Head of Robotic Systems Software Engineering

About the Role

Atomic Machines is building advanced robotic manufacturing systems that integrate precision motion, sensing, vision, and process control into tightly coordinated production nodes. As Head of Robotic Systems Software Engineering, you'll own the architecture and development of the system-level software that orchestrates these nodes in production. Your team will be responsible for workflow sequencing, subsystem coordination, configuration management, and operational robustness. You will report to the Sr. Director of Platform and work with other software leaders and electrical, mechanical and systems engineering teams to bring new manufacturing nodes from hardware integration through stable, repeatable 24/7 operation.

What You'll Do

• Own the architecture of the robotic systems software stack, including deterministic workflow engines and sequencing logic across motion, vision, sensing, and IO subsystems.
• Lead node bring-up from hardware integration through production stabilization, ensuring safe, recoverable, and repeatable behavior.
• Define standards for fault detection, classification, automated recovery, and safe-state transitions.
• Establish clear architectural boundaries and interface contracts between real-time control layers and higher-level orchestration software.
• Build scalable configuration and calibration management frameworks to ensure reproducibility and consistency across machines.
• Implement robust telemetry, structured logging, and time-synchronized diagnostics to enable rapid root-cause analysis.
• Partner cross-functionally with mechanical, electrical, robotics, manufacturing, and infrastructure teams to ensure tight system integration.
• Hire, develop, and lead a high-performing team with strong technical standards and accountability.

What You'll Need

• • 10+ years of experience building complex automation or robotic systems, including 5+ years leading engineering teams.
  • Demonstrated expertise designing deterministic orchestration systems or explicit state machines in production environments.
  • Strong understanding of concurrency, event ordering, idempotency, and failure recovery in hardware-integrated systems.
  • Experience transitioning robotic or automation platforms from prototype to stable, production-grade operation.
  • Experience building observability systems for complex, hardware-integrated software.
  • Working knowledge of real-time motion or embedded control systems and how to architect clean separation between real-time and non-real-time layers.
  • Proven track record hiring, coaching, and scaling strong engineering teams.
  • Strong systems-level reasoning across hardware and software domains.
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or equivalent work experience.