About the job
Join Our Team as a C++ Systems Engineer!
Location: San Carlos, CA (On-site)
About the Role
At NEO, we are at the forefront of robotics with our humanoid robot that learns from video and interacts seamlessly with people in their homes. We are looking for talented engineers who can enhance the efficiency and intelligence of our robot's brain and nervous system.
As a C++ Systems Engineer, you will be responsible for developing the core infrastructure that powers our robotics systems. This includes building robust sensor pipelines, motor control loops, and inter-process communications that enable our robots to operate effectively in real-world environments.
Your Responsibilities Will Include:
Designing and implementing low-latency, high-throughput systems using modern C++ that perform reliably on resource-constrained devices.
Managing critical real-time infrastructure such as sensor fusion pipelines, motor control interfaces, and foundational libraries utilized across all robots.
Constructing IPC and serialization layers to connect perception, planning, and actuation, ensuring efficient data flow through lock-free queues, memory pools, shared-memory buffers, and precise logging systems.
Establishing performance benchmarks as the standard reference through microbenchmarks, flamegraphs, and regression tracking to maintain system integrity under load.
Resolving complex issues across multiple system layers, including toolchain and ABI problems, linking issues, kernel interfaces, and performance on target hardware.
Ensuring system reliability with predictable behavior, clear failure modes, and well-defined interfaces that facilitate collaboration with other teams.
Delivering code that is deployed on thousands of robots operating in homes and warehouses, moving beyond mere prototypes.
Ideal Candidates Will Possess:
A minimum of 5 years of experience in delivering production-grade C++ within performance-critical environments such as robotics, autonomous vehicles, high-frequency trading, game engines, or operating systems.
A strong understanding of cycles, cache lines, and performance budgets, designing systems that remain efficient under load.
Proficiency in Unix/Linux environments, including command line usage, GNU tools, and Unix philosophy.
Experience shipping real-time systems where failure could have significant consequences.
Ability to debug at the systems level using benchmarking, profiling, tracing, and assembly code inspection alongside extensive use of Linux kernel interfaces.
A knack for writing clear and maintainable code that other engineers can build upon, emphasizing clear interfaces and minimal dependencies.

