--- title: 'Staff Embedded Software Engineer, Robotics at Cobot' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-embedded-software-engineer-robotics-cobot-santa-clara-zz1x3yxdnrye' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Staff Embedded Software Engineer, Robotics at Cobot - **Company:** Cobot - **Location:** Santa Clara, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-08-12 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cobot/c84a7997-5705-490e-9271-10b40e821b82 ## Job description Collaborative Robotics is seeking a Staff Embedded Software Engineer to build the production embedded software that powers our robots. In this role, you will work closely with hardware, developing firmware, device drivers, time-critical embedded software, diagnostics, and fault-handling systems. You will play a key part in shaping robot behavior, reliability, performance, and safety. This is a hands-on technical leadership position. You will continue to write and review production-grade C++, drive key technical decisions, mentor fellow engineers, and collaborate closely with our Hardware, Systems, Controls, Safety and Test teams. Prior functional safety expertise is a plus, but not required. Join us to reimagine the future of human-robot interaction. Collaborative Robotics is a team of innovators dedicated to redefining the future of human-robot interaction. We are building a world where robots act as a trusted extension of your surroundings—robots that adapt and react to you, not the other way around. This position is based onsite at our Santa Clara, CA headquarters. We offer a relocation stipend for candidates living more than 50 miles away. ## Key Responsibilities - Design & Development: Design, implement, test, and maintain production embedded software using C++. - System Ownership: Develop firmware, device drivers, hardware interfaces, diagnostics, and fault-handling mechanisms. - Full Lifecycle Ownership: Own software from requirements through integration, verification, release, and field support. - System Reliability: Build reliable, time-critical systems that account for timing constraints, concurrency, resource limitations, edge cases, and hardware failures. - Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with engineering teams to define and validate safe and trustworthy robot behavior. - Technical Leadership: Lead root-cause investigations and drive improvements in architecture, testing, code quality, documentation, and release practices. - Mentorship: Provide technical leadership and mentorship across the embedded software team. ## Minimum Qualifications - 8+ years of experience developing embedded or firmware software for complex hardware systems. - Strong, recent hands-on experience programming in C++. - Experience with microcontrollers or systems-on-chip, RTOS or embedded operating systems, device drivers, peripherals, and hardware bring-up. - Strong knowledge of interrupts, memory management, communication protocols, timing, concurrency, and embedded debugging. - Experience delivering software across the full development lifecycle. - Proven experience delivering software across the full development lifecycle. - Demonstrated technical leadership via design ownership, mentorship, or engineering process improvements. - Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a highly collaborative, team-oriented mindset. - Enthusiasm for working in a fast-paced, dynamic startup environment. - Willingness to travel occasionally. - U.S. work authorization required. ## Preferred Qualifications - Background in robotics, autonomous systems, automotive, aerospace, medical devices, industrial automation, or other high-reliability systems. - Familiarity with functional safety standards or methods such as IEC 61508, ISO 26262, ISO 13849, FMEA, FTA, HARA, or STPA. - Experience with embedded Linux, QNX, AUTOSAR, FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or similar environments. - Experience integrating sensors, actuators, motor controls, or distributed compute systems. - Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, CI/CD, diagnostics, field reliability, or incident investigation. The base salary range for this position is $205,000 - $235,000 plus equity and comprehensive benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and experience level. The range reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position in the noted geographic area. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Cobot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let your recruiter know. To all recruitment agencies: Collaborative Robotics does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our employees. Collaborative Robotics is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes. Cobot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let your recruiter know. To all recruitment agencies: Collaborative Robotics does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our employees. Collaborative Robotics is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes. ## About Cobot ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Cobot (Collaborative Robotics) builds practical collaborative robots (cobots) designed to work safely alongside people in real-world environments, starting with its flagship robot, Proxie. