San Francisco, California, five days per week, with field test days included.
Work location
- San Francisco, CA, US
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About this listing
Published on Ashby under the board identifier Clera, which is the name the employer’s own job board carries. RoleSprint has not verified the company’s registered or trading name, so it is shown exactly as published rather than tidied up.
RoleSprint is not the employer and not a recruiter. Applications are made on the employer’s own site and never reach us; what RoleSprint does is help you decide whether a role is worth your time and prepare for it if it is.
Published 12 November 2026, last checked 2 days ago. A posting stops being advertised here 90 days after the employer published it, and one the employer takes down is marked closed rather than quietly removed.