Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Motion Planning & Manipulation

The role

Valstad is seeking a Senior Robotics Software Engineer to build the motion-planning and manipulation systems that convert CAD geometry and manufacturing requirements into reliable robot execution.

You will work across the full planning stack, including coordinate frames, kinematics, inverse kinematics, collision checking, constrained Cartesian motion, trajectory generation, external-axis coordination, calibration, simulation, and industrial robot integration.

Our robots must execute long, process-constrained paths around large steel structures while maintaining precise tool position, orientation, speed, and clearance. They must account for linear rails, fixtures, workpiece variation, controller behavior, and imperfect real-world calibration.

What you will do

Develop motion-planning systems for robotic welding, handling, scanning, inspection, and related manufacturing processes.
Convert CAD-derived process paths into collision-free, executable robot trajectories.
Generate constrained Cartesian paths while maintaining tool orientation, standoff, process angles, and travel speed.
Develop strategies for inverse-kinematics selection and continuity along long manufacturing paths.
Detect and avoid singularities, wrist flips, joint limits, collisions, and discontinuous robot configurations.
Plan coordinated motion across industrial manipulators, linear rails, positioners, and other external axes.
Develop reachability and placement-analysis tools for robots, workpieces, fixtures, and tooling.
Incorporate controller limits, interpolation behavior, blending, acceleration, and process constraints into trajectory generation.
Integrate robot, tool, fixture, workpiece, and sensor calibration into the planning system.
Use measured workpiece geometry and sensor data to adjust nominal manufacturing paths.
Develop planning and recovery strategies for operations that cannot be completed in a single robot configuration.
Integrate generated trajectories with industrial robot controllers.
Build simulation, visualization, log-replay, and regression-testing infrastructure.
Diagnose discrepancies between planned, simulated, commanded, and physically executed motion.
Work directly with automation, mechanical, welding, and manufacturing engineers during commissioning and production.
Help define the architecture and technical standards for Valstad’s robotics platform.

What success looks like

Valstad can reliably convert manufacturing intent and CAD geometry into safe, feasible, and executable robot trajectories.

Long manufacturing paths run without unexpected singularities, joint-limit failures, wrist flips, collisions, or discontinuous IK solutions. Calibration and sensor data flow cleanly into planning. Simulated behavior closely matches physical execution.

Planning failures are diagnosable rather than mysterious. Representative production scenarios are automatically tested. Engineers can reproduce hardware issues using logs and simulation.

Most importantly, Valstad’s robotic cells become less dependent on manual programming and individual expert knowledge. New structures can move from engineering data into production faster, with less intervention and greater reliability.

Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Motion Planning & Manipulation

The role

Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Motion Planning & Manipulation

The role

What you will do

What you will do

What success looks like

What you need

Strongly preferred

About Valstad

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Valstad