Senior Controls Engineer

Full Time

Sanctuary’s mission is to create general purpose robots that can autonomously perform most economically valuable work. Members of the Sanctuary team founded D-Wave (created the quantum computing industry), Kindred (first use of reinforcement learning in a production robot) and the Creative Destruction Lab (created in excess of $5B in shareholder value). The team has experience launching market defining innovations rooted in deep, unsolved scientific problems. The company is based in Vancouver, Canada.

We are seeking an exceptional Senior Controls Engineer to work as part of a team developing a novel robotics platform designed to be capable of general purpose work tasks. In this role, you will have responsibility for all aspects of controls engineering, and should have extreme competency and knowledge in that field. Typical duties of this position include creative development of planners and controllers for mobility and/or manipulation tasks, prototyping in simulation, and carrying out experiments on hardware. We are focused on delivering robust real-world machines and emphasize fast iterative empirical evaluation and analysis of results in real-world hardware.

You'll do well here if you like understanding how things move and developing algorithms to make machines realize natural, robust, and useful behaviors. Strong interpersonal, speaking, and writing skills are required.

Responsibilities and Duties

  • Solve controls-specific research and engineering problems as they arise
  • Design and develop high performance control software
  • Work with artificial intelligence and robotics teams to define and develop controls APIs
  • Aid in the development of humanoid robotic systems (e.g. hands, arms, face, neck and torso)
  • Test, troubleshoot issues, and maintain and modify existing control systems

Minimum Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in electrical/controls engineering, computer science, mechatronics engineering, engineering physics, or a related technical field or equivalent practical experience
  • 2+ years of controls experience in research or industry
  • Experience in robotic control including forward and inverse kinematics, path planning, object manipulation and coordinated motion control
  • Experience with fast prototyping
  • Related technical projects in a portfolio or personal website
  • Experience implementing closed loop controls on linear and nonlinear systems
  • Please include a portfolio, or link to your personal website

Preferred Qualifications

  • MS or PhD in electrical/controls engineering, computer science, mechatronics engineering, engineering physics, or a related technical field
  • A passion for AI, and in particular understanding how biological intelligence works
  • Experience with ROS and/or ROS2
  • Relevant experience in system architecture, including broad technical knowledge in mechanical design, electronic controls, precision motion, positioning, electronics and programming

About You

  • You are highly competitive with a track record of success
  • You are naturally optimistic and work well with both leadership and team members
  • You are organized, learn quickly, attend to detail, and are excited by challenges
  • You are a creative problem solver who is fascinated by the way animals and machines move
  • You would rather work on robots than do pretty much anything else
  • Taking on a global-scale challenge that could create fundamental change appeals to you
  • You have excellent communication skills and enjoy working as a part of a multidisciplinary team
  • You have a track record of technical excellence and successful projects

About Sanctuary

Founded in 2018 by Geordie Rose, Suzanne Gildert, Olivia Norton and Ajay Agrawal, Sanctuary is a Vancouver, Canada based mission driven company. Sanctuary’s mission is to create general purpose robots that can autonomously perform most economically valuable work.

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