Posted about 5 years ago

Ubuntu is the operating system of choice for robotics. We at Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) want to make it even better, and we're looking for talented developers to join the effort. We want someone with a passion for open-source robotics, who loves interacting with users and developers, and who also enjoys writing and content creation.

Our team is earning a reputation as experts of the Robot Operating System (ROS), the industry-leading middleware for developing robotic systems. In this role as a Robotics Engineer you will be busy upstream helping move ROS forward both in code and discussion. You should consider the singleton an antipattern, but still appreciate the gang of four book and know that knowledge of patterns is a tool, not the target of design. If you are also familiar with the names Sutter, Josuttis, Alexandrescu, and Meyers, then you may be a great fit here.

We want to see more robots running ROS, so we're giving users a security commitment well beyond the lifetime of the Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) release that each ROS release shares cadence with. You will get to help make ROS safer, squashing bugs and security vulnerabilities in Ubuntu through this Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) period.

You will collaborate with the rest of the team on documentation for ROS, robotics-related whitepapers, blog posts, webinars, and videos. You will also help to curate news for a robotics newsletter: highlights about developments happening in ROS, interviews, thought leadership, and general robotics happenings around the world.

We also want to tell the story of what's happening in robotics, and solidify our name as a trusted voice in the ROS community. Together we'll travel the world to meet ROS users face-to-face at conferences, Meetups, and customer on-sites. This past year we sent engineers to Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Cape Town, Madrid, Montreal, and Seattle.

Key responsibilities

• Work in upstream ROS1 and ROS2, with an emphasis on the developer experience, packaging, and security
• Develop infrastructure to properly support ROS1 and ROS2 in Ubuntu
• Design and develop robotics-related features in snapd and snapcraft, two key technologies behind snaps and Ubuntu Core
• Write blog posts, create videos, and present at conferences about work being done

Required skills

• Excellent C++ and Python skills
• The ability to collaborate proactively within a distributed team
• Experience working with ROS1 or ROS2 a plus
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent