Principal Robotics Software Engineer

San Franciscofull timeOn Sitesenior$235k–$305kH1B: no

Clera Principal Robotics Software Engineer at Clera to develop autonomous robotic systems for defense. Responsible for writing production C++ code and ensuring system reliability on hardware.

Responsibilities

Join a defense technology team developing autonomous robotic systems for countering unmanned aircraft. As the most senior individual contributor on the robotics team, you will write critical production code and help ensure the system performs reliably on real hardware.
Write and own production C++ across the robotics software stack.
Establish timing and safety contracts across perception, tracking, control, and autonomy.
Turn prototype software into repeatable field releases through packaging, deployment, CI/CD, quality assurance, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
Mentor and grow the robotics team while remaining hands-on with code.
Debug hardware and field issues, including during regular range tests.

Qualification

Experience owning system-wide timingFamiliarity with ROS or ROS2Must be a UExperience with camerasDefenseActive security clearance

Required

At least 10 years of hands-on robotics software engineering experience, with shipped systems and recent coding experience.
Production C++ experience on physical robotic systems, with breadth across sensors, perception, tracking, control, middleware, and deployment.
Experience taking a robotics stack from prototype to repeatable use in field, operator, fleet, or customer settings.
Experience owning system-wide timing, threading, and latency, and building release, CI/CD, quality assurance, or hardware-in-the-loop processes.