Senior Robotics Engineer — Deployment & Controls

ABOUT DATAMENTORS

Datamentors is a robotics start-up building an agnostic orchestration platform and a family of proprietary robots — quadruped, mobile upper-body and humanoid — assembled at our own factory in Caniçal, Madeira. We also develop custom Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models that give our robots natural-language reasoning and autonomy, deployable across sectors from hospitality and healthcare to defence and logistics. With prototypes running and a clear path to 600 units per year, the engineers joining now will shape both the hardware and the intelligence behind Ardia for years to come.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Own deployment and control of robots on the platform in the real world — controllers for mobile and bipedal platforms, the full policy-to-robot deployment pipeline and field robustness across sectors from hospitality to defence.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Develop and tune whole-body controllers and locomotion for bipedal humanoid and mobile robot platforms
• Own the policy-to-robot deployment pipeline: from trained VLA policy to reliable, safe on-robot behaviour in the field
• Lead structured field testing, robustness analysis and failure-mode characterisation across deployment verticals
• Drive sim-to-real for locomotion and navigation; define the measurement methodology and track closure
• Build the tooling and processes that make robot deployment repeatable and safe across the growing Ardia fleet

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• 5+ years robotics with a controls or deployment focus; real-world bipedal, legged or mobile robot experience — not simulation-only
• Expert ROS 2 and real-time control; able to debug determinism and latency issues from observable symptoms
• Genuine field deployment experience: robots operated in uncontrolled, real-world environments
• Strong dynamics and control theory foundations; familiarity with MPC or trajectory optimisation
• Ability to own a system end to end — from controller design through field validation

Nice to have

• RL for locomotion experience (Isaac Lab, Legged Gym)
• Experience with Unitree G1/H1, Spot, ANYmal or comparable platforms

WHY JOIN US

• This is a rare opportunity to help design and build the foundational technology for a robotics platform from the ground up
• Competitive salary, Ardia Academy access and a generous annual learning budget
• Relocation support and housing assistance for Madeira-based roles; CINM free-zone benefits improve net take-home pay
• Small, senior, hands-on team — everyone owns a meaningful slice of the product from day one