Job Description

Robotics Systems Software Engineer

SPS Automation is a small R&D robotics company based in Christchurch. We specialise in the development of drone and rover based robotic applications. We are in the process of expanding our team rapidly. See a video of one of our latest drone projects at the bottom of the page 
SPS Automation is looking for a software engineer to join the development team working on implementing autonomous drone systems. The successful applicant will be involved in all aspects of the development cycle, from planning to field testing. The work can be described as intensive R&D work where the successful applicant will develop most software from scratch. The developer will have a moderately high degree of freedom in selecting frameworks and technologies to use within reason, as some parts of the system are already set in stone.
Key Tasks:

• Develop extendable and maintainable software for large autonomous drone systems
• Be a part of the collaborative innovation and problem solving process
• Rigorously field test systems to ensure reliability and safety goals are met

Skills & Knowledge

• work experience OR Masters qualification and higher
• Computer Science or Software engineering degree
• Experience with embedded system programming
• Proficiency with C/C++ and Python
• Ardupilot/PX4, this can be learnt on the job but is a major benefit if you are already familiar
• Experience with networking and communication busses (TCP/UDP, IP, CAN, SPI, UART) is a must
• Experience with field testing of systems and subsystems
• Fluency with Ubuntu and Linux command line scripting and package management
• Experience with working in a team using an Agile methodology or similar (e.g. Kanban, Scrum)
• Excellent team working and communication skills
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Experience using GIT

Nice to have (but not essential)

• Experience flying drones
• Experience with other OO programming languages
• Exposure to controls theory and implementation of PID and EKF state estimation
• Exposure to Mavlink