---
title: 'Forward Deployed Robotics Engineer at Gecko Robotics'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-robotics-engineer-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-f8g042t9bqrt'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Forward Deployed Robotics Engineer at Gecko Robotics

- **Company:** Gecko Robotics
- **Location:** Pittsburgh, PA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-05-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/gecko-robotics/241e909f-fa90-4615-a026-4ed7b7a767f9/application

**Skills:** Kalman Filters, Extended Kalman Filters (EKF), Unscented Kalman Filters (UKF), Particle Filters, State-Space Modeling, IMU Integration, DVL Integration, USBL/LBL, Sonar, Sensor Fusion, Dead Reckoning, Inertial Navigation, Sensor Calibration, Time Synchronization, Underwater Navigation

> Lead the development and deployment of robust navigation systems for underwater inspection robots by designing advanced sensor fusion algorithms. The role involves fusing data from IMUs, DVLs, and sonar to produce accurate state estimates in GPS-denied environments, solving real-time localization problems, and valid...

## Job description

## WHAT WE DO

Gecko Robotics is helping the world’s most important organizations ensure the availability, reliability, and sustainability of critical infrastructure. Gecko's complete and connected solutions combine wall-climbing robots, industry-leading sensors, and an AI-powered data platform to provide customers with a unique window into the current and future health of their physical assets. This enables real-time decision making to increase the efficiency and safety of operations, promote mission readiness, and protect the environment and civilization from the effects of infrastructure failure.

## ROLE AT A GLANCE

WE ARE SEEKING A HIGHLY SKILLED ROBOTICS ENGINEER SPECIALIZING IN UNDERWATER SENSOR FUSION AND LOCALIZATION TO LEAD THE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF ROBUST NAVIGATION SYSTEMS FOR OUR HULL-CLEANING AND NDT INSPECTION ROBOTS. THE IDEAL CANDIDATE WILL HAVE DEEP EXPERTISE IN FUSING DATA FROM UNDERWATER SENSOR SUITES - INCLUDING IMUS, DVLS, PRESSURE SENSORS, ACOUSTIC POSITIONING SYSTEMS SUCH AS USBL/LBL, AND SONAR-BASED RELATIVE SENSING - TO PRODUCE ACCURATE AND RELIABLE STATE ESTIMATES IN GPS-DENIED, CLOSE-TO-STRUCTURE ENVIRONMENTS. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SOLVING REAL LOCALIZATION PROBLEMS IN THE FIELD: COMPENSATING FOR DRIFT, HANDLING INTERMITTENT OR DELAYED AIDING, MANAGING SENSOR DROPOUTS AND ACOUSTIC OUTLIERS, AND DELIVERING PRAGMATIC SOLUTIONS THAT CAN BE DEPLOYED UNDER TIGHT TIMELINES.

To be successful in this role, you must possess strong hands-on experience designing and implementing advanced filtering algorithms for real-world robotic systems, such as error-state Extended Kalman Filters (EKF), Unscented Kalman Filters (UKF), and Particle Filters where appropriate. You should be adept at deriving and maintaining both linear and nonlinear state-space models to continuously estimate critical variables such as position, velocity, attitude, and sensor biases in challenging underwater conditions. Additionally, the role requires expertise in calibrating and validating real sensor stacks - including IMU bias estimation, DVL alignment and dropout handling, pressure-depth offsets, acoustic latency, and timing synchronization - as well as a strong understanding of underwater navigation concepts such as dead reckoning, inertial navigation, observability in constrained motion, degraded-mode localization, and robust fusion when absolute aids are sparse or unreliable.

## REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERTISE:

- Advanced Filtering Algorithms: Proficiency designing and implementing localization and navigation filters, including Kalman Filters, error-state Extended Kalman Filters (EKF), Unscented Kalman Filters (UKF), and Particle Filters when warranted by the sensing environment or failure modes.
- Underwater Multi-Sensor Integration: Experience fusing data from complementary and redundant underwater sensors, including IMUs, DVLs, pressure sensors, USBL/LBL systems, sonar-derived relative measurements, and other non-vision localization inputs to improve robustness and reliability.
- State-Space Modeling & Observability: Strong background in formulating continuous-time and discrete-time dynamic models for underwater vehicles, including position, linear/angular velocity, attitude, sensor biases, and other latent states, with an understanding of observability under constrained motion and close-proximity operations.
- Sensor Calibration, Timing & Noise Management: Expertise in managing real-world uncertainties such as drifting IMU biases, DVL misalignment or bottom-lock loss, pressure sensor offsets, acoustic multipath and latency, clock synchronization issues, and magnetic disturbances near large steel structures.
- Underwater Navigation: Thorough understanding of GPS-denied underwater localization concepts, including dead reckoning, inertial navigation, acoustic aiding, hull-relative localization, and fallback behavior when absolute position updates are unavailable or degraded.
- Forward-Deployed Problem Solving: Demonstrated ability to deploy working sensor fusion solutions within tight timelines, debug failures from field logs and replay tools, tune estimators under operational pressure, and make practical engineering tradeoffs to keep systems moving forward.
- Fusion System Design: Familiarity designing resilient localization architectures that can tolerate delayed and asynchronous measurements, intermittent aiding, sensor dropouts, and compute or bandwidth constraints common in deployed underwater robotic systems.

