Senior Controls Engineer

This role spans closed-loop process control, multi-axis motion, and embedded real-time systems. You will define how the machine senses and responds to its process in real time, work directly with the founding team, and have significant latitude to make fundamental technical decisions that shape the product.

You might be a great fit if you...

• Want to solve a controls problem that has never been solved before and develop control strategies from first principles.
• Thrive at the intersection of hardware and software. You are as comfortable with embedded real-time code as you are with block diagrams and plant models.
• Take end-to-end ownership. From architecture and model development to implementation, validation, and production, you drive it all the way.
• Are energized by constraint. Tight timing requirements and hardware-in-the-loop complexity bring out your best work.
• Want to have an impact on decarbonizing manufacturing. You understand that more efficient processes and lighter parts have real consequences at scale.

Key responsibilities

• Own the real-time control architecture for a novel metal additive manufacturing platform, from requirements definition to implementation, validation, and production readiness.
• Design, implement, and tune closed-loop control systems for high-speed, multi-variable physical processes with stringent performance and repeatability requirements.
• Develop embedded real-time firmware on FPGA, DSP, or RTOS-based platforms to execute low-latency control and feedback loops.
• Integrate multi-axis motion control with process feedback, synchronizing actuation and sensing across the full system.
• Develop sensor fusion and signal processing pipelines to extract reliable process state information from noisy, high-bandwidth sensor data.
• Build plant models and perform model-based control design; validate models against experimental data and iterate.
• Define and execute controls V&V procedures including HIL testing, performance characterization, and failure mode analysis.
• Collaborate with electrical, mechanical, and process engineering to ensure clean system-level integration.
• Establish controls documentation standards: architecture documents, parameter specifications, test reports, and design review records.
• Contribute to IP development and support patent preparation in collaboration with the founding team.
• Mentor interns and junior engineers as the team scales.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field; Master's or PhD a plus.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience designing, implementing, and deploying real-time control systems on physical hardware.
• Deep proficiency in closed-loop control design, classical and/or model-based, with demonstrated results on real hardware.
• Experience with embedded real-time platforms: FPGA (VHDL/Verilog or HLS), DSP, or RTOS-based microcontrollers.
• Strong programming skills in C/C++ for embedded targets; Python or MATLAB/Simulink for modeling and analysis.
• Experience with multi-axis motion control systems and associated hardware interfaces.
• Demonstrated ability to take control systems from architecture through deployment on physical hardware, with iterative tuning and validation.
• Prior experience in a hardware startup, industrial equipment, or advanced manufacturing context.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience with high-speed control loops where latency and jitter are critical constraints.
• Background in model-based control design (system identification, state estimation, MPC, or adaptive control).
• Familiarity with NI hardware, LabVIEW Real-Time, or similar industrial control platforms.
• Experience with sensor fusion, Kalman filtering, or other state estimation techniques in hardware systems.
• Exposure to machine vision or optical sensing integration for closed-loop process feedback.
• Interest in metal additive manufacturing or advanced manufacturing processes.

What we offer

• Y Combinator and NSF-backed startup with differentiated, defensible technology.
• Equity incentive based on long-term contributions and performance.
• Direct collaboration with the founding team on hardware that does not exist elsewhere in the world.
• A lean, low-bureaucracy environment where your technical judgment shapes product direction.
• Flexible working arrangements and a culture that respects your time and autonomy.
• The opportunity to file patents and contribute to a growing IP portfolio in a novel technical domain.