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Staff Software Engineer - Humanoid Controls

Apptronik· Advanced Technologies
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Sunnyvale, CA$300k - $350kfull-timePosted 2mo ago

About the role

Senior technical force multiplier on the Motion Control & Planning team focused on whole-body control for wheeled-base and biped platforms, learning-based hand control, mobile manipulation, and teleoperation; translating state-of-the-art controls and learning into robust robotics capabilities and setting technical direction for the team.

Responsibilities

  • Raise the quality of the overall controls stack — architecture, algorithms, real-time performance, testing, and long-term maintainability.
  • Advance whole-body control across our platforms — the wheeled-base robot and the biped — coordinating the base or legs with upper-body manipulation.
  • Flex across the stack to the highest-impact problems — e.g. learning-based hand control (RL in simulation), mobile manipulation, teleoperation, and estimation.
  • Translate state-of-the-art model-based and learning-based methods into robust capability, from simulation through hardware bring-up and deployment.
  • Expand the robot's performance envelope — speed, payload, reliability, and safety — with measurable, defensible improvements.
  • Set technical direction across the controls stack, influencing the roadmap and bringing adjacent teams (locomotion, manipulation, teleoperation, RL, estimation) along.
  • Mentor engineers and multiply team capability through design reviews, code reviews, and best practices.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with hardware, systems, and RL teams to co-develop solutions and diagnose system-level issues.

Qualifications

  • Deep robotics fundamentals: kinematics, dynamics, state estimation, and optimization/control theory.
  • Proven expertise in whole-body control (WBC/OSC, QP-based control, or MPC) for floating-base (legged) or mobile (wheeled) systems.
  • Hands-on experience with learning-based control / reinforcement learning applied to robotics (training in simulation).
  • Breadth across robot control problems — mobile manipulation, dexterity / hand control, and teleoperation — and the versatility to move between them.
  • Strong software engineering: real-time C++ and Python for robotic systems.
  • Industry experience developing production-grade controllers, including hands-on experience validating or deploying algorithms on physical robot hardware.
  • Preferred: shipping controllers to a production fleet or to market at scale; dexterous / in-hand manipulation; legged locomotion; or safety-critical / certified software (ISO 13849, 10218, IEC 61508).

Skills

Required:Robotics fundamentalsWhole-body controlLearning-based control / reinforcement learningSoftware engineering for robotics
Last updated Aug 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Apptronik

One Platform for the Future of Work

Apptronik designs humanoid robotics platforms with mobility, manipulation, and human-centered interaction to support people in the workplace.

3PLApolloApollo for ManufacturingApollo for RetailApollo for WarehouseBuilt for the Real WorldForm That Fits the WorkGoods-to-Person
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