Robotics Engineer

About the Company

Launchpad is transforming manufacturing through AI-powered automation. Our Digitool platform combines advanced AI, machine vision, and robotics to enable rapid, precise, and cost-effective product assembly, helping manufacturers compete at a level previously out of reach. We closed our Series A and build across our Los Angeles and Edinburgh teams.

About the Role

We’re hiring Robotics Engineers to own integration and test across our Digitool platform. This is a hands-on role. You’ll be on the floor with real machines as much as you’re in code, bringing our ROS2 software stack, PLC-basedmachine behavior, and physical hardware together into a system that performs reliably in production.You own the path from simulation to iron for the Digitool subsystems you’re given, and you help shape the whole system: setting integration standards, defining test methodology, working with and mentoring engineers across the stack, and being the person who figures out why something isn’t working when the answer isn’t obvious. The day-to-day work is El Segundo based, but the role spans our LA and Edinburgh teams, and traveling to Edinburgh is a real part of the job.

Responsibilities

• Own integration and test across the Digitool platform: perception and machine vision, job generation and planning, motion control, screwdriving and screw feeding, the sash and fixturing subsystems, and the PLC state machines and electromechanical hardware they run on.
• Carry every change up the test ladder, from phase 01 simple physics through phase 02 SIL and phase 03HIL to phase 04 on machine, with the exit criteria defined at each phase.
• Build and maintain the plant models that gate each phase. Mocks are scaffolding; cheap, derived from the same interface definition as the plant, and never the only test of a behavior.
• Write repeatable, automated tests with clear pass/fail criteria: the same input produces the same behavior, with no hidden state.
• Debug across the full stack: software, firmware, PLC ladder/structured text, mechanical, and electrical, and know which layer the problem lives in.
• Develop and enforce behavior specifications for PLC-driven machine sequences, including safety interlocks, fault handling, and state transition logic.
• Collaborate with our Edinburgh team on architecture decisions and ensure they land correctly in production hardware.
• Establish and maintain test infrastructure: CI pipelines for ROS2 packages, automated trial logging, job andKPI tracking, and performance benchmarking against production targets.
• Travel to Edinburgh and to customer sites for system deployment and commissioning support.
• Mentor other engineers on integration discipline, test design, and systematic debug methodology.

Qualifications

• U.S. person (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident) as defined under ITAR. This role works on export-controlled programs.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in robotics, automation, or mechatronic systems engineering.

Required Skills

• ROS2 proficiency: node architecture, lifecycle management, DDS configuration, real-time constraints, and hardware interface layers.
• Direct experience with industrial PLC platforms (Beckhoff TwinCAT, Siemens, Allen-Bradley, or equivalent),reading and writing control logic, not just interfacing with it.
• Strong Python and C++; comfortable reading and modifying firmware or low-level driver code when needed.
• A track record debugging integrated systems where the failure mode spans software, electrical, and mechanical domains.
• Experience with SIL and HIL testing, including building or using plant models to validate machine behavior before it reaches hardware.
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally (~20–25%).

Preferred Skills

• Experience with Beckhoff TwinCAT or EtherCAT-based motion control architectures.
• Familiarity with Isaac Sim or other GPU-accelerated simulation environments.
• Machine vision integration experience: cameras, calibration, perception pipeline tuning in production conditions.
• Background in manufacturing automation or high-mix/low-volume assembly systems.
• Experience working under CMMC, ITAR, or CUI controls.