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Hire robotics and hardware engineers who get it working on the real robot.
TekRecruiter is a robotics and hardware engineering recruiting agency focused solely on technology and engineering roles at tech and SaaS companies. We screen across the whole machine (mechanical, electrical, firmware and software), so you hire engineers who can take a design from simulation to a robot that works on the floor. Beyond skills and experience, we look for HEARTThe HEART standardHHigh agencyEExecutionAAccountabilityRResourcefulnessTTransparencyWhat we look for, beyond skills →.
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What is a robotics engineer?
A robotics engineer designs, builds and programs machines that sense, decide and act in the physical world, combining mechanical design, electronics, embedded software, controls and perception. The title covers several specialties. A robotics software engineer works on motion, planning and perception, often in ROS 2; a hardware engineer designs the boards and electromechanical systems; an embedded engineer writes the firmware that runs on them.
- Robotics software engineer
- Writes the software that plans, perceives and controls the robot, usually in C++ and Python on ROS 2.
- Hardware engineer
- Designs and validates circuit boards, power, sensors and electromechanical systems, from schematic to second build.
- Embedded engineer
- Writes real-time firmware for microcontrollers and drivers, where timing, power and memory are hard limits.
What companies hire robotics engineers to do.
Much of our 2026 robotics work was for humanoid robotics, where every one of these disciplines meets in one machine.
01 · Controls and motion
Balance, gait and grasp that hold up off the test stand.
Controls engineers who model the dynamics, design the controllers and tune them on hardware, so the robot walks, balances and manipulates reliably.
- Whole-body and model-predictive control for legged and humanoid robots
- Controllers tuned on hardware, not only in simulation
- C++
- MATLAB
- Simulink
- Drake
- MuJoCo
02 · Perception
A robot that sees well enough to act.
Perception engineers who turn cameras, depth sensors and lidar into the state estimates and object understanding the planner needs, fast enough to run on board.
- Sensor calibration and fusion that survive real lighting and clutter
- Models optimized to run on the robot’s compute budget
- ROS 2
- OpenCV
- PyTorch
- Point Cloud Library
- CUDA
03 · Embedded and firmware
Firmware that meets its deadline every cycle.
Embedded engineers who write the real-time code for motor control, sensors and safety, where a missed deadline is a fault.
- Real-time operating systems and deterministic control loops
- Communication buses and bootloaders built for field updates
- C
- C++
- FreeRTOS
- Zephyr
- CAN
- STM32
04 · Electrical hardware
Boards that survive the second build.
Hardware engineers who design power, motor drive and sensor boards, bring them up on the bench and fix what the first revision got wrong.
- Schematic, layout review and bring-up with the firmware team
- Design for test and for manufacture from the first revision
- Altium Designer
- KiCad
- LTspice
- Oscilloscopes
- Logic analyzers
05 · Mechatronics and mechanical
Actuators and joints designed for manufacture.
Mechanical and mechatronics engineers who design actuators, transmissions and structures that hit weight, strength and cost targets at volume.
- Actuator and joint design with thermal and fatigue limits in mind
- Tolerance, material and supplier decisions made early
- SolidWorks
- Onshape
- ANSYS
- GD&T
06 · Simulation and integration
Close the gap between sim and the real robot.
Engineers who build the simulation, test rigs and integration pipeline that let software and hardware teams ship together.
- Hardware-in-the-loop tests that run before every release
- Sim-to-real transfer measured, not assumed
- NVIDIA Isaac Sim
- Gazebo
- MuJoCo
- ROS 2
- Python
What to know before you hire a robotics engineer.
Robotics hiring mixes several engineering disciplines into one job post. These are the questions that keep the search on track.
Robotics software, hardware or embedded engineer?
Name the subsystem that’s holding you back. If the robot can’t plan, see or move well, you need robotics software or controls. If boards keep failing, you need a hardware engineer. If timing, drivers or power are the problem, you need embedded. Early teams often want one person across two of these; say which two.
What do robotics engineers cost?
In TekRecruiter’s 2026 searches for a humanoid robotics company in Austin, entry-level engineers and PhD graduates were offered $120,000–$130,000 in base salary out of school, with the range reaching $170,000. Those figures come from searches rather than a large placement cohort. See the 2026 Salary & Rate Guide.
New graduate, PhD or experienced engineer?
New graduates and PhDs cost less and bring current research, but they need time to learn how a product ships. Experienced engineers bring the prototype-to-production judgment a first product needs. Many robotics teams hire a few experienced engineers to set the standards, then build out with early-career and PhD hires.
How should you interview a robotics engineer?
Go deep on one project the candidate owns. Ask what they built with their own hands, what failed on the bench, how they found out why, and how the mechanical, electrical and software parts fit together. For experienced engineers, ask what changed between the first build and the version that shipped.
Can robotics roles be