Robotics Simulation Platform Engineer
About the Role
We are seeking a Robotics Simulation Platform Engineer to build and scale high-fidelity simulation environments, digital twins, and simulation infrastructure for aerial and ground robotic systems. You will focus on simulation platform development, environment building, and system integration - enabling autonomy, perception, and GNC teams to develop and validate algorithms in realistic virtual environments. This role is key to creating scalable, reusable simulation infrastructure and accelerating sim-to-real development across the organization.
Key Responsibilities
- Build, configure, and maintain simulation environments using platforms such as Gazebo/gz-sim, Isaac Sim, Unreal Engine, or Unity
- Develop and integrate vehicle models (geometry, mass/inertia, propulsion, actuation) and sensor pipelines (IMU, GPS, barometer, optical flow, magnetometer, LiDAR, cameras) with physics-accurate noise, latency, and disturbance characteristics
- Design and manage digital twin workflows to replicate real-world system behavior and support sim-to-real validation against real telemetry and flight log data
- Integrate simulation environments with SITL frameworks (PX4/ArduPilot) for closed-loop autonomy and control testing
- Work with physics engines (PhysX, ODE, Chaos, Newton) to ensure stable, deterministic, and highperformance simulation behavior
- Build and maintain simulation tooling, APIs, CI/CD hooks, and reusable components so internal teams can run reproducible SITL test suites independently
- Collaborate closely with GNC and autonomy teams to ensure simulation models and environments accurately support control system validation and flight behavior testing
Required Skills & Experience
- Hands-on experience with robotics simulation platforms (Gazebo/gz-sim, Isaac Sim, Unreal, Unity, or similar)
- Familiarity with robot and vehicle model formats (URDF, SDF) and mesh optimization for simulation performance
- Experience developing vehicle and sensor simulation pipelines — including camera/sensor models, noise modeling, timing, and data synchronization
- Familiarity with PX4/ArduPilot SITL, MAVLink, and ROS2-based systems
- Proficiency in C++ and Python for developing simulation plugins and components, with hands-on experience in build systems (CMake/Make) and version control (Git)
- Working understanding of rigid body dynamics, kinematics, and coordinate transformations as applied to multirotor or fixed-wing platforms
- Understanding of physics engine fundamentals — collision systems, constraints, numerical stability, deterministic stepping
Preferred Experience
- Experience building digital twins and simulation pipelines calibrated from real-world telemetry or flight log data
- Hands-on experience with SITL/HIL setups and integration with autopilot stacks (ArduPilot, PX4)
- Experience developing custom simulation plugins or components (e.g., Gazebo/Ignition)
- Familiarity with flight dynamics modeling (FDM) for multirotor, fixed-wing, or VTOL platforms
- Experience building or maintaining CI/CD pipelines for automated simulation-based regression testing • Contributions to robotics, simulation, or autonomy open-source projects
Education & Experience
Bachelor's degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical, Mechatronics, or related field, with 0-4 years of experience in robotics simulation or related domains.
