Controls Engineer

Department: Software Engineering

Location: Palo Alto

Employment Type: FullTime

The Role

At Mind Robotics, we're building generalized physical AI — robotic systems capable of dexterous, adaptive, and reasoning-intensive work in real-world industrial environments. Controls is where intelligence becomes motion: the layer that translates high-level commands into precise, safe, and coordinated physical behavior across every joint and actuator on the robot.

We're looking for a Controls Engineer to own the algorithms and software that make our robots move well — from low-level actuator loop design to full-body motion control and the simulation infrastructure that keeps us iterating fast.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and tune control algorithms — PID, state-space, model-based, and beyond — for joints, actuators, and whole-body robot motion

• Develop and maintain high-fidelity dynamic models of robot subsystems to support simulation, analysis, and controller design

• Analyze real-world robot data to assess controller performance, identify regressions, and drive targeted improvements

• Work closely with firmware engineers to implement control algorithms under hard real-time constraints in C/C++ or Rust

• Collaborate with mechanical and electrical engineers to characterize hardware, close the loop between physical design and software performance, and define actuation requirements

• Define and execute test plans that validate control system performance across the full operating envelope of the robot

Qualifications

• M.S. or Ph.D. in controls, robotics, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience building and deploying control systems for real physical hardware

• Demonstrated experience (through work, research, or projects) designing and deploying control systems for real physical systems — robots, actuators, drones, or similar

• Strong foundation in control theory: classical (PID, lead-lag), modern (state-space, LQR/MPC), and familiarity with nonlinear systems

• Experience building dynamic models and using simulation tools (MATLAB/Simulink, Python, Julia, or equivalent) to inform and validate controller design

• Hands-on experience tuning controllers on real hardware and debugging unexpected behavior with real data

• Proficiency in C/C++ or Rust for real-time control implementation

• You are comfortable with ambiguity, move fast, and have an "engineering curiosity" that drives you to understand how the entire system works, not just your part

Nice to Have

• Experience with whole-body control, trajectory optimization, or model predictive control on legged or manipulator systems

• Familiarity with field-oriented control (FOC) or other motor control algorithms at the firmware level

• Exposure to functional safety standards (ISO 26262, IEC 61508, or similar)

• Experience with ROS2 or similar robotics middleware