---
title: 'Backend Software Engineer – Autonomy at Pickle Robot Company'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/backend-software-engineer-autonomy-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-nt57e6xvnw02'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Backend Software Engineer – Autonomy at Pickle Robot Company

- **Company:** Pickle Robot Company
- **Location:** Charlestown, MA
- **Compensation:** $120k–$177k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-05-06
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/picklerobot/b2a24088-cc18-4ae0-afbc-2a107b4f9acb

## Job description

## About Us

At Pickle Robot, we're on a mission to automate global supply chains with Physical AI. Our robots work alongside warehouse teams to unload trucks and containers — one of the toughest, most understaffed jobs in logistics — making the work safer, faster, and more efficient for the people doing it.  Loading trucks comes next, followed by the Dill Autonomy Engine: generalized autonomy that will eventually orchestrate robots across entire logistics processes. We're looking for a Backend Software Engineer to join our autonomy team and build the scalable systems behind task planning and robotic workflows. This role sits at the intersection of software engineering and robotics infrastructure — you'll work closely with robotics engineers to design backend services that power real robotic systems on the warehouse floor, bringing solid engineering practices into an environment where you're not afraid to get close to the hardware. At Pickle, your code directly impacts how autonomous robots operate in production warehouses, and you'll see the results of your work in the real world.

## What You'll Do

- Design and build backend services supporting task planning and autonomy
- Develop scalable, reliable, and performant systems using Python (and C++ where needed)
- Contribute to system architecture and service design within the team
- Build and maintain event-driven systems and messaging-based architectures
- Collaborate closely with robotics engineers to integrate backend systems with real-world workflows
- Improve system performance, reliability, and maintainability across services
- Participate in code reviews and technical discussions to elevate engineering standards

## What You'll Bring

- 3-5+ years of experience in backend or distributed systems engineering
- Strong programming experience in Python, with solid experience in C++ or another strongly typed language (e.g., Rust, Go, Java)
- Strong understanding of software architecture, concurrency, and distributed system design
- Experience building or supporting event-driven systems, messaging frameworks (e.g., Kafka, ROS), or service-oriented architectures
- Experience developing systems that interface with hardware, robotics, or real-world operational environments is a plus

## About Pickle Robot Company

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Pickle Robot builds physical AI–powered robots that automate the unloading of trucks, trailers, and shipping containers in warehouse and supply chain operations.
- **Entity Type**: Private (VC-backed, Series B — 6 funding rounds, ~$102.5M total raised)
- **Headquarters**: Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Founded by a team of MIT alumni, including AJ Lonska (CEO) and Ariana "Ari" Eisenstein (CTO) — both MIT engineering graduates. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/careers) [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Supply chain automation / warehouse robotics / Physical AI
- **Target Customers**: B2B, Enterprise — warehouse operators, inbound logistics teams, distribution centers, and import container facilities
- **Mission**: To automate global supply chains and "make the future of work better for warehouse workers" — putting machines to work on heavy lifting while people focus on problem-solving. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/company)

## Products & Services
- **Pickle Robot (Truck Unloading System)**: An industrial robotics system that autonomously unloads non-palletized goods from trailers and containers in as little as 90 minutes. Integrates with existing warehouse operations and is designed to be deployed in days rather than months. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
- **Dill Autonomy Engine (DAE)**: The proprietary "brain" of every Pickle robot — combines classical optimal control with generative AI, machine vision, and continuous fleet learning. Each robot's picks generate learnings that make every other robot in the fleet smarter over time. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
- **Generative AI + Machine Vision**: Fine-tunes pre-trained foundation models for logistics-specific tasks, paired with multi-camera, real-time vision systems that evaluate countless pick and path options in milliseconds. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
- **Operational Dashboards**: Captures and surfaces real-time performance data — picks per hour, unload times, package mix — for warehouse and inbound supervisors, configurable for single robots, site fleets, or multi-site fleets. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric (Private)**: Total funding — USD $102,450,000 across 6 rounds; Annual revenue estimated at ~$3M. [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company)
- **Notable Funding Rounds**: $50M Series B (Nov 2024, 7 investors), $15M Series B tranche (May 2024), $3.7M Seed led by Hyperplane (2019), $2M Seed (2020), and a Corporate Round led by Ranpak (2021). [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Hyperplane (lead seed investor), Ranpak (corporate investor), Celonis (process intelligence partner). [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company) [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 46.2% YoY (+42 people to 113 employees); LinkedIn followers grew 122.2% yearly to ~20.5K; 16 active job postings at time of research; robots generating "millions of real-world picks." [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company) [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Physical AI approach**: Combines large foundation models, generative AI, and transformer architectures with industrial robotics — a differentiated technical approach versus traditional automation players. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/company)
- **Fleet-wide learning flywheel**: Every robot's real-world picks train the Dill Autonomy Engine, making each unit faster and smarter and compounding system value across the fleet. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
- **Narrow, hard-problem focus**: Obsessively focused on the dock-door truck unloading problem — a chaotic, high-variability task that's painful for humans and historically difficult to automate. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/company)
- **MIT-rooted talent pipeline**: Leadership and engineering deeply connected to MIT; strong talent pull from top robotics firms (Berkshire Grey, Amazon Fulfillment Technologies & Robotics, Formlabs, Verve Motion, 6 River Systems). [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company)
- **Working in the real world**: Proven deployments operating in live warehouse environments at "human-scale or better" performance, rather than just lab demos. [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company)

