About the company
We're an early-stage robotics startup building aerial robots that perform physical maintenance tasks in the field — work that today requires sending skilled crews to remote or hazardous sites. We're pre-seed, assembling our founding team, and moving fast toward our first paying pilot with a utility customer.
About the role
We're hiring a founding simulation engineer to build and own our simulation stack — from open-loop dynamics modeling to closed-loop control and autonomy testing. Your work will directly shape how fast we can iterate on control and autonomy without burning real-world flight/test time, and how confident we are before deploying to physical hardware.
What you'll do
Build and maintain open-loop dynamics models of the platform (rigid body + actuated mechanism dynamics)
Develop closed-loop simulation environments for control and autonomy testing, including disturbance and edge-case scenarios
Work with controls/autonomy engineers to validate algorithms in sim before hardware testing
Help build sim-to-real transfer methodology to shorten the gap between simulated and field performance
Instrument simulation environments for regression testing as the platform evolves
What we're seeking
Must have
Experience building physics-based simulation environments (e.g. MuJoCo, Gazebo, Isaac Sim, or custom)
Strong background in dynamics modeling and control theory (open-loop and closed-loop)
Comfortable working close to hardware — this isn't purely academic simulation work
Software engineering proficiency (Python and/or C++)
Nice to have
Experience simulating aerial, legged, or other dynamically unstable platforms
Background in sim-to-real transfer or domain randomization techniques
Prior experience at a robotics or autonomous vehicle company
Familiarity with grid, utility, or other critical infrastructure operating environments
Skills Required
- Experience building physics-based simulation environments using tools such as MuJoCo, Gazebo, Isaac Sim, or custom platforms
- Strong background in dynamics modeling and control theory, including open-loop and closed-loop systems
- Comfort working close to hardware
- Software engineering proficiency in Python and/or C++
- Experience simulating aerial, legged, or other dynamically unstable platforms
- Background in sim-to-real transfer or domain randomization techniques
- Prior experience at a robotics or autonomous vehicle company
- Familiarity with grid, utility, or other critical infrastructure operating environments
What We Do
Aviary Robotics is developing autonomous aerial robots for electric-grid inspection and repair. Its drones use onboard perception to detect and diagnose pole and equipment defects, then a robotic arm can perform routine tasks such as clearing debris, replacing fuses, or installing sensors during the same flight. The company aims to help utilities maintain outdoor infrastructure while reducing hazardous field visits and repeat dispatches.
