---
title: 'Robotics Integration/Controls Engineer (Full-Stack Capable) at Lightspeed'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-integration-controls-engineer-full-stack-capable-lightspeed-northbrook-9pkdhtn08thn'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-03'
---

# Robotics Integration/Controls Engineer (Full-Stack Capable) at Lightspeed

- **Company:** Lightspeed
- **Location:** Northbrook, IL
- **Employment:** contract
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-06-22
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-03
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/lightspeed/90a00316-bc4b-41a9-abc6-9d4e37da4f0b

## Job description

## ABOUT LIGHTSPEED

LightSpeed Build Technologies is revolutionizing the construction industry through AI-powered robotics. Our flagship systems—BRUTE for automated wall panel manufacturing and DEX for on-site collaborative construction—are addressing the global housing crisis by delivering unprecedented speed, precision, and affordability in homebuilding.

We're an early-stage venture, building an automated physical system driven by robotic arms, live sensing, and a real-time software layer that ties the hardware to a customer- facing application and operator dashboard. We're past the idea stage and moving fast toward a working demo.

We need an engineer who can own the seam between the hardware and the software bringing up robot arms and controls, wiring sensors, actuators, and telemetry into a real- time control plane, and writing the glue that lets the rest of the stack drive and observe the cell. We're open to candidates coming at this from either direction: a robotics integration engineer who has worked across the software stack, or a controls / automation engineer with strong real-time integration instincts ready to go deeper on robotics. This is not a front-end design role - visual polish lives with another hire.

What you will work on:

- Bring up and integrate robot arms and the surrounding control system; design and tune motion, tooling, sequencing, and safety logic
- Integrate sensors, actuators, and I/O; build the real-time control/telemetry layer — stream motion and sensor data, model job/device state as explicit state machines, expose a clean API contract for the application and operator console to consume
- Stand up and maintain a simulation environment that mirrors the physical cell, so work can proceed in parallel with hardware and demos never block on a single robot Integrate vision/perception where the task requires it
- Write the supporting software around the robotics and controls — services, scripts, and APIs — and coordinate with the application team against a shared control-plane contract

Required skills:

- We expect a strong fit from either a robotics or a controls/automation background:
- Robotics or industrial controls experience - hands-on bring-up and integration of robot arms (cobots a plus) and/or automated cells, motion control, PLC/industrial automation, sensor and actuator integration, in a real, physical setting
- Real-time integration — comfortable with control loops, I/O, and streaming machine state; modeling device/job state and telemetry (WebSockets/SSE, pub/sub, fieldbus, or equivalent)
- Programming - Python and/or C++ for robotics and integration work; scripting comfort generally
- Enough full-stack ability to build the software around the hardware — APIs, services, a basic data layer (Node/TypeScript and Postgres in our stack, but we care more that you can work across it than that you've used our exact tools)
- Pragmatic, demo-driven, comfortable owning ambiguity in an early-stage build

Strongly preferred / differentiators

- ROS/ROS2-building and debugging real nodes, topics, and control loops
- Simulation frameworks — Isaac Sim, Gazebo, MuJoCo, or similar; experience standing up a sim that meaningfully mirrors real hardware
- AI/ML in robotics - learned policies, imitation/RL, or forward-looking approaches (e.g. VLA-style models)
- Vision/perception - object detection, pose estimation, hand-eye calibration SLAM or other spatial/localization work, especially on mobile platforms
- Functional safety - e-stop logic, safety-rated I/O, risk assessment for automated equipment

## EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP

This position is at-will, meaning either you or the Company may terminate employment at any time, with or without cause or notice.

## EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

LightSpeed Build Technologies is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences.

