Microsoft

Member of Technical Staff, Microsoft Robotics (Navigation)

Microsoft • $130K — $155K *
Redmond, WA 98052In-Person
Consumer Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 4+ years of relevant engineering experience OR equivalent experience.
  • Master's Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 6+ years of relevant engineering experience OR Bachelor's Degree and 8+ years of experience.
  • Proficient in coding languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
  • Experience developing algorithms for navigation and motion planning in robotics.
  • Familiarity with robotics software frameworks like ROS/ROS2 or Nav2.

Responsibilities

  • Develop algorithms for dynamic trajectory generation for robots based on mission parameters.
  • Integrate navigation modules with localization, mapping, and perception to enable end-to-end autonomy.
  • Build real-time planning systems to work under practical constraints such as sensor noise or dynamic obstacles.
  • Create models and policies for safe robot operation in complex environments.
  • Evaluate navigation performance through simulation, regression suites, and field testing.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure robust navigation performance in various scenarios.
  • Debug autonomy issues and improve metrics like success rates and mission efficiency.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work at the intersection of classical robotics and modern AI.
  • Involvement in advancing Microsoft's robotics platform and its ecosystem.
  • Opportunity for continuous learning and staying updated with industry advancements.
  • Collaborative working environment with cross-disciplinary teams.
  • Focus on developing practical solutions for real-world applications.
Full Job Description
Overview

We are hiring a Member of Technical Staff to design, develop, and deploy navigation and planning systems that enable robots to move safely, efficiently, and reliably through real-world environments. This engineer will work across the autonomy stack, including localization, mapping, path planning, motion planning, behavioral decision-making, and controls integration, translating high-level mission intent into dynamically feasible robot motion. The role sits at the intersection of classical robotics, modern AI systems, simulation, and field deployment, with responsibility for building and integrating navigation capabilities that operate across diverse robot embodiments, sensor configurations, and operating conditions. The engineer will help advance Microsoft's robotics platform by developing robust planning and navigation software and robotics ecosystem integrations that enables robots, AI agents, and human operators to coordinate effectively in physical environments.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and adapt algorithms that translate mission objectives, task assignments, spatial constraints, and robot state into safe, dynamically feasible trajectories for mobile robots, manipulators, or multi-robot systems.


  • Integrate navigation and planning modules with localization, mapping, perception, control, simulation, and fleet operations systems to support end-to-end autonomy workflows.


  • Build and improve real-time planning systems that operate under practical constraints such as limited compute, noisy sensors, dynamic obstacles, intermittent connectivity, and changing environmental conditions.


  • Develop costmaps, traversability models, spatial constraints, route-planning logic, and safety-aware decision policies that enable robots to operate in human-populated and operationally complex environments.
  • Use simulation, log replay, field testing, and automated regression suites to evaluate navigation performance, identify failure modes, and improve robustness across diverse scenarios.


  • Collaborate with perception, spatial AI, simulation, platform, and field test teams to validate navigation behavior across real and simulated environments, ensuring consistent performance from lab development through deployment.


  • Analyze robot telemetry, navigation logs, planner traces, and field test results to debug autonomy issues, tune planning parameters, and drive measurable improvements in success rate, safety, latency, and mission efficiency.


  • Write production-quality software in Python, C++, or equivalent languages, following engineering best practices for testing, maintainability, observability, and operational readiness.


  • Stay current with advances in robotics navigation, motion planning, model-predictive control, multi-agent planning, foundation models for robotics, and embodied AI, evaluating new techniques for adoption into Microsoft's robotics platform.
    • Embody our Culture and Values


Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications
  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
    • OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements
  • Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:
    • Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.


Additional or preferred qualifications
  • Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
    • OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
    • OR equivalent experience.


  • Experience developing navigation, motion planning, path planning, behavior planning, or control algorithms for autonomous mobile robots, manipulators, drones, autonomous vehicles, or other embodied robotic systems.


  • Familiarity with robotics middleware and autonomy frameworks such as ROS/ROS2, Nav2, MoveIt, Drake, Autoware, or equivalent robotics software stacks.


  • Experience with planning approaches such as A*, D*, RRT/RRT*, lattice planning, trajectory optimization, model-predictive control, or learning-informed planning.


  • Experience integrating navigation systems with localization, mapping, perception, simulation, and robot control interfaces in real or simulated robotic platforms.


  • Familiarity with learning-based navigation, imitation learning for navigation policies, or foundation models applied to planning and decision-making.


  • Proficiency in C++ and Python with experience writing performant, maintainable software for real-time or near-real-time robotics systems.


  • Experience debugging autonomy behavior using robot logs, telemetry, visualization tools, simulation replay, and field test data.


  • Familiarity with navigation challenges in dynamic, human-populated, degraded, unstructured, or partially observable environments.


  • Experience with simulation-based validation, scenario generation, autonomy benchmarking, or regression testing for robotics navigation systems.


  • Understanding of safety-aware autonomy design, including collision avoidance, operational design domains, failure recovery, fallback behaviors, and human-in-the-loop intervention workflows.

#MDQCareers #Microsoft #Roboticscareers

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

About Microsoft

Microsoft is an American multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a range of software products and services. Microsoft’s devices and consumer (D&C) licensing segment licenses the Windows operating system and related software, Microsoft Office for consumers, and the Windows Phone operating system. The company’s computing and gaming hardware segment provides Xbox gaming and entertainment consoles and accessories, second-party and third-party video games, and Xbox Live subscriptions; surface devices and accessories; and Microsoft PC accessories. Its phone hardware segment offers Lumia smartphones and other non-Lumia phones. Its D&C segment provides Windows Store, Xbox Live transactions, and Windows phone store; search advertising; display advertising; Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal; first-party video games; and other consumer products and services as well as operating retail stores. Microsoft’s commercial licensing segments license server products, including Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related Client Access Licenses (CALs); Windows Embedded; Windows operating system; Microsoft Office for business, including Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and related CALs; Microsoft Dynamics business solutions; and Skype. Its commercial segment offers enterprise services, including premier support services and Microsoft consulting services; commercial cloud comprising Office 365 Commercial, other Microsoft Office online offerings, Dynamics CRM Online, and Microsoft Azure; and other commercial products and online services. The company markets and distributes its products through original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and resellers, as well as online.

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Learn more about Microsoft
Size
181,000 employees
Market Cap
$1,762.4 billion
Industry
Enterprise Technology
Net Income
$51.3 billion
Founded
1975
5 Year Trend
+15.5%
Revenue
$153.2 billion
NASDAQ
MSFT
* Ladders Estimates

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