Robotics System Engineer

Job Description

Robotics System Engineer
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**RightHand Robotics, Inc.** Charlestown, MA \| Full-Time \| $89,500 - $105,000 / year

About the Role
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RightHand Robotics builds intelligent robotic piece-picking systems that operate in real warehouses, at real scale, every day. Our robots power production fulfillment across thousands of SKUs and demanding customer environments.

We are looking for a Robotics System Engineer to build, maintain, and improve the hardware and software behind our proprietary robotic piece-picking platform. This is a hands-on role spanning mechanical systems, electronics, and software, focused on delivering reliable, scalable automation to customers worldwide. You will lead root cause analysis of product failures, drive long-term solutions, and provide engineering-level technical leadership across our hardware, software, and operations teams.

This position is based at our Charlestown, MA worksite. Telecommuting is permitted up to 2 days per week within Massachusetts. No travel required.

What You'll Do
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* **\[35%\]** Build, maintain, and improve the robotic gripper and computer systems for our proprietary robotic piece-picking platform to deliver reliable, scalable automation solutions to customers worldwide. This includes hands-on mechanical assembly and repair, and iterative systems design improvements involving pneumatics, gearing, venturi-based suction, and custom printed circuit board (PCB) components.
* **\[15%\]** Manage procurement of critical engineering components, monitor global inventory levels, and work with vendors to optimize costs and lead times for custom and off-the-shelf parts.
* **\[15%\]** Lead root cause analysis of software and hardware product failures or recurring issues on the robotic piece-picking platform. Provide effective resolutions and workarounds for immediate issues to ensure uninterrupted operation, and strategize long-term solutions for recurring problems. This includes diagnosing software defects in robot vision and control software, operating system and network-level diagnostics and issue resolution, and hardware peripheral device diagnostics (depth cameras, barcode scanners, robot arms, touchscreen consoles, safety control systems).
* **\[10%\]** Interface regularly with hardware, software, and operations teams to maintain engineering continuity across departments. Occasionally act as a public-facing technical representative during executive visits or partner tours.
* **\[5%\]** Develop and maintain lightweight internal software systems using cloud-based platforms (Google Workspace and Apps Script) to streamline engineering workflows and reduce third-party tool reliance.
* **\[5%\]** Triage and perform on-site troubleshooting for minor technical problems experienced during hardware installation, and escalate when necessary.
* **\[5%\]** Design and implement software tools to aid in debugging customer-found issues. Based on feedback and real-world performance, make recommendations for design changes, enhancements, or replacements to ensure continuous improvement.
* **\[5%\]** Provide engineering-level Tier 3 support for the system and its components throughout the full product life-cycle, primarily providing non-customer-facing technical knowledge and leadership to internal departments, including deployment engineering, customer support, and customer success.
* **\[5%\]** Cross-train RightHand Robotics team members on how to debug the robot software and hardware following new feature development and ongoing changes.

Education
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Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field.

Experience
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2 years of experience as a Deployment Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Systems Engineer, or a related occupation.

Required Skills
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The position requires:

1. Two (2) years of experience with technical hardware and software support in industrial automation or robotics engineering.
2. Experience using Linux as a primary operating system.
3. Experience with mechanical assemblies.
4. Experience with ticketing systems to track work (JIRA, ServiceDesk, or Zendesk).
5. Experience triaging and troubleshooting technical problems, including identifying behavioral failures in a combined software/hardware environment, examining and resolving software failure tracebacks, and using software debuggers to identify incorrect code.
6. Experience with computer networking concepts (TCP/IP, UDP, DNS, Ethernet) and diagnostic tools.
7. Experience reading and writing software code in Python and using shell scripting to automate tasks.
8. Experience with incident and defect management processes (triage, root cause analysis, and resolution prioritization).

About RightHand Robotics
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At RightHand Robotics, we build intelligent robotic piece-picking systems that operate in real warehouses, at real scale, every day. Our robots don't live in demos or research labs; they power production fulfillment across thousands of SKUs and demanding customer environments. We are a small, highly practical engineering team focused on shipping reliable, scalable automation that delivers measurable customer value.