Senior Software Engineer

Apptronik is building robots for the real world to improve human quality of life and to help solve the ever-increasing labor shortage problem. Our team has been building some of the most advanced robots on the planet for years, dating back to the DARPA Robotics Challenge. We apply our expertise across the full robotics stack to some of the most important and impactful problems our society faces, and expect our products and technology to change the world for the better. We value passion, creativity, and collaboration to help us overcome existing technological barriers in the industry to create truly innovative products.

You will join a team developing state-of-the-art general-purpose robots designed to operate in human spaces and with human tools. It is designed to work alongside humans, mobilize to human spaces, and manipulate the world around it.

JOB SUMMARY

In this role, you will be a pivotal member of the software team, responsible for the entire software development lifecycle platform that our robotics engineers rely on. You will own the critical intersection of infrastructure, tooling, and automation, ensuring our developers can build, test, and deploy complex robotics software with maximum velocity and reliability. This role requires a generalist mindset, blending hands-on infrastructure management with understanding of the C++ build ecosystem. The ideal candidate is a pragmatic problem-solver, working through problems not seen before, managing a Kubernetes cluster one day and optimizing a CMake script the next.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
CI/CD Ownership

• Design, build, and maintain scalable and resilient CI/CD pipelines tailored for a large-scale C++ and Python codebase.
• Take ownership of the underlying infrastructure for our CI/CD system, including managing container orchestration (Kubernetes) for build agents and services.
• Proactively identify and resolve bottlenecks in the build and test process, applying optimizations such as advanced caching, parallelization, and build system improvements (CMake).
• Manage artifact and container registries, ensuring secure, reliable, and fast access to software dependencies and build outputs.

Developer Experience & Automation

• Develop and maintain essential tooling and automation that simplifies and accelerates the entire development workflow, from local development to hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing.
• Manage the C++ dependency ecosystem using tools like Conan, balancing developer flexibility with build reproducibility and stability.
• Automate the provisioning and configuration of development and testing resources using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles with tools like Terraform and Ansible.
• Work directly with robotics engineers to understand their challenges and collaboratively develop effective, pragmatic solutions.

System Reliability & Problem Solving

• Act as a key troubleshooter for complex, cross-domain issues spanning application code, build systems (CMake, ROS2), containerization, networking, and infrastructure.
• Implement and manage a robust monitoring and observability strategy to ensure the health, performance, and reliability of the entire development platform.
• Ensure consistency and reproducibility across all environments, from a developer's laptop to our physical robots.

SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Expertise in scripting and automation using modern languages like Python or Bash.
• A strong command of the Linux operating system, including networking, file systems, permissions, resource management, and shell environments.
• Experience with C++ and a strong command of its build ecosystem, particularly CMake.
• Proven ability to design, build, and manage complex, automated CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Bitbucket pipelines, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).
• Proficiency with containerization technologies
• A solid understanding of core networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with C++ package managers like Conan.
• Familiarity with robotics frameworks, particularly ROS2.
• Experience with build optimization and caching tools (ccache, sccache).
• Experience with monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana).
• Familiarity with a major cloud provider (GCP, AWS, Azure).

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of relevant experience in a DevOps, Software Engineering, or Build/Release Engineering role.
• A proven track record of supporting software development teams by building and maintaining reliable infrastructure and effective tooling.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times.
• Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen.
• Hearing and speech to communicate.

*This is a direct hire. Please, no outside Agency solicitations.

Apptronik provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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