Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Simulation
Bonsai Robotics1 day ago
San Jose, CA, USASenior
Responsibilities
- Build and maintain simulation environments modeling orchards, vineyards, bedded crops, uneven terrain, variable lighting, and weather.
- Own the interface between the simulator and the ROS 2 autonomy stack and build SIL and HIL frameworks for closed-loop perception, planning, and controls testing.
- Convert field logs into replayable simulation scenarios, reproduce field failures, and expand the regression scenario library.
- Create and calibrate camera, GNSS/RTK, IMU, and LiDAR sensor models, including noise and failure modes.
- Model vehicle dynamics and terrain interaction across multiple robot form factors using real vehicle data.
- Automate scenario generation, evaluation metrics, reporting, and CI-based simulation testing before releases reach machines.
- Keep simulation fast, deterministic, and reproducible while measuring its ability to predict real-world behavior.
- Generate synthetic data for perception training and collaborate with ML, perception, controls, and platform teams on sim-to-real gaps.
Requirements
- Bachelor's, master's, or PhD in computer science, robotics, or a related field.
- 5+ years of industry experience in robotics software engineering with a significant focus on simulation.
- 2+ years building SIL, HIL, or closed-loop evaluation systems used in production.
- Strong computer science fundamentals, systems fluency, and the ability to debug a large existing codebase.
- Strong proficiency in C/C++ and Python.
- Experience with simulation environments such as NVIDIA Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, Gazebo, or similar platforms.
- Familiarity with physics engines including PhysX, Bullet, or MuJoCo.
- Deep understanding of ROS 2 and experience integrating simulation into CI/CD pipelines.
- Strong debugging, testing, problem-solving, independent work, and collaboration skills.
- Preferred qualifications include Rust experience, agricultural, construction, or off-road robotics experience, digital twins, synthetic data generation, NVIDIA Cosmos or similar world models, neural reconstruction, USD/OpenUSD, sim-to-real transfer, GPU-accelerated rendering or ray tracing, and NVIDIA Jetson or other embedded deployment.
Benefits
- Hybrid flexibility allows employees to split time between the office and home for selective roles.
- The company emphasizes work-life balance, supportive teammates, and employee wellness.
- Lunch is covered on in-office days.
- Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance, mental health support, and wellness programs.
- Employees participate in a collaborative, mission-driven robotics culture with team events and cross-functional work.