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Principal Robotics Engineer - Autonomy & Behavior

Twentyfour Industries· Autonomy
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MunichFull-time, Permanent employeePosted 2w ago

About the role

Principal Robotics Engineer to set the technical direction for how robots make decisions, moving logic from handwritten C++ into formal models (e.g., behavior trees), defining how models request flight skills from autopilot, and enabling stack reuse across robots. Technical authority role with no people management, reporting to Team Lead Autonomy and collaborating with Principal Systems Engineer.

Responsibilities

  • Own the behavior layer: design the nodes, the ports, and the structure that makes a flight readable and testable as data rather than as code.
  • Move the remaining flight authority out of hand-written logic and into the tree, and prove that the new path behaves like the old one before we delete the old one.
  • Define how the companion computer asks the autopilot for a flight skill, and how it reads back whether that skill is running, finished, or refused.
  • Draw the line between what is shared across robots and what each robot writes for itself, so that a second platform reuses the stack instead of forking it.
  • Make failures legible: a log and a trace should tell a reader which check said no, and why.
  • Work across the autonomy, perception, platform, and testing teams, since the behavior layer touches all of them.
  • Raise the technical bar: design reviews, code reviews, and the written arguments that go with them.
  • Mentor engineers, without holding a management line.

Qualifications

  • Have around 5 years or more of robotics software experience.
  • Have deep C++ expertise, and the judgment to design a system that other people will extend.
  • Have real experience with behavior trees, or with another explicit way of expressing robot behavior, and clear opinions about where that approach breaks.
  • Have a breadth of knowledge across robotics: state estimation, motion planning, control, or perception. Depth in at least one of them.
  • Have Experience with robots that run in the physical world, not only in simulation.
  • Possess the ability to take a design apart in a discussion and put it back together better.

Skills

Required:C++Behavior treesState estimation
Nice to have:Motion planning

Benefits

  • Real impact & ownership: Shape high-tech defense systems and take responsibility from day one
  • Mission-driven environment: Work on technologies that matter for European security and sovereignty
  • Competitive package: Competitive salary, EGYM Wellpass, corporate benefits, and equity options aligned with role and level
  • Deep tech environment: Get hands-on experience with cutting-edge drone technology and real operational use cases
  • Grow fast: Steep learning curve for juniors, strategic influence and leadership opportunities for seniors
  • Startup mindset meets defence innovation: flat hierarchies, fast decisions, and space for your ideas.
  • Flexibility: Flexible hours, remote options, and relocation support
  • Strong team: International, driven colleagues and a culture built on exchange, trust, and shared success
Last updated Oct 14, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Twentyfour Industries

European Drones – at scale

Twentyfour Industries designs, manufactures, and deploys drones for European and allied partners - cost-effectively, at scale, and with end-to-end operational support.

AutonomyC-UASCivil operatorsDronesEuropeanIndustrialMilitaryOperational support
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