## WHO WE ARE

At Gecko, our people are our greatest investment. In addition to competitive compensation packages, we offer company equity, 401(k) matching, gender-neutral parental leave, full medical, dental, and vision insurance, mental health, ongoing professional development, family planning assistance, and flexible paid time off.

Gecko values collaboration, innovation, and partnership, and we believe we do our best work when we're together in person. We’re an office-first culture but understand that sometimes you may need to work from home. Many people are in the office five days a week, others need a bit more flexibility. Ultimately, we care about the outcomes we achieve - and creating a culture of autonomy and trust that enables that impact.

Gecko is committed to creating a culture of inclusion and belonging, and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  We believe it is our collective responsibility to uphold these values and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to join us in our mission to protect today’s infrastructure and give form to tomorrow’s. All qualified applicants will be treated with respect and receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, uniform service, veteran status, age, or any other protected characteristic per federal, state, or local law. If you are passionate about what you do and want to use your talents to support our critical mission, we’d love to hear from you.

## About Gecko Robotics

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Gecko Robotics uses AI-powered robots to inspect, monitor, and maintain critical infrastructure for energy, manufacturing, and defense industries.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series D)
- **Headquarters**: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- **Founded**: 2013
- **Founders**: Jake Loosararian, Troy Demmer

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Robotics Engineering, AI-powered Industrial Inspection, Critical Infrastructure Maintenance
- **Target customers**: B2B, Enterprise – Fortune 100 companies in energy, oil & gas, manufacturing, defense, and government sectors (U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force)
- **Mission or purpose**: "Diagnosing the health of our world's critical infrastructure." Gecko provides unprecedented visibility into asset health for confident decision-making at scale, ensuring the availability, reliability, and sustainability of critical infrastructure.

## Products & Services
- **[Cantilever®](https://www.geckorobotics.com/)**: An AI-powered operating platform that unifies high-fidelity physical data from Gecko's fleet of robots and fixed sensors into a single source of truth. It enables teams to achieve operational excellence through actionable data for immediate and long-term planning.
- **[Robotic Fleet](https://www.geckorobotics.com/)**: Robots that climb, crawl, swim, and fly, carrying ultrasonic sensors and cameras to capture first-order data from inside critical assets like boilers, tanks, pipes, and pressure vessels.
- **Services**: Inspection services, predictive maintenance, data analytics, and asset health consulting for power generation, oil & gas, defense, steel, mining, and pulp & paper industries.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: $1.25 billion (as of Series D round in June 2025) — [CBInsights](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/gecko-robotics)
- **Total Funding**: $347.4M raised across multiple rounds, including a Series D ($125M, June 2025) and a Series D-II — [CBInsights](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/gecko-robotics)
- **Annual Revenue**: Estimated at $43.8M (LinkedIn data) — [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/geckorobotics)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Y Combinator (Winter 2016 batch), E1 Ventures, Leblon Capital, Innova Capital Partners, Morrison Seger, Nour Nouf Ventures, and 48+ others. Key partners include the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, ADNOC, and Trident.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - $71M deal with U.S. Navy to reduce maintenance delays and achieve 80% fleet readiness by 2027 — [geckorobotics.com](https://www.geckorobotics.com/news/navy-readiness)
  - Multiple agreements with ADNOC to deploy Cantilever across energy assets and launch UAE national training programs — [geckorobotics.com](https://www.geckorobotics.com/news/adnoc-group)
  - New partnership with Trident to accelerate U.S. Navy production with AI and robotics (March 2026) — [geckorobotics.com](https://www.geckorobotics.com/news/trident-navy-production)

## Competitive Advantages
- **First-mover in AI+Robotics for critical infrastructure**: Gecko is the pioneer of "AIR technology" (AI + Robotics) for the built world, combining physical robots with an AI-powered software platform.
- **Proprietary high-fidelity data**: Creates first-order data layers that are difficult for competitors to replicate, giving customers a single source of truth for asset health.
- **Deep customer relationships**: Works with Fortune 100 companies and the U.S. military, with contracts that are mission-critical and long-term.
- **88+ patents** covering robotics, nondestructive testing, and piping — [CBInsights](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/gecko-robotics)
- **Proven ROI**: Cited examples of increasing throughput by 40% in defense industrial base and preventing catastrophic failures (e.g., boiler explosions).

