Principal Motion Planning Engineer

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Own the technical vision, architecture, interfaces, and system documentation for Pickle's motion planning and controls stack — manipulation, navigation, and safety-critical control of the unload robot — so the team can…
• Take on the hardest algorithmic problems in planning and control — sample-based planning (e.g., RRT), path and trajectory optimization, numerical/nonlinear optimization, and contact-aware control — and turn research…
• Set engineering standards and technical strategy across the robotics organization, driving high-stakes technical decisions that unblock major customers and multi-year roadmaps
• Act as a force multiplier through deep technical mentorship — raising the bar for the whole team, reviewing designs, and guiding engineers on the toughest problems without direct people management
• Analyze field failure cases and partner across engineering, test, and on-site deployment teams to design robust autonomous recovery that measurably improves reliability
• Establish regression tests, benchmarks, and success metrics that keep regressions away from customers and focus the team on the highest-impact work.
• Write production-grade Python and C++ for real-time, safety-critical robotics — personally shipping the highest-leverage and highest-risk components