Member of Technical Staff, Microsoft Robotics, Navigation

What you'll do

• Develop algorithms translating mission objectives into safe, dynamically feasible robot trajectories.
• Integrate navigation modules with localization, mapping, perception, control systems for end-to-end autonomy.
• Build real-time planning systems that operate under practical constraints like limited compute and noisy sensors.
• Create costmaps and safety-aware decision policies enabling robots to navigate complex environments safely.
• Use simulation and field testing to evaluate and improve the robustness of navigation performance.
• Analyze robot telemetry and logs to debug issues, tune parameters, and enhance mission efficiency.

What we're looking for

• Experience developing navigation, motion planning, path planning, behavior planning, or control algorithms for autonomous systems.
• Proficiency in robotics middleware like ROS/ROS2, Nav2, MoveIt, and experience with autonomy frameworks.
• Expertise in real-time planning approaches such as A\*, D\*, RRT/RRT\*, lattice planning, trajectory optimization.
• Ability to integrate navigation systems with localization, mapping, perception, simulation, and robot control interfaces.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python for writing performant, maintainable software for robotics systems.
• Experience debugging autonomy behavior using logs, telemetry, visualization tools, and field test data.
• Familiarity with learning-based navigation techniques and foundation models applied to planning.