---
title: 'System Identification & Controls Engineer at Skild AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/system-identification-controls-engineer-skild-ai-san-mateo-2dky600b3kfm'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# System Identification & Controls Engineer at Skild AI

- **Company:** Skild AI
- **Location:** San Mateo, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-06-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/skildai-careers/jobs/5239937008

## Job description

Company Overview

At Skild AI, we are building the world's first general purpose robotic intelligence that is robust and adapts to unseen scenarios without failing. We believe massive scale through data-driven machine learning is the key to unlocking these capabilities for the widespread deployment of robots within society. Our team consists of individuals with varying levels of experience and backgrounds, from new graduates to domain experts. Relevant industry experience is important, but ultimately less so than your demonstrated abilities and attitude. We are looking for passionate individuals who are eager to explore uncharted waters and contribute to our innovative projects.

Position Overview

We're hiring a System Identification & Controls Engineer to characterize, model, and validate the dynamics of every robot we work with — as accurately as possible, and at fleet scale. This is a senior individual-contributor role for someone who has done rigorous system identification on real robots before and walks in already knowing which tests to run.

## Responsibilities

- Plan and run system identification across all Skild robot platforms — actuators, transmissions, joints, rigid-body dynamics, and sensors.
- Design the excitation trajectories and bench/on-robot tests, and know which experiment answers which question.
- Characterize actuators and motors on dynamometers, test benches, and hardware-in-the-loop setups, alongside the EE, ME, and firmware teams.
- Fit dynamics models, quantify their accuracy, and close the sim-to-real gap against our simulators.
- Apply classical controls — state estimation, calibration, stability and bandwidth analysis — to real hardware.
- Build automated pipelines that scale identification from a single robot to the whole fleet.
- Quantify unit-to-unit variation, track drift and wear over time, and flag outlier units.
- Set the standard and tooling for system identification at Skild, and document findings rigorously.

## Preferred Qualifications

- MS or PhD in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering, Controls, Robotics, Aerospace, or a related field — or equivalent hands-on experience.
- A demonstrated, hands-on track record of system identification on real robotic or electromechanical hardware — identified and validated on physical systems, not just in simulation.
- Strong classical controls foundation: feedback/feedforward and cascade control, frequency-response and stability analysis, state estimation and Kalman filtering.
- Solid grasp of robot hardware and mechatronics: motors and field-oriented control, transmissions, encoders, IMUs, and force-torque sensors.
- Practical experience with excitation design, hardware data collection, and parameter estimation (time- and frequency-domain methods).
- Proficiency in Python and C++ in a Linux environment; MATLAB/Simulink a plus.
- Familiarity with robotics dynamics tooling and simulators (MuJoCo, Isaac Sim, Drake, Pinocchio, ROS/ROS2).
- Experience deploying calibration or controls across a large fleet of robots or vehicles is highly valued.

## About Skild AI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Skild AI builds a general-purpose robotic intelligence (the "Skild Brain") that enables any robot to autonomously perceive, act, and interact across diverse physical environments.
- **Entity Type**: Private (venture-backed; latest round Series C closed January 2026)
- **Headquarters**: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States (also offices in San Mateo, San Francisco, and Bengaluru)
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Not publicly available in the reviewed sources

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Physical Automation
- **Target customers**: B2B enterprise – manufacturing, construction, security/inspection, logistics, and other sectors requiring physical task automation
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Bringing AI into the physical world" by building an omni-bodied brain that can control any robot for any task, learned from scalable, data-driven machine learning