## Strategic Focus
- **Commercializing Physical AI at scale**: Scaling truck unloading automation as the beachhead, with an explicit roadmap to "generalized autonomy" that can orchestrate robots across entire logistics processes. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/company)
- **Deepening the Dill Autonomy Engine**: Investing in generative AI, fine-tuned logistics-specific models, and continuous learning to improve speed and reliability with every deployment. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
- **Operational integration**: Partnering with process-intelligence platforms like Celonis to tie robot performance directly to logistics KPIs and broader network outcomes. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
- **Expanding fleet management**: Building dashboards and configurable monitoring across single robots, site-level fleets, and multi-site networks to sell enterprise-scale automation programs. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)

## Why Work Here
- **High-growth, VC-backed environment**: Get in on the "ground floor of a fast growing, VC backed, warehouse automation company" with meaningful equity included in compensation packages. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/careers) [jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/picklerobot)
- **Hard technical problems**: Engineers work on computer vision, mechanical engineering, reinforcement learning, generative AI, and real-time robotics systems — with the freedom to make decisions without "this is how it's always been done" constraints. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/careers)
- **Highly technical, collaborative culture**: Team of ~113 with a heavily technical workforce (75 people in technical/engineering roles); ex-MIT culture described as "seriously motivated, collaborative, and fun." [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company) [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/careers)
- **Mission-driven work**: The company's stated goal is a working world where "machines do the heavy lifting and people do the problem solving" — directly improving the daily lives of warehouse workers. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
- **Location and perks**: HQ in a "beautiful building in the heart of Charlestown, MA," with offices in Boston and Cambridge, plus an office in the UK; benefits include healthcare, 401k, snacks, cold brew, and competitive pay with equity. [picklerobot.com](https://www.picklerobot.com/careers) [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company)
- **Active and diverse hiring**: 16 open roles spanning Backend Software Engineering, Machine Learning, Perception, Electrical Engineering, Motion Planning Software, Product Management, and Robotic Operations Support. [jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/picklerobot) [linkedin.com](https://ae.linkedin.com/company/pickle-robot-company)

## Sources
1. [picklerobot.com — About Us / Company](https://www.picklerobot.com/company)
2. [picklerobot.com — Homepage / Product](https://www.picklerobot.com/)
3. [picklerobot.com — Careers](https://www.picklerobot.com/careers)
4. [jobs.lever.co — Pickle Robot Openings](https://jobs.lever.co/picklerobot)
5. [linkedin.com — P

_…truncated._

## Other roles at Pickle Robot Company

- [Software Engineer V – Applied ML Research](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-v-applied-ml-research-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-qjthftr36pnm) — Charlestown, MA
- [Senior Perception Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-perception-software-engineer-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-4m1dx7mh4td1) — Charlestown, MA
- [Principal Motion Planning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-motion-planning-engineer-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-0dftryrgrnnf) — Charlestown, MA
- [Robotics Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-software-engineer-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-ps7ap4bv2hmh) — Charlestown, MA
- [Director of People Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-people-operations-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-khkgrc550vk8) — Charlestown, MA
- [Senior Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-electrical-engineer-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-bkbjs3nec65z) — Charlestown, MA
- [Backend Software Engineer – Software Architecture](https://feeny.ai/job/backend-software-engineer-software-architecture-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-z87kvqdn4mj1) — Charlestown, MA
- [Backend Software Engineer – Human-Robot Interaction](https://feeny.ai/job/backend-software-engineer-human-robot-interaction-pickle-robot-company-mz04ahgzm3d1) — Charlestown, MA
- [Simulation Software Engineer – Robotics Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/simulation-software-engineer-robotics-platform-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-g3m1q7r3w4wm) — Charlestown, MA
- [Physical AI Architect](https://feeny.ai/job/physical-ai-architect-pickle-robot-company-charlestown-kbppjzng1kvg) — Charlestown, MA