# Software Engineer - Simulation & Robotics Engineer

**Company:** [Skydio](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/skydio)
**Location:** San Mateo, CA
**Role:** Fullstack Engineering
**Salary:** $170k – $240k/yr
**Skills:** C++, Python, Physics Simulation, Sensor Simulation, Real-Time Systems, Multithreading, Game Engines, Physics Engines, Autonomy Stack, Hardware Emulation
**Posted:** 2026-03-04

> Builds core architecture for high-fidelity drone simulator including physics, sensor simulation, and autonomy integration. Requires strong C++ and Python skills, experience with performance-critical systems, and interest in robotics.

## Job Description

## Areas of Responsibility

**Core Simulator Architecture**
- Design, implement, and evolve the foundational architecture of the Skydio Simulator, ensuring it scales across vehicle types, environments, and use cases.

**Physics and Dynamics**
- Improve and extend physics models governing vehicle motion, interactions with the environment, and dynamic agents.

**Sensor and Hardware Simulation**
- Build high-fidelity simulations of cameras, IMUs, and other onboard components, including timing, noise characteristics, and hardware behavior.

**Autonomy Stack Integration**
- Run and validate the full Skydio autonomy stack in simulation, ensuring consistency between simulated and real-world behavior.

**Feature Development on Top of the Core**
- Implement simulator capabilities that unlock new workflows for customers and internal autonomy engineers, from training scenarios to advanced testing modes.

**Performance and Fidelity**
- Profile, optimize, and improve simulator performance while continuously pushing realism and accuracy.

**What You’ll Do**
- Develop core simulator components in **C++** and **Python**, working close to real-time constraints.
- Collaborate with autonomy, perception, and controls engineers to align simulation behavior with real-world systems.
- Debug complex interactions between physics, sensors, autonomy logic, and rendering.
- Help shape the long-term technical direction of the simulator as both a product and an internal platform.
- Contribute to documentation and shared understanding of how the simulator works internally.

## Qualifications
- Strong software engineering experience with **C++** and **Python**.
- Experience building complex systems where performance, determinism, or correctness matter.
- Comfort reasoning about time-synchronized systems, state machines, or real-time execution.
- Ability to work in a large, evolving codebase with multiple stakeholders.
- Interest in robotics, simulation, or physical systems (prior robotics experience is a plus, not a requirement).

## Bonus Experience
- Robotics, simulation, game engines, or real-time systems.
- Physics engines, sensor modeling, or hardware abstraction layers.
- Multithreaded or low-latency system design.
- Experience debugging systems that span software and physical behavior.

## Compensation
- Annual base salary range: **$170,000 - $240,000**.
- Equity in the form of stock options.
- Comprehensive benefits: group health insurance, paid vacation, sick leave, holiday pay, 401K savings plan.
- Relocation assistance may be provided.

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