Robotics Engineer, Staff

Department: Software Engineering

Location: Austin

Compensation: $200K – $270K • Offers Equity

Employment Type: FullTime

Location: Onsite — Austin, TX

Employment Type: Full‑Time

Job Title: Lead Robotics Engineer

Company Overview

9 Mothers Defense develops AI-enabled systems to counter unmanned aerial threats. Our first product, EDDA, is an autonomous counter-sUAS point-defense platform designed to detect, track, and neutralize Group 1 drone threats. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Position Summary

9 Mothers is seeking a Robotics Lead to own the control systems and motion engineering for our counter-sUAS platform. The Robotics Lead is responsible for the design, implementation, and tuning of the high-bandwidth control loops and state estimation that enable EDDA to track and engage small, fast-moving aerial targets with precision. This is a senior individual contributor position focused on control theory.

Essential Duties

• Design, implement, and tune the control stack for EDDA's motion system, including actuators and gimbaled subsystems.

• Develop and maintain high-bandwidth control loops, including PID, feedforward, and model-predictive control as appropriate to the application.

• Develop and maintain state estimation pipelines that fuse inertial measurement unit data, encoder feedback, and perception output into a consistent target track.

• Characterize and model mechanical nonlinearities — including backlash, cogging, stiction, inertia, and structural modes — and develop compensation strategies.

• Build calibration, logging, and replay tools to support field performance analysis.

• Continuously improve slew rate, settling time, and pointing accuracy as the hardware platform evolves.

Requirements

• 6+ years of professional experience in production controls engineering within motion systems, robotics, aerospace, or comparable real-time domains.

• Strong command of modern control theory, including state-space methods, observers, and model-predictive control.

• Proficiency in Rust, C, or C++ for real-time code, and Python for analysis and tooling.

• Demonstrated track record of bringing a complex physical system to production-grade performance.

• U.S. citizenship and ability to pass a background check.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with gimbal, turret, or pointing-system design.

• System identification and model-based control experience.

• Hands-on experience with motor drivers, CAN bus, and RTOS targets.

• Experience with ROS 2 or DDS middleware in production.

• Active security clearance, or eligibility to obtain one.

• Prior defense startup experience

• Passion for building robots or engineering projects as a hobby

Benefits

• Meaningful Early Equity: You aren't just an employee; you are a foundational owner. Your contributions directly drive the value of your stake in the company.

• Direct Roadmap Influence: Forget the bureaucracy of big defense. You will have a seat at the table, directly shaping our product and technology trajectory from day one.

• Mission-Critical Work: We don't build for "what if." We build systems the Department of War actively needs to counter immediate, real-world threats.

• The Builder's Playground: Work in a brand-new lab fully optimized for rapid prototyping, equipped with NVIDIA Jetsons, high-end scopes, and 3-D printers.

• 100% Employer-Paid Premiums: We cover 100% of your medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums and cover 50% of healthcare premiums for your dependents.

• Unlimited PTO: We value results, not clock-watching. Take the time you need to stay sharp and recharge.

• Zero Red Tape: You report to the founders. You have the autonomy to make technical decisions that would take months of committee approval at a larger firm.

• Austin-Based Culture: Join an onsite team in Austin, TX, where we prioritize high-bandwidth collaboration and rapid field-testing.

• Relocation Assistance: We want the best talent in the room. If you aren't in Austin yet, we’ll help you get here, to make your transition to the Silicon Hills seamless.

About the Interview

1. Initial Screening with recruiter - 30 min phone call

2. 1st Round Virtual Interview - peer engineer + either Director or CTO (1.5hr via MS Teams)

3. 2nd Round Onsite Interview - CTO + Director + VP + peer(s) (~ 6 hours in-person) **will fly out candidates that are not local

4. Reference checks & offer