Research Engineer

Research Engineer Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community. The Gharib Group seeks a Research Engineer to help develop the next generation of autonomous systems for real-world robotics applications — designing, integrating, and testing new concepts across aerial, ground, and hybrid vehicles. The work spans perception and control algorithms, electrical and mechanical design, simulation, and trade studies, and extends to putting those algorithms on real hardware: low-level firmware and driver development, system architecture and integration, and both lab-based and field robotics. The role suits a generalist whose knowledge spans several disciplines and offers wide exposure across the group's projects at both a practical and a theoretical level. The Engineer will also serve as lead for small project teams, reporting to faculty and mentoring graduate students. Autonomy Software Development Full-stack autonomy software for wheeled, flying, and hybrid vehicles: perception, sensor fusion, control and navigation algorithms; hardware drivers; simulation. Hardware Design and Integration Electrical and mechanical design, 3D modeling and rapid prototyping, low-level firmware and driver development, system architecture and integration. Testing and Field Campaigns Leading lab and field test campaigns, deploying code on physical hardware, operating robots, and meeting performance and robustness requirements for field use. Project Leadership and Mentoring Managing small engineering teams across aerial, terrestrial, and hybrid robotics projects; mentoring junior lab members. Documentation and Trade Studies Written documentation and solution-space trade studies of new designs to guide future research in the lab.