## About Lightspeed

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Lightspeed uses robotics and AI to manufacture precision-engineered panels and components for residential construction, aiming to build homes faster, smarter, and more affordably.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Startup)
- **Headquarters**: Northbrook, Illinois, United States
- **Founded**: Not publicly available (likely 2023-2024 based on current operations)
- **Founders**: Biju Kulathakal (serial entrepreneur behind Redbox and Halo Investing)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Construction Technology (Contech), Robotics, AI-Powered Manufacturing
- **Target customers**: Homebuilders, real estate developers, construction firms (B2B)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Housing for All" — building homes smarter, faster, and more affordable with robotics and AI.

## Products & Services
- **BRUTE Robotic System**: A robotic system designed for heavy-duty construction tasks, targeting a 50% reduction in build time versus traditional methods.
- **DEX Robotic System**: A precision robotic system for detailed assembly and finishing work.
- **AI-Powered Design & Engineering**: Proprietary AI algorithms that analyze architectural drawings to automatically generate optimized construction sequences, material lists, and robotic instructions.
- **Precision-Engineered Panels**: Prefabricated wall and floor panels manufactured to tight tolerances, enabling faster on-site assembly and reduced errors.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Not publicly available (likely pre-revenue or early-stage; funding status unknown)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Founder Biju Kulathakal previously founded Redbox and Halo Investing, suggesting strong investor connections, but no specific investors are named for Lightspeed.
- **Growth Signals**: The company is actively hiring (careers page on Ashby), signaling growth. They claim to target 70% reduction in construction errors, 20-30% labor cost savings, and 25% reduction in material waste.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Robotic Precision**: Claims tolerances "impossible with manual framing" — a significant differentiator in an industry where quality varies widely.
- **Founder Credibility**: Biju Kulathakal has a proven track record building Redbox (a massive kiosk network) and Halo Investing (a fintech platform), suggesting ability to scale.
- **Integrated AI-to-Robotics Pipeline**: Full vertical integration from architectural drawing analysis to robotic manufacturing, reducing human error and rework.
- **Sustainability Angle**: Precision manufacturing reduces construction waste by ~25%, aligning with ESG trends in real estate.

## Strategic Focus
- **Offsite Construction**: The company is riding the McKinsey-predicted trend that 20% of homes will be built offsite in the US by 2030.
- **Speed & Labor Reduction**: Core value prop is cutting build time in half and reducing labor dependency — critical as construction labor shortages worsen.
- **Scaling Manufacturing**: Likely focused on expanding production capacity at their Northbrook facility and proving the technology with initial clients.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven**: "Housing for All" offers a tangible social impact — helping solve the housing affordability crisis through technology.
- **Founder Led**: Working directly with a serial entrepreneur who has scaled companies to national prominence.
- **Cutting-Edge Tech**: Hands-on work with robotics, computer vision, AI, and advanced manufacturing — appealing for engineers and operators.
- **Early-Stage Impact**: As a likely early-stage company, employees can wear multiple hats and shape the product and culture from the ground up.
- **Location**: Northbrook, IL (northern suburb of Chicago) offers a suburban office environment with access to Chicago's talent pool.
- **Work Policy**: Not explicitly stated, but the nature of robotics manufacturing suggests a strong on-site presence for hardware roles.

**Note**: There is a separate, publicly traded company called Lightspeed Commerce (NYSE: LSPD, TSX: LSPD) that provides POS and e-commerce software. This profile is for Lightspeed (lightspeed.build), the robotics construction startup. Do not confuse the two.

## Sources
1. [lightspeed.build](https://lightspeed.build/)
2. [lightspeed.build/about-us](https://lightspeed.build/about-us)
3. [lightspeed.build/contact-us](https://lightspeed.build/contact-us)
4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/lightspeed](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/lightspeed)

## Other roles at Lightspeed

- [VP Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-engineering-lightspeed-northbrook-asdjbkqf4h5g) — Northbrook, IL
- [AI & Machine Learning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-machine-learning-engineer-lightspeed-northbrook-1y6qs3f9075m) — Northbrook, IL
- [Senior Robotics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robotics-engineer-lightspeed-northbrook-4zwg9dftn47c) — Northbrook, IL