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Clera

Principal Robotics Software Engineer

San Francisco
Salary
$235,000 - $305,000 annually
Level
Principal
Work type
On-site · San Francisco
Visa
Not offered

Open. First seen 21 October 2026.

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About the role

About the Role

Join a defense technology team building autonomous robotic systems for countering unmanned aircraft. As the robotics team's most senior individual contributor, you will write critical C++ code and help take the full stack from sensor input through control and autonomy to reliable field use.

What You'll Do

  • Write and own production C++ across the robotics software stack.
  • Define timing, threading, latency, and safety contracts across perception and control.
  • Move prototype software toward reliable field deployment through release processes, packaging, CI/CD, QA, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
  • Mentor and grow the robotics team while remaining hands-on in development.
  • Debug issues on real hardware, including during regular field tests.

What We're Looking For

  • 10 or more years of hands-on robotics software engineering experience, including shipped systems.
  • Recent experience writing production C++ for physical robotic systems.
  • Experience taking a robotics stack from prototype to repeatable release for field, operator, fleet, or customer use.
  • Broad experience across sensors, perception, tracking, control, middleware, and deployment.
  • Experience owning system-wide timing, threading, and latency, and building CI/CD, QA, or hardware-in-the-loop testing for robotics or hardware-facing software.
  • Experience with formal software release, packaging, and deployment, and mentoring a team while continuing to code.
  • U.S. Person status is required. ROS or ROS 2, cameras, IMUs, encoders, gimbal or turret systems, sensor fusion, and safety-critical or defense software experience are beneficial.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary is $235,000 to $305,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

On-site, five days per week in San Francisco, California, United States. Regular field test days are included.

What this role asks for

Particular to this role

CI/CD · ROS

Rare in Clera's other 299 open postings.

Standard for embedded / hardware roles

C++

Common in embedded / hardware postings at any company.

Compared with Clera's other open jobs.

The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 385 open in Engineering. 319 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in March: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

LLM (162 of 385), Python (160 of 385), TypeScript (151 of 385), React (122 of 385), Machine Learning (92 of 385), PostgreSQL (70 of 385), JavaScript (66 of 385)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Clera's own job board.

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