Member of Technical Staff – Senior Engineer, Hardware Integration, Sensing, and Control

At Walden Robotics, we envision a world where general-purpose robots dramatically improve the quality of life for all people—supporting us at home, at work, in factories, on farms, and beyond. To accomplish this, we are building a team of exceptional professionals who combine world-class technical skills with creative vision, grounded in humility and collaboration.

Position Summary:

You will own the software-level interface between hardware and the rest of the robot—integrating sensors, actuators, and compute into a coherent, reliable platform that the higher-level stack can depend on. You'll bring up new hardware, build the drivers and data pipelines that expose it cleanly to the system, and implement the low-level control and sensing software that makes our robots move and perceive. This role is less about firmware on bare metal and more about the systems-software layer that turns a pile of components into a robot: reliable interfaces, clean abstractions, solid real-time behavior, and the tooling to keep it all working in the field.

Core Responsibilities:

• Hardware Integration & Bring-Up: Lead the software-side integration of new sensors, actuators, and compute hardware—from driver development and interface design through system-level commissioning.
• Low-Level Control: Design, implement, and tune real-time control loops for robot joints and actuators, with a focus on performance, safety, and determinism.
• Sensor Pipeline Development: Build and maintain reliable, low-latency data pipelines for cameras (GMSL), LiDARs, IMUs, force/torque sensors, and other peripherals.
• Real-Time Systems: Develop the low-level software that runs on our compute platforms, including NVIDIA Jetson targets, ensuring tight hardware/software co-optimization at the systems-software layer.
• EtherCAT & Fieldbus Communication: Implement and maintain EtherCAT-based communication stacks for real-time servo and I/O integration; debug and optimize fieldbus timing and topology.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with AI and software infrastructure teams to define interfaces and ensure hardware capabilities are fully exposed to the broader robotics stack.
• Diagnostics & Reliability: Develop tools for hardware-in-the-loop testing, sensor calibration, system diagnostics, and field debugging of deployed robots.

Required Qualifications:

• Hardware Integration Background: Proven experience integrating sensors and actuators into robotic or other complex electromechanical systems at the software level.
• Systems Software Expertise: Strong C/C++ skills, with experience writing drivers, HALs, or systems software on embedded Linux.
• Real-Time Control: Hands-on experience designing and tuning real-time control loops (torque, velocity, position) with an understanding of control theory fundamentals.
• EtherCAT Experience: Practical experience bringing up an EtherCAT master/slave stack for real-time motor control or I/O; familiarity with tools such as Acontis, TwinCAT, or equivalent.
• NVIDIA Jetson Platforms: Experience bringing up and optimizing software on Jetson AGX, Orin, or similar SoC platforms, including CUDA integration, device tree configuration, and peripheral bring-up.
• Camera & Sensor Integration: Experience with GMSL or similar camera interfaces; comfort working with V4L2, GStreamer, or camera SDK pipelines.
• System Debugging: Strong ability to debug across the hardware/software boundary using serial consoles, logic analyzers, and Linux debugging tools.
• Python & C++ Workflows: Fluency in both languages across the development stack.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with additional fieldbus or real-time communication protocols (CAN, CANopen, RS-485, SPI, I2C, etc.).
• Experience with CUDA, NVENC, or other GPU-accelerated sensor processing pipelines.
• Exposure to perception sensor calibration (camera intrinsics/extrinsics, IMU-camera alignment, LiDAR-camera fusion).
• Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing methodologies.
• Experience with safety-critical or certified embedded systems (IEC 61508, ISO 13849, or similar).

Walden Robotics offers a competitive total compensation program, including salary, annual cash bonus, company equity, company-subsidized insurance programs, 401(k) with company match, flexible PTO, daily lunch, and other benefits. The pay ranges noted on