Principal Motion Planning Engineer

Team: Engineering

Location: Charlestown, MA

Commitment: Full-Time

Workplace Type: hybrid

About this role:

Pickle is on the hunt for a dynamic and driven Principal Motion Planning Engineer to revolutionize the future of warehouse automation. As the most senior individual contributor on the motion planning team, you will own the technical vision and architecture for the planning, manipulation, navigation, and control software that powers Pickle's autonomous unload robots. You will take on our hardest algorithmic problems — from sample-based and trajectory-optimization planners to contact-aware control and autonomous recovery — set engineering standards across the robotics organization, and multiply the team's impact through deep technical leadership rather than direct people management.

Responsibilities:

• Own the technical vision and architecture of Pickle's motion planning and controls stack for manipulation, navigation, and safety-critical control of the unload robot

• Take on the hardest algorithmic problems in planning and control — sample-based planning (e.g., RRT), path and trajectory optimization, numerical/nonlinear optimization, and contact-aware control — and turn research prototypes into production systems

• Set engineering standards and technical strategy across the robotics organization, driving high-stakes technical decisions that unblock major customers and multi-year roadmaps

• Act as a force multiplier through deep technical mentorship — raising the bar for the whole team, reviewing designs, and guiding engineers on the toughest problems without direct people management

• Define and maintain the architecture, interfaces, and system documentation for the full planning and controls stack so the team can move faster and scale

• Analyze field failure cases and partner across engineering, test, and on-site deployment teams to design robust autonomous recovery that measurably improves reliability

• Establish regression tests, benchmarks, and success metrics that keep regressions away from customers and focus the team on the highest-impact work

• Write production-grade Python and C++ for real-time, safety-critical robotics, personally shipping the highest-leverage and highest-risk components

Skills and Experience:

• 8+ years building robotics software, with a sustained record of designing and shipping complex systems as a senior individual contributor; deep graduate robotics/controls research experience counts toward this

• Expert-level, hands-on experience developing motion planning and control for real-world robots — manipulation, navigation, or locomotion — in safety-critical, real-time production systems

• Exceptional technical communication; able to set org-wide technical strategy, write clear architecture and design docs, and influence engineering, product, and executive stakeholders without formal authority. Professional fluency in English

• Mastery of motion planning and controls: sample-based planning (e.g., RRT), path and trajectory optimization, numerical/nonlinear optimization, optimal and contact-aware control; expert-level Python and C++

• None required. A strong foundation in robotics, controls, computer science, mechanical engineering, or a related quantitative field is expected

• ROS/ROS2, Python and C++ toolchains, Git, Linux, and numerical optimization libraries; experience architecting testing/CI and benchmarking for robotics

• Deep technical ownership, sound judgment on high-stakes tradeoffs, a force-multiplier mindset, strong failure-analysis instincts, and a collaborative, low-ego approach

• Hybrid — Boston, MA area, with regular on-site work and occasional travel to customer deployment sites

• Full-time, with occasional schedule flexibility to support on-site deployments, demos, and testing