Software Engineer, Planning & Controls - Autonomy & Robotics, DoorDash Air

<div class="content-intro"><p><img style="display: none; max-width: 100%;" src="https://click.appcast.io/greenhouse-te8/a31.png?ent=34&amp;e=22630&amp;t=1701374353806" width="1px"> <img style="display: none; max-width: 100%;" src="https://track.jobadx.com/v1/i.gif?utm_pixel=224e990b-8ff4-4287-8d5d-2ff09647f181&amp;utm_ptz=EST&amp;utm_rqt=track" alt="" width="1"></p></div><p>DoorDash Labs is an independent team within DoorDash. We explore robotics and automation to transform last mile logistics in the long term. If you have a passion for applying robotics solutions in a service used by millions of people, then we want to talk to you!</p> <p>We're hiring a Planning &amp; Controls Engineer in our Autonomy Software team. In this role, you'll own and develop flight control, motion planning, and mission planning algorithms for robust, fault-tolerant drone delivery. This is a hands-on role: you will design controllers, implement them in C++ on embedded platforms, test them in flight, and iterate.</p> <h2><strong>You're excited about this opportunity because you will…</strong></h2> <ul> <li>Play an integral role on a small and focused team</li> <li>Develop and tune low-level flight control algorithms for overactuated multirotor and hybrid aircraft on embedded platforms</li> <li>Own the dynamics simulation and aerodynamics modeling of the aircraft</li> <li>Bring up and tune flight controllers on new drone platforms</li> <li>Develop, tune, and test fault-tolerant control (loss of one or more motors, safe landing, emergency behaviors)</li> <li>Build a trajectory motion planner for smooth flight and obstacle avoidance within the operating envelope</li> <li>Help develop the high-level mission route planner with fallback locations</li> </ul> <h2><strong>We're excited about you because…</strong></h2> <ul> <li>You have deep controls fundamentals: linear and nonlinear systems, stability analysis, controller synthesis and tuning, frequency domain analysis, optimization, and linear algebra</li> <li>You have excellent knowledge of C++ and embedded systems</li> <li>You bring dynamics modeling and simulation experience with aerodynamics knowledge</li> <li>You have experience developing and tuning flight controllers, interfacing with state estimation</li> <li>You have excellent knowledge of motion planning algorithms (trajectory optimization and nonlinear optimization, A*/D*/RRT variants)</li> <li>You have experience with sensorless brushless DC motor control</li> <li>You've built or owned a robot control stack end-to-end, from design through implementation to hardware testing</li> <li>MS/PhD degree in EE, ME, CS, Robotics, or related technical field</li> <li>Nice to have experience includes:</li> <ul> <li>Familiarity with PX4 internals (mixer, rate controller, position controller)</li> <li>Experience with hybrid VTOL transition control</li> <li>Experience with tethered or suspended payload dynamics</li> <li>Contributions to open-source flight stacks or robotics frameworks</li> <li>Published papers in controls, motion planning, or aerial robotics</li> <li>Experience developing a Model Predictive Controller (MPC), including formulation, solver, and deployment</li> </ul> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description"><p><span style="font-size: 32px;"><strong>Compensation</strong></span></p> <p>The successful candidate’s starting pay will fall within the pay range listed below and is determined based on job-related factors including, but not limited to, skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. Base salary is localized according to an employee’s work location. Ranges are market-dependent and may be modified in the future.</p> <p>In addition to base salary, the compensation for this role includes opportunities for equity grants. Talk to your recruiter for more information.</p> <p>DoorDash cares about you and your overall well-being. That’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits p