Software Engineer, Planning & Controls - Autonomy & Robotics, DoorDash Air

The role

You will own and develop flight control, motion planning, and mission planning algorithms for drone delivery. This hands-on role involves designing controllers, implementing them in C++ on embedded platforms, and testing them in flight.

What you will do

• Develop and tune low-level flight control algorithms for overactuated multirotor and hybrid aircraft on embedded platforms
• Own the dynamics simulation and aerodynamics modeling of the aircraft
• Bring up and tune flight controllers on new drone platforms
• Develop, tune, and test fault-tolerant control
• Build a trajectory motion planner for smooth flight and obstacle avoidance
• Help develop the high-level mission route planner with fallback locations

Required qualifications

• Deep controls fundamentals: linear and nonlinear systems, stability analysis, controller synthesis and tuning, frequency domain analysis, optimization, and linear algebra
• Excellent knowledge of C++ and embedded systems
• Dynamics modeling and simulation experience with aerodynamics knowledge
• Experience developing and tuning flight controllers, interfacing with state estimation
• Excellent knowledge of motion planning algorithms (trajectory optimization and nonlinear optimization, A*/D*/RRT variants)
• Experience with sensorless brushless DC motor control
• Built or owned a robot control stack end-to-end, from design through implementation to hardware testing
• MS/PhD degree in EE, ME, CS, Robotics, or related technical field

Nice to have

• Familiarity with PX4 internals (mixer, rate controller, position controller)
• Experience with hybrid VTOL transition control
• Experience with tethered or suspended payload dynamics
• Contributions to open-source flight stacks or robotics frameworks
• Published papers in controls, motion planning, or aerial robotics
• Experience developing a Model Predictive Controller (MPC), including formulation, solver, and deployment

Benefits

• 401(k) plan with employer matching
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Wellness benefits
• Commuter benefits match
• Paid time off
• Paid sick leave
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• 11 paid holidays
• Disability and basic life insurance
• Family-forming assistance
• Mental health program

About the company

DoorDash is a technology and logistics company. DoorDash Labs is an independent team within DoorDash that explores robotics and automation to transform last mile logistics.