About Nature Robots

Nature Robots is a deep tech robotics and AI startup translating cutting-edge research into robust, practical solutions for autonomous agriculture. Our core technology is the Farming Autonomy Operating System (FAOS), a modular software ecosystem that enables level-5 autonomous field work for a wide variety of machinery, cultivation systems, and climatic conditions, even without RTK-GPS.

Through our B2B2C licensing model, we supply agricultural equipment manufacturers (OEMs) globally with production-ready autonomy suites (OrchVine Nav, OpenField Nav, and Horti Nav) that share a 90% identical software core. This is complemented by our own autonomous field robot, Lero.03, which acts as our internal development and validation platform. Born as a spin-off from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and backed by over €4M in funding (including the prestigious EIC Accelerator), we are scaling our engineering team to bring decentralized, reliable autonomy to fields worldwide.

The Opportunity

We have already built a powerful foundation. Our engineering team is packed with world-class domain experts and PhDs specializing in SLAM, advanced path planning, motion control, Model Predictive Control (MPC), mapping, sensor fusion, task planning, and coverage planning.

As a Senior Robot Software Engineer (Production & Scaling), your mission isn’t to reinvent the wheel—it is to collaborate with this highly skilled team to prepare our existing, mature modules for global hyper-scaling. You will act as the bridge between cutting-edge algorithmic excellence and elite software productization. Your focus will be turning complex, expert-level features into seamless, plug-and-play architectures based on configuration over customization, while occasionally architecting entirely new production-grade modules from scratch.

Your Role

Collaborative Productization: Partner closely with our internal team of PhD experts (across SLAM, path planning, motion control, MPC, mapping, sensor fusion, task planning, coverage planning, etc.) to translate advanced algorithms into clean, highly scalable production software.
Plug-and-Play Architecture: Refactor and mature existing codebases into modular, decoupled, and reusable plug-and-play components that integrate seamlessly across diverse OEM configurations.
Configuration over Customization: Maintain a strict architectural discipline where new machine types, sensors, and field layouts are enabled via parameterization and configuration files, entirely avoiding codebase fragmentation.
New Module Development: Design and write net-new core software modules from scratch when scaling demands or feature requirements evolve, ensuring top-tier performance and documentation from day one.
Production Edge Deployment: Optimize, secure, and maintain containerized environments (Docker) for deterministic execution on embedded edge hardware (NVIDIA Jetson running the newest ROS 2 version).
Robustness & Telemetry: Harden our systems against harsh agricultural environments (mud, dust, heat) by implementing production-grade logging, remote diagnostics, and failsafe OTA update pipelines.
Testing Infrastructure: Contribute to the scaling of automated test frameworks, simulation pipelines (Gazebo/Foxglove), and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing to ensure absolute reliability before software hits the field.

What you bring

Education: Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent deep product-shipping experience).
**Experience:**5+ years of professional experience shipping real-world ROS/ROS 2 software stacks to production on physical, commercial mobile robots.
Software Engineering Excellence: Advanced proficiency in C++ (modern standards) and Python, with a deep understanding of software design patterns, modular architectures, and clean code principles.
Collaborative Mindset: Exceptional ability to work alongside highly technical academic and domain experts, serving as a catalyst for turning complex algorithmic concepts into robust software products.
Systems & Modularity Expert: Proven track record of designing highly parameterizable software engines, managing complex YAML/launch systems, and avoiding custom code forking.
Robotics Domain Literacy: Strong familiarity with robotics middleware and tools (Move Base Flex, Behavior Trees, Task-level State Machines, TF2, etc.) and an understanding of how components like sensor fusion, mapping, and motion control interact.
Pluses: Direct experience with enterprise software deployment, optimization for remote/low-bandwidth environments, or heavy industrial AGV platforms.

Our offer

Unmatched Peer Group: Work daily alongside a highly skilled team of PhDs and deep-tech pioneers who are leaders in their respective robotics domains.
Real-World Impact: See your code running immediately on real machines on real farms, directly contributing to sustainable and resilient global agriculture.
True Engineering Freedom: A culture focused on high-quality systems engineering, clean abstractions, and long-term technical sustainability over quick-and-dirty fixes.
Zero Corporate Politics: Flat hierarchies, direct communication lines with the founders, short decision-making paths, and high autonomy.
Flexibility & Trust: Fully supported hybrid working models, flexible hours, and an environment built on trust rather than micromanagement.
State-of-the-Art Toolkit: Access to powerful Al compute platforms (275 TOPS Orin systems), advanced simulation environments, and our own advanced field robot, Lero.03.

📩 Interested? Please follow the two steps:

Fill out the application form.
Send us your motivational letter, CV and portfolio at career@naturerobots.com.

Please stick to the given sequence. Only applications having successfully completed both steps can be considered. 🚀

Senior Robot Software Engineer - Production & Scaling [f/m/d]