Chef Robotics is on a mission to accelerate the advent of intelligent machines in the physical world, starting with food. We build AI-powered robots that assemble fresh meals at scale for some of the largest food producers in North America — companies making ready-to-eat meals for airlines, retailers, meal kits, and the frozen food aisle.

Our robots operate in high-mix, high-variability production environments where ingredients change shape, color, and consistency from one tray to the next. Solving this requires tightly coupled perception, manipulation, and learning — and a team that ships hardware-software systems into customer facilities and keeps them running.

Headquartered in San Francisco, we are a venture-backed team of robotics, ML, and operations engineers building the foundation for general-purpose food robotics.

About The Role Chef Robotics is building autonomous robots that work alongside humans in commercial food preparation environments — and the platform they run on has to be rock-solid. As a Senior Software Engineer on the Robotics Platform team, you own the foundation: the compute, OS, middleware, and networking that everything else depends on. You'll be working on everything from low-level system software to high-bandwidth sensor data logging, debugging, and performance analysis. Ideal candidates will also be interested in overall product performance and will work closely with senior robotics and perception engineers to debug, test, and release new autonomy features.

We are a small, high-ownership team. We work onsite five days a week and move with startup urgency — you'll lead the systems-level work that makes those features reliable in production.

In this role, you will:

• Lead the upgrade of our autonomy software OS and middleware stack, across production systems
• Define software architecture standards, release processes, and testing practices for platform software
• Own fleet-wide platform reliability — diagnose and fix low-level systems issues (drivers, networking, Linux configuration) across deployed robots
• Investigate and resolve networking and load bottlenecks that affect perception and autonomy algorithm performance
• Build provisioning and configuration tooling that scales robot bring-up with manufacturing
• Integrate new hardware, sensors, and cameras into the platform; monitor performance across the fleet
• Set the bar for engineering quality — well-structured, well-tested, production-ready code

What You Bring:

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, or a closely related field
• 4+ years building production software in Linux environments, with strong systems-level expertise
• Experience shipping and maintaining software across a fleet of devices — not just individual systems
• Strong fundamentals: networking protocols (TCP, UDP, PTP), build systems, performance profiling, memory optimization
• Track record of leading complex, multi-component software projects from design to production
• Familiarity with ROS or similar robotics middleware

Nice-to-have:

• Background in fleet management, OTA update systems, or large-scale device deployment
• Full-stack or cloud infrastructure experience (monitoring, logging, observability pipelines)
• Experience using simulation for hardware-in-the-loop or regression testing
• Familiarity with basic mechatronics and electronics

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Chef is an early-stage startup where equity is a major part of the compensation package. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

In addition to salary and early-stage equity, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, commuter benefits, flexible paid time off (PTO), catered lunch, and 401(k) matching.