Robotics Engineer, Staff

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

• Phone call with recruiter (30 min)
• Live coding challenge with Director of Engineering (45 min via MS Teams)
• Paid take-home consulting agreement ($500, ~8 hours)
• Onsite interview in Austin
• Offer