Robotics careers · Career guide

Robotics software engineerwhat the job involves, pay and who’s hiring

There are 1,551 open robotics software engineer roles on Robotics Connected today, at 290 employers. Where roles give pay, the middle figure is $212K a year. Below is what the work involves, the skills employers ask for, how people get in, and the roles open now.

By Olivier Ayache · Figures from the jobs board, updated
1,551
open robotics software engineer roles
290
employers hiring
$212K
middle pay a year, from 276 roles
6%
can be done remotely

What does a robotics software engineer do?

Software engineers in robotics write the code that lets a robot sense, decide and move, and the systems that support it: simulation, data pipelines, fleet management, tooling and the cloud services behind a deployed fleet.

Some roles are close to the hardware, working on real-time control and drivers, while others look much like software jobs anywhere else, applied to robots. Both need people who understand that the code ends up moving something physical.

Also advertised as: Robotics software developer, Autonomy software engineer, ROS developer.

A typical week

  • Writing and reviewing C++, Python or Rust for the robot or its supporting systems
  • Building tools for simulation, testing and replaying logged data
  • Tracking down bugs that only happen on the real robot
  • Improving performance, reliability and deployment for a fleet in the field

Skills employers ask for

  • C++ and Python; Rust is increasingly asked for
  • ROS or ROS 2, and Linux
  • Software engineering basics: testing, code review, continuous integration
  • Some maths: geometry, linear algebra and probability
  • Cloud and data tools for fleet and infrastructure roles

How much do robotics software engineers earn?

  • $175K to $245K a year for the middle half, $212K in the middle, from 276 roles paid in USD

These figures come from the 287 of 1,551 open roles that give pay, taking the middle of each role’s range. Most are in US states where job adverts have to show pay, so they lean towards American salaries; roles in the UK and Europe rarely publish a figure.

Who is hiring robotics software engineers?

The employers with the most open robotics software engineer roles today:

Where are the jobs?

The cities with the most open robotics software engineer roles, each with its own page of robotics jobs:

And by country:

What levels are open?

886 of the 1,551 roles say their level in the title. They split like this:

Entry-level roles are scarce across robotics, not only in this one. I looked at why, and what I’d suggest if you’re starting out, in this article on the entry-level gap.

How to become a robotics software engineer

Most come from a computer science or engineering degree. Moving across from another software job is common, and I'd suggest building something with ROS 2 and a simulator first, since it shows you can work with robots rather than only about them.

Open-source contributions to robotics projects are noticed by hiring managers, and so is experience with real-time or embedded systems.

If you’re early on, the robotics internships and entry-level and graduate roles are the places to start.

Open robotics software engineer jobs

The newest, one an employer:

Search the jobs board for “software”All Robotics Software & Infrastructure roles

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