Our manufacturing system is composed of nodes; each delivers a unit of manufacturing capacity for a process, and there are a dozen or more node types. As a Robotics Software Engineer, Simulations, you will help build our machines' digital twins: simulations that stand in for the real hardware behind the same software interfaces, so that manufacturing software can be developed and tested without waiting for machine time. You will join the simulation team at its start, working directly with its founding engineer.
Your work starts with the foundation all our nodes share and the robotics that move material through them. One week you might build the model of a motion axis, a gripper, or a sensor and watch a machine's software run against it; the next, wire a node's software into the simulator so it can be tested in CI, or dig into why the simulation and the real machine's telemetry disagree and decide whether that's a software bug or a gap in the model.This role suits an engineer with strong fundamentals, curiosity about how physical machines behave, and an instinct for the difference between what the model says and what the machine did.
- Build models of the devices that make up our machines (motion axes, sensors, grippers, and the machinery around them) that behave like the real thing behind the same software interfaces.
- Build scenario and regression suites that let machine software be developed and tested in CI, with no hardware in the loop.
- Extend simulation coverage across our machine types so more of the stack can be exercised without a physical machine.
- Build validation tooling that compares simulation behavior against real-machine telemetry, and root-cause divergences to a software bug or a model-fidelity gap.
- Grow toward owning a well-bounded piece of the platform, such as the device-model library or the simulation harness our CI runs on.
- 2+ years building software for systems that interact with hardware or the physical world; industry, internships, robotics competitions, research, and serious open-source work all count.
- Strong programming fundamentals with working Python: you can build and debug real systems in Python, even if it isn't your first language.
- Simulation or modeling exposure: physics simulation, behavioral/discrete-event simulation, digital twins, or game-engine work; you have used a simulator seriously and know where it lied to you.
- A first-principles mindset: you reason about why a design works, not just how you've seen it done.
- Practical understanding of state machines, concurrency, and determinism.
- Systematic debugging habits and the collaboration skills to chase problems across the software/hardware boundary.
- BS in CS, CE, EE, ME, Mechatronics, Robotics, or equivalent experience.
- Working C++: our motion stack and parts of the simulation core are C++ (expected at L4; a strong plus at L3).
- Physics-engine experience: MuJoCo, Drake, Bullet, PyBullet, or similar; rigid-body dynamics and contact modeling.
- Robotics depth: kinematics, dynamics, motion planning, or state estimation.
- Experience with robotics middleware, ROS or otherwise (we build our own).
- gRPC/Protobuf APIs, observability tooling, or CI/test infrastructure at scale.
- Hardware-in-the-loop testing or sim-based validation of real machines.
The compensation for this position also includes equity and benefits.
Skills Required
- 2+ years building software for systems that interact with hardware or the physical world
- Strong programming fundamentals with working Python (build and debug real systems)
- Simulation or modeling exposure (physics simulation, discrete-event simulation, digital twins, game-engine work)
- Practical understanding of state machines, concurrency, and determinism
- Systematic debugging habits and collaboration skills to investigate hardware/software boundary issues
- BS in CS, CE, EE, ME, Mechatronics, Robotics, or equivalent experience
- First-principles mindset and curiosity about physical machine behavior
- Working C++
- Physics-engine experience (MuJoCo, Drake, Bullet, PyBullet, or similar)
- Robotics depth (kinematics, dynamics, motion planning, or state estimation)
- Experience with robotics middleware (ROS or custom)
- Experience with gRPC/Protobuf APIs, observability tooling, or CI/test infrastructure at scale
- Hardware-in-the-loop testing or sim-based validation experience
What We Do
Atomic Machines is redefining humanity’s relationship with matter. We see a future where our tools will allow us to reorganize matter at the atomic level at will, where we will go from bits to atoms for any object or machine that can be designed in alignment with physical laws. We have begun our journey with the development of a robotic manufacturing platform capable of making an entirely new class of micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices. We are well funded and have exceptionally strong product/market fit and a clear go-to-market path for the device we will make first with our platform. Our platform breaks traditional manufacturing paradigms and constraints, enabling inexpensive rapid prototyping as well as large scale manufacturing with highly compelling economics. Joining forces with us means becoming part of an incredibly talented, inventive and passionate multi-disciplinary team working on a massive world-changing mission. You will have the opportunity to help define the company from its early days. You’ll be challenged to learn and grow as a builder and a leader as the company itself grows rapidly. And you will receive significant equity compensation - you’ll truly be a company owner and benefit financially from our overall success.
