Lead Software Engineer, Robotics Middleware

At Bedrock, we’re moving AI out of the lab and into the real world. Our team is composed of industry veterans who helped launch Waymo, scaled Segment to a $3.2B acquisition, and grew Uber Freight to $5B in revenue. Today, we’re deploying autonomous systems on heavy construction machinery across the country, accelerating project schedules of billion-dollar infrastructure projects and improving safety on job sites. Backed by $350M in funding, we’re working quickly to close the gap between America's surging demand for housing, data centers, manufacturing hubs, and the construction industry's growing labor shortage.

This is where algorithms meet steel-toed boots. You’ll collaborate with construction veterans and world-class engineers to solve physical-world problems that simulations can’t touch. If you're ready to apply cutting-edge technology to solve meaningful problems alongside a talented team—we'd love to have you join us.

The Role

The Onboard Infrastructure team is responsible for the base platform software and middleware running on our onboard computer—from board bring-up through middleware—developed entirely in Rust.

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our team to architect and develop our onboard runtime framework. This framework enables our autonomy stack to operate safely and efficiently, while helping our Machine Learning and Controls teams move faster and ship with confidence.

What You'll Do

• Architect and develop the core application runtime framework, including application lifecycle management, deterministic scheduling, and configuration systems managing complex subsystem dependencies

• Build high-performance communication systems and zero-copy interfaces for low-latency, real-time sensor data (cameras, lidars)

• Develop onboard infrastructure for system observability, diagnostics, and deterministic logging & replay

• Establish and maintain coding standards and code health, championing Rust best practices and mentoring engineers

• Collaborate closely with ML and Controls teams to ensure the platform meets advanced autonomy requirements

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or high-performance embedded environments

• Strong proficiency in Rust or modern C++, with a clear desire to work primarily in Rust

• Demonstrated ability to architect complex systems, including APIs, data models, and IPC mechanisms

• Proven experience building embedded, real-time Linux subsystems, with deep understanding of userspace optimization, kernel interaction, latency, and resource constraints

• Track record of technical leadership, including design ownership, mentoring, and cross-team collaboration

Preferred Qualifications

• Production experience developing in Rust

• Prior work on runtime or middleware frameworks for robotics or autonomous vehicles

• Experience with autonomy-relevant sensors and compute (cameras, lidars, GNSS, IMUs, edge compute, embedded controllers)

• Familiarity with functional safety standards (ISO 26262, IEC 61508) and safety-critical software development

Our roles are often flexible. If you don't fit all the criteria, or are in another location (especially one where we have an office like SF or NY) please apply anyway! We'd love to consider you.