Controls Engineer
Gradient RoboticsVisit Gradient Robotics website
Gradient Robotics builds robots for AI-infrastructure and data-center construction.
San Francisco, United States
About Gradient Robotics
San Francisco robotics company developing full-stack autonomous robotic systems for the data-center buildout, spanning hardware, controls, perception, software, and deployment.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will own the robot control stack from command to actuator. You will design, implement, and tune motor-control, trajectory, force, and feedback loops; integrate actuators and sensors; validate performance; and diagnose motion errors across mechanical, electrical, and software systems.
Requirements
- 3+ years of controls engineering experience with electromechanical systems
- Understand PID, system identification, stability analysis, and control theory
- Tune motor control and closed-loop motion systems on physical hardware
- Use C++ or Rust for real-time control code
- Use Python for analysis and tooling
- Debug instability, resonance, latency, sensor noise, and mechanical compliance
- Work on-site in San Francisco five days per week
- Have force or impedance control experience
- Know EtherCAT, CANopen, or servo-drive commissioning
- Have precision-motion systems experience
- Be familiar with real-time Linux and deterministic execution
Responsibilities
- Design, implement, and tune motor control, trajectory execution, and high-rate feedback loops
- Deliver repeatable sub-millimeter positioning under significant loads
- Develop force and impedance control strategies
- Integrate and characterize motors, drives, encoders, and force/torque sensors
- Work with mechanical, electrical, and software engineers on control interfaces
- Build test procedures and rapidly iterate controller revisions