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series B) - **Headquarters**: Santa Clara, California, United States (secondary office in Seattle, WA) - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Brad Porter (CEO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Automation Machinery Manufacturing, Robotics, Healthcare logistics - **Target customers**: B2B – Enterprise and mid-market customers in healthcare, logistics, and facility management - **Mission or purpose statement**: "To build a new robotic future. A future where robots are a trusted extension of your surroundings. They work, adapt, and react around you. Not the other way around." ## Products & Services - **[Proxie](https://www.co.bot/)**: A mobile collaborative robot designed for material handling, asset tracking, and facility management in complex, human-centric spaces. Hardware with embedded AI and predictable behaviors. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metrics**: - **Total Funding**: $140M (Seed: $10M, June 2022; Series A: $30M, July 2023; Series B: $100M, April 2024) - **Annual Revenue**: ~$250K (early-stage, pre-revenue at scale) - **Employees**: ~132 (as of mid-2026), growing +103% YoY - **Notable Investors/Partners**: - Neo (Seed lead) - Sequoia Capital (Series A lead) - General Catalyst (Series B lead) - Bison Ventures, Industry Ventures, Lux Capital (Series B participants) - Advisor: Teresa Carlson (former AWS executive) - **Growth Signals**: - Public launch of Proxie in November 2024 - Rapid headcount growth (+103% YoY) - Talent sourced from Amazon Robotics, Meta, Tesla, Apple - Featured in AWS CEO keynote (2024) ## Competitive Advantages - **Founding team with deep robotics expertise** – Founded by Brad Porter, who helped scale Amazon Robotics to over 500,000 robots. - **Empathy-first design philosophy** – Robots that react to people, not vice versa, enabling safe deployment in crowded, dynamic environments without cages. - **Full-stack ownership** – In-house hardware, AI, safety systems, and software platform. ## Strategic Focus - **Healthcare and logistics** – Targeting high-value use cases like hospital material transport and warehouse collaboration. - **Scaling field deployment** – Building professional services and strategic account teams to support enterprise customers. - **Safety certification** – Actively hiring Staff Certification Lead and Staff Software Engineer, Safety to meet rigorous industry standards. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: "One without egos. Driven by empathy. With collaboration at its core." Emphasis on mission-driven work and cross-functional teamwork. - **Work policy**: In-office (Seattle and Santa Clara offices). No remote or hybrid options listed for most roles. - **Notable perks/engineering culture**: - Cutting-edge tech stack: Python, TypeScript, PyTorch, TensorFlow, ROS, Docker, Kubernetes, etc. - Strong safety engineering focus – unique opportunity to shape the safety paradigm in collaborative robotics. - Small but rapidly growing team (132 people) with high ownership and impact. - Alumni have gone to Google, Meta, Apple, Stack AV, Zipline – signaling a pedigree robotics talent pool. ## Sources 1. [co.bot (Official Website)](https://www.co.bot/) 2. [Cobot LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/co-bot) 3. [Built In – Cobot Profile](https://builtin.com/company/cobot) 4. [LeadIQ – Cobot Company Overview](https://leadiq.com/c/cobot---collaborative-robotics-inc/6398f5ce99142b48fd4f4cd7) 5. [Ashby – Cobot Careers Page](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cobot) ## Other roles at Cobot - [Robot Data Collection Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-data-collection-lead-cobot-seattle-qbrt4z66t51r) — Seattle, WA - [Wire Harness Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/wire-harness-mechanical-engineer-cobot-santa-clara-v3n8m1w2tqca) — Santa Clara, CA - [Director Technical Program Manager, Software](https://feeny.ai/job/director-technical-program-manager-software-cobot-santa-clara-knwmx55q8ge7) — Santa Clara, CA - [Staff Technical Program Manager, Software](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-technical-program-manager-software-cobot-santa-clara-cjt9v6hr8rnd) — Santa Clara, CA - [Senior Technical Program Manager, Software](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-program-manager-software-cobot-santa-clara-c0mqx1xrqm5t) — Santa Clara, CA - [Deployment Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/deployment-engineer-cobot-remote-naedqw272as9) - [Robotics Assistant](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-assistant-cobot-santa-clara-cwjs21yx4pta) — Santa Clara, CA - [Staff Manufacturing Engineer, Production Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-manufacturing-engineer-production-systems-cobot-santa-clara-jxgaz3jthgae) — Santa Clara, CA - [Director, Manufacturing & Quality Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/director-manufacturing-quality-operations-cobot-santa-clara-rm9jc4r1x7qv) — Santa Clara, CA - [Robotics Assistant](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-assistant-cobot-seattle-9bv7mjb6k1pp) — Seattle, WA