Senior​/Robotics and Controls Engineer

Reports to: Manager of Robotics and Controls

Workplace Type: Hybrid (onsite average of 3 days/week in Santa Cruz and the new Bay Area office near West Menlo Park).

At Capstan Medical, we’re building one of the most exciting and innovative companies in medtech—developing a first‑of‑its‑kind robotic platform for minimally invasive heart valve treatment. Our team combines surgical robotics, catheter‑based delivery, and next‑generation implants to transform complex procedures into safer, lower‑stress solutions for patients and clinicians alike. As a highly collaborative, hands‑on team, we move fast, wear multiple hats, and believe the best ideas can come from anyone.

Based in Santa Cruz, our unique workspace blends cutting‑edge Bay Area innovation with a lifestyle‑driven environment near trails, beaches, and open space—creating the perfect place to do meaningful, career‑defining work.

• Design, implement, and verify robotic control algorithms for Capstan's catheter‑based surgical platform — kinematics, dynamics, teleoperation, and motion control
• Develop forward and inverse kinematic models for continuum and tendon‑driven mechanisms, and validate them against real‑world data
• Build trajectory engines, drive modes, and constraint‑aware motion algorithms that translate surgeon intent into safe, precise catheter motion
• Design and execute characterization studies on actuators, tendon transmissions, and full system performance; translate experimental results into models, parameters, and acceptance criteria
• Define algorithm‑level performance specifications and hazard‑driven fault detection thresholds; partner with Systems and Quality to support design verification and regulatory submissions
• Translate clinical and user needs into design requirements, prototype rapidly on real hardware, and carry features through verification to product launch
• Drive technical direction for path planning, catheter control, or robotics algorithms across multiple hardware programs (increased level of architectural ownership and cross‑program scope for Staff)
• Mentor engineers on the team, lead design reviews, and contribute to hiring and onboarding (increased level of mentorship for Staff)
• Document your work through design reviews and released DHF documentation, and identify gaps and pitch in as needed to keep the team moving

• Strong foundation in robot kinematics and dynamics - forward/inverse kinematics, Jacobians, rigid‑body dynamics, and ideally continuum, concentric tube, or tendon‑driven systems
• Fluent with classical and modern control -- PID, feed forward, model‑based, optimal/MPC, impedance/admittance -- and the judgment to know when each is appropriate
• Hands‑on experience implementing control algorithms in modern C++ (14/17/20) for real‑time, safety‑critical systems, with Python for rapid prototyping, data analysis, and tooling
• Motion planning and trajectory generation experience — constrained nonlinear optimization, collision‑aware planning, or task‑space control paradigms
• State estimation and sensor fusion experience — Kalman/EKF/UKF, particle filters, or nonlinear observers, with a working understanding of noise models and sensor calibration
• Comfortable characterizing real electromechanical systems on the bench; you can design the experiment, run it, analyze the data, and turn it into a model
• Close‑to‑hardware sensibility: encoders, motor controllers, force sensors, brakes, IMUs — you understand the gap between textbook systems and real ones
• Strong object‑oriented design instincts, with the discipline to factor algorithm code so it can be unit‑tested, reviewed, and maintained as the team scales
• Medical robotics or safety‑critical systems background — you know why "it works in sim" or "it works most of the time" isn't good enough
• Understanding of how early design decisions cascade into downstream cost; ability to make smart calls on clinical workflow, regulation, and risk management to save time and effort later

• BS/MS in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent; MS or PhD preferred
• 5+ years (Senior) or 8+ years (Staff) of hands‑on robotics or…