## Products & Services
- **Skild Brain**: The core AI foundation model that works across different robot types and tasks, enabling low‑level skills (grasping, handover, navigation) abstracted via API calls.
- **Mobile Manipulation Platform**: Robots powered by Skild Brain that can navigate, grasp, and manipulate objects in unstructured environments.
- **Security/Inspection Robot Platform**: Robots equipped with Skild Brain for autonomous inspection in hazardous areas, reducing the need for human manual patrols.
- **Autonomous Packing System**: High‑precision dexterous manipulation for repetitive packing tasks.
- **Simulation & Data Tools**: Physics simulation environments and annotation pipelines used to train and validate the model.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – **$2.215B** (CB Insights) / **$2.21B** (PitchBook), including a **$1.4B Series C** in January 2026
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Lightspeed, Felicis, Coatue, Bezos Expeditions, Sequoia Capital, and 39+ others (per CB Insights)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Acquired Zebra Technologies’ robotics automation business (April 2026)
  - Rapid headcount growth: ~50 employees (PitchBook) with **51 open roles** listed on Greenhouse as of mid‑2026
  - Expanded footprint to multiple US cities and Bengaluru, India

## Competitive Advantages
- **Omni‑bodied AI**: A single foundation model works across diverse robot hardware and tasks, avoiding the need for task‑specific training.
- **Scalable data pipeline**: Learns from human videos and real‑world interactions, creating a long‑term data advantage.
- **End‑to‑end integration**: From simulation and data annotation to real‑world deployment, the company controls the full stack.
- **Backing by top‑tier VCs and Bezos Expeditions**, providing capital and strategic access for rapid scaling.

## Strategic Focus
- **Real‑world deployment**: Prioritizing tangible robot applications (packing, inspection, manipulation) to deliver immediate customer value.
- **Data moat**: Continuing to scale data acquisition through human‑video learning and proprietary simulation.
- **Cross‑industry expansion**: Moving from early‑stage deployments into construction, manufacturing, logistics, and security verticals.

## Why Work Here
- **Innovation‑driven culture**: Described as a team where “curiosity meets impact,” tackling the frontier of physical AI.
- **Diverse openings**: 50+ roles across engineering (CV/ML, manipulation, embedded, simulation, infrastructure), research, product, operations, and marketing.
- **Global presence**: Offices in Pittsburgh, San Mateo, San Francisco (US) and Bengaluru (India); some roles allow remote work, though many are location‑specific.
- **Engineering‑forward**: Emphasis on data‑driven machine learning, robotics, and large‑scale systems, with opportunities to work on the core AI model and deployment.
- **Perks**: Not detailed, but typical for venture‑backed robotics startups include competitive equity, modern hardware, and a mission‑oriented environment.

## Sources
1. [skild.ai](https://www.skild.ai/)
2. [Greenhouse Job Board](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/skildai-careers)
3. [CB Insights](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/skild-ai)
4. [PitchBook](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/608340-52)

## Other roles at Skild AI

- [Senior Robot Animator](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robot-animator-skild-ai-san-mateo-n3tjht5ar94e) — San Mateo, CA
- [Senior Accountant](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-accountant-skild-ai-san-mateo-jret8etgnyp8) — San Mateo, CA
- [Technical Recruiter, India](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-recruiter-india-skild-ai-bengaluru-dj6aq3p42ts5) — Bengaluru, India
- [Technical Writer](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-writer-skild-ai-san-mateo-ysvzgysbp6gv) — San Mateo, CA
- [Global Supply Manager (GSM) – Robotics Hardware](https://feeny.ai/job/global-supply-manager-gsm-robotics-hardware-skild-ai-san-mateo-69h93f64c3fm) — San Mateo, CA
- [Full Stack Engineer (Frontend & Android Focus)](https://feeny.ai/job/full-stack-engineer-frontend-android-focus-skild-ai-san-mateo-033zp9wpy092) — San Mateo, CA
- [Workplace Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/workplace-manager-skild-ai-san-mateo-mt8mf7v9tvvx) — San Mateo, CA
- [R&D Assembly Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/r-d-assembly-technician-skild-ai-san-mateo-98dwfbsdxn0r) — San Mateo, CA
- [Camera Systems Software Engineer - India](https://feeny.ai/job/camera-systems-software-engineer-india-skild-ai-bengaluru-w4c1d7mvy0p6) — Bengaluru, India
- [Program Manager - Data Collection & Annotation - India](https://feeny.ai/job/program-manager-data-collection-annotation-india-skild-ai-bengaluru-p5vbye2jktvp) — Bengaluru, India