Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Planning and Control

About Our Team

Chef Robotics is on a mission to accelerate the advent of intelligent machines in the physical world. As the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT has shown, AI has the potential to drive immense change. However, we believe AI’s biggest impact will be in the physical world, given industries like manufacturing, food, and transportation represent 90% of global GDP. We’re starting with food, with a goal to put an intelligent robot in every commercial kitchen in the world.

We have signed multiple multi‑year contracts with various large food companies and are growing fast. We’re backed by investors like Kleiner Perkins, Construct, Bloomberg BETA and Promus Ventures. We have a great team, where you will be surrounded by talented engineers and tech leaders from companies like Cruise, Zoox, Google, Verb Surgical, Tesla, Nuro, Vicarious, Amazon Robotics, Strateos, Built Robotics, Facebook, Plenty, Yelp, and Microsoft.

As a Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Planning and Control at Chef Robotics, you’ll lead the development of sophisticated motion planning and control systems that orchestrate complex food preparation workflows. You’ll be responsible for designing and implementing high‑level planning algorithms that coordinate multi‑step recipes, optimize robot trajectories for efficiency and safety, and ensure smooth execution across dynamic kitchen environments. This role requires expertise in motion planning, trajectory optimization, and real‑time control systems that can adapt to the fast‑paced demands of commercial food production.

As a small team, we are focused on building a positive in‑office culture. We are looking for individuals who are available to work onsite at the office five days a week and can work start‑up‑oriented hours.

• Lead the development of classical and learning‑based motion planning algorithms for complex food preparation workflows
• Design and implement trajectory optimization systems that balance speed, safety, and precision across multi‑step recipes
• Develop robust path planning algorithms that handle dynamic obstacles and changing kitchen environments
• Create adaptive planning systems that can replan in real‑time based on changing conditions or recipe modifications
• Implement global and local planning strategies for efficient task sequencing and execution

• Design and implement advanced control algorithms for precise robot motion during food preparation tasks
• Develop real‑time control systems that ensure smooth trajectory execution with appropriate safety constraints
• Create feedback control loops that adapt to unexpected situations and maintain system stability
• Implement model predictive control and other advanced control techniques for optimal performance
• Design fail‑safe mechanisms and emergency stop procedures for safe operation in commercial environments

• Develop high‑level planning systems that translate recipes into executable robot commands and motion sequences
• Create intelligent task scheduling algorithms that optimize workflow efficiency across multiple preparation steps
• Design coordination systems for managing complex multi‑ingredient recipes with timing constraints
• Implement planning algorithms that can handle recipe variations and ingredient substitutions
• Develop systems for dynamic replanning when recipe modifications or interruptions occur

• Analyze planning and control performance across different recipes and operational conditions
• Optimize trajectories and control parameters for maximum throughput while maintaining food quality and safety
• Develop metrics and monitoring systems to evaluate planning efficiency and execution accuracy
• Create data collection and analysis pipelines to continuously improve planning and control algorithms
• Implement performance benchmarking systems for planning and control subsystems

• Contribute to overall robotics software architecture design with focus on planning and control subsystems
• Design clean interfaces between planning/control algorithms and perception,…