## Strategic Focus
- **Defense & government expansion**: Major push to scale partnerships with the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and allied nations to modernize military infrastructure.
- **International growth**: Operating in 7 countries including the UAE, Canada, India, Singapore, South Africa, and the UK.
- **Platform expansion**: Growing Cantilever as the operating system for physical infrastructure, extending beyond inspections into operations, maintenance, and capital planning.
- **AI and software first**: Increasing investment in predictive AI, analytics, and the software platform to own the full asset lifecycle.

## Why Work Here
- **High-impact work**: Engineers and operators work on problems that directly affect national security, energy reliability, and industrial safety. "Your work unlocks solutions at the bedrock of the world’s most critical industries." — [Careers Page](https://www.geckorobotics.com/careers)
- **Culture**: Described as "Rust on our boots, dirt under our nails" — hands-on, gritty, real-world engineering. The team is driven by solving complex physical-world problems.
- **Hybrid/Office**: Offices in Pittsburgh (HQ), Houston, Boston, New York City, and Abu Dhabi. Field roles are heavily on-site.
- **Engineering culture**: Strong emphasis on Forward Deployed Engineers (builders in the field), robotics, software, and 3D visualization. Engineering culture is described as ambitious, autonomous, and impact-focused.
- **Talent sources**: Frequent hires from Palantir, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, Carnegie Mellon, Aurora, and US Navy — indicating a culture of high-performance and technical rigor.
- **Notable perks**:
  - Company is at the frontier of AI + Robotics with a $1.25B valuation and strong government contracts
  - Opportunities for field deployment to customer sites (power plants, naval bases, oil rigs)
  - Open roles include: Forward Deployed Engineer, Robot Field Operator, Software Engineer (3D Visualization), Product Security Engineer, NDT Specialist — [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/geckorobotics/jobs/)

## Sources
1. [geckorobotics.com](https://www.geckorobotics.com/) — Company homepage
2. [geckorobotics.com/about-us](https://www.geckorobotics.com/about-us) — Founding story and history
3. [geckorobotics.com/careers](https://www.geckorobotics.com/careers) — Careers overview and culture
4. [linkedin.com/company/geckorobotics](https://www.linkedin.com/company/geckorobotics) — LinkedIn company page, headcount, salary data
5. [cbinsights.com/company/gecko-robotics](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/gecko-robotics) — Funding, patents, investors, financial data
6. [geckorobotics.com/news/navy-readiness](https://www.geckorobotics.com/news/navy-readiness) — $71M Navy deal
7. [geckorobotics.com/news/trident-navy-production](https://www.geckorobotics.com/news/trident-navy-production) — Trident partnership

## Other roles at Gecko Robotics

- [Strategic Account Manager | Domestic Oil & Gas](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-account-manager-domestic-oil-gas-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-8mcnnh1c46s2) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [Contracts Capture Strategist](https://feeny.ai/job/contracts-capture-strategist-gecko-robotics-washington-pm462rx510jh) — Washington, DC
- [People Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/people-partner-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-6pmgmpd5acsc) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [Field & Events Marketing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/field-events-marketing-manager-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-gr51g70t8vkz) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [Deployment Lead | Navy Manufacturing](https://feeny.ai/job/deployment-lead-navy-manufacturing-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-4xk06vzqqa7j) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [Executive Assistant](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-assistant-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-w79tqkgjchds) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [Enterprise Security Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/enterprise-security-engineer-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-fs4zreqzxr82) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [Robotics Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-software-engineer-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-z768j8x04j7y) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [Recruiting Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/recruiting-coordinator-gecko-robotics-pittsburgh-zt8prw0nzxh7) — Pittsburgh, PA
- [NDT Advanced Services Operator | Commercial](https://feeny.ai/job/ndt-advanced-services-operator-commercial-gecko-robotics-houston-zgyqaa3d0v3a) — Houston, TX