Senior Robotics Motion Planning Engineer in Boston

If you want to spend your time tuning algorithms in simulation without ever touching the robot, this probably isn't the role for you. This is a hands-on opportunity for someone who wants to take sophisticated motion planning from code and simulation into real-world robotic systems.

You’ll join a small, technically ambitious robotics team developing advanced autonomous machinery for demanding real-world applications. The work sits at the intersection of motion planning, robot control, perception, hardware integration and safety-critical system behaviour.

As a Senior Robotics Motion Planning Engineer, you’ll be the primary technical driver for implementing motion planning and control across a complex multi-axis robotic platform. You’ll work closely with perception, systems, hardware and low-level software engineers to develop reliable path planning, trajectory generation and collision avoidance capabilities. The systems you’re working with involve multiple axes and moving mechanisms operating within constrained environments, creating genuinely interesting planning challenges. The role is highly hands-on. When something isn't working on the robot, you’ll be expected to investigate it, understand whether the problem sits in the planner, kinematic model, hardware constraints or software integration, and help drive the solution through to implementation.

Responsibilities

• Lead the software definition and integration of motion planning across complex multi-axis robotic hardware
• Develop and maintain robot models, including URDF/SRDF, kinematic configurations, planning scenes and joint-specific motion profiles
• Select, configure and tune appropriate motion planning algorithms for different operating requirements
• Develop fast, efficient and collision-aware trajectory planning that accounts for environmental obstacles and robot kinematic constraints
• Work with sampling-based planning approaches including RRT, RRT-Connect and PRM
• Evaluate and implement trajectory optimisation techniques such as CHOMP, STOMP and TrajOpt where appropriate
• Develop deterministic planning approaches where repeatability and production reliability are critical
• Build and maintain ROS 2 software for actuator state feedback, joint state publishing and trajectory execution
• Work closely with hardware and systems engineers to define kinematic constraints, velocity and acceleration limits and safety requirements
• Diagnose and optimise motion performance on physical robotic systems
• Support testing and debugging during real-world deployments when required
• Write clean, testable and maintainable C++ and/or Python
• Clearly document technical decisions and system architecture for cross-functional engineering teams

Why this role

This is a position with genuine ownership. You’ll have direct access to physical robotic hardware and the opportunity to influence how the motion stack is designed, rather than simply implementing requirements handed down from elsewhere. The problems are also far from textbook exercises. You’ll be dealing with real hardware constraints, complex kinematics, collision avoidance, tight tolerances and the interaction between planning software and physical machinery. For an engineer who enjoys understanding why a robot behaves the way it does and then improving the entire system, there's plenty to get stuck into. You’ll work in a small engineering team where technical decisions can move quickly from discussion to implementation, testing and iteration. There's significant autonomy, and senior engineers are expected to contribute across the stack when solving difficult problems.

The environment

This is a hands-on robotics environment where software engineers are expected to understand the hardware their algorithms control. You’ll work alongside engineers across software, perception, controls, mechanical and electrical disciplines, with the ability to influence technical direction and see your work progress from development and simulation through to physical testing.

What we're looking for

We're looking for a Senior Robotics Motion Planning Engineer with deep practical experience developing and deploying motion planning systems. You’ll ideally have:

• Strong knowledge of motion planning algorithms, including sampling-based methods such as RRT/RRT* and probabilistic roadmaps
• Experience with trajectory optimisation techniques such as CHOMP, STOMP or TrajOpt
• Hands-on experience with MoveIt or MoveIt 2, ideally in production or near-production robotic systems
• Strong understanding of forward and inverse kinematics for serial and/or parallel manipulators
• Experience with kinematic solvers such as KDL, TRAC-IK or equivalent
• Strong understanding of collision avoidance, occupancy representations and safety-aware planning
• A track record of developing reliable motion planning systems under real-world constraints
• Strong C++ and/or Python skills within the ROS 2 ecosystem
• An understanding of real-time performance, memory management and robust software architecture
• Experience using robotic simulation environments for development and validation
• Strong debugging skills across hardware/software boundaries

A Bachelor's, Master's or PhD in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science or a related field would be beneficial. Experience with industrial automation, complex mechatronic systems, real-time trajectory execution, hardware-in-the-loop testing or safety-rated motion control would also be valuable. Experience across perception, sensor integration, LiDAR, depth cameras, point clouds, SLAM or reactive motion planning is a plus, particularly where it has been applied to physical robotic systems.

Location: Massachusetts
Working arrangement: On-site
Employment: Full-time