Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Controls

Aurelius Systems is a VC-backed defense tech startup developing autonomous, edge-deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We make laser systems to shot down drones.

Our small team includes engineers, former US military operators, and experts, focused on creating the first cost-effective, reliable, and robust laser weapon system.

You’ll own the precision motion stack, full stop. The critical gap we’re hiring for is a hands‑on robotics controls engineer who can iterate fast on real hardware. Someone who can take a model, get it on the hardware, characterize what’s actually happening, and tighten the loop. You think in Bode plots and step responses.

This is a senior IC role on the controls side. You’ll own the architecture and tuning of the precision pointing and tracking control loops, the state estimation behind them, and the closed‑loop integration with the tracker.

• Architecture and tuning of the precision pointing and tracking control loops
• Closed loop tracking from sensor input through actuator command at hundreds of Hz
• State estimation across IMU, encoder, and vision based feedback (Kalman filters, complementary filters, sensor fusion)
• System identification and modeling of the gimbal, mount, and actuator dynamics
• Actuator tuning, gain scheduling, and compensation for nonlinearities (backlash, friction, saturation)
• Resonance characterization, notch filtering, and structural compensation
• Hardware‑in‑the‑loop test infrastructure for controls validation
• Field characterization of the system against real targets at the range
• Author controls documentation and tuning standards

• 4+ years of experience in robotics
• Strong knowledge of fundamentals: classical controls, state space, LQR, MPC
• Proven simulation experience and a track record of managing the sim‑to‑real gap on actual hardware
• Modern C++ for real time control implementation
• Python or MATLAB/Simulink for modeling, system , and analysis
• State estimation in practice (Kalman, EKF, UKF, complementary filters)
• System identification and frequency domain tuning
• Direct experience with motion control hardware — servo drives, brushless motors, encoders, IMUs
• Comfortable working at the seam between mechanical, electrical, and software
• Understanding of latency, jitter, and how they kill control loop performance

Your controls experience is purely simulation, your real world tuning amounts to changing PID gains in a UI, or you’ve never had to characterize a resonance, model an actuator, or fight a sensor that lies to you. We need someone who’s tuned hardware that fought back.

• Advanced MPC — nonlinear MPC, robust MPC, or real‑time NMPC on resource constrained hardware
• Gimbal, beam director, or precision pointing system experience
• Aerospace, defense, or directed energy controls background
• Adaptive or robust control implementation in production
• Vision‑in‑the‑loop control (visual servoing, image‑based tracking)
• Hardware‑in‑the‑loop simulation experience
• High bandwidth sensor pipelines (cameras, radar, IMUs at high rate)
• Prior work on a system that had to hit a moving target

MS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or related field is the sweet spot. BS with strong hands‑on robotics experience or PhD with a real shipping record both welcome.

• Extreme bias for action. You’d rather tune on hardware tomorrow than model it for a month
• Rigorous testing mindset. You characterize your own loops before the field does
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast, constantly iterating in a startup environment
• Your brain only releases dopamine when you’re building
• You debug from first principles
• Clear communicator across mechanical, electrical, optical, and software teams
• Self‑directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

• Build more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.
• Career velocity is real. Erick Brito went from Founding Robotics Engineer to Lead in 12 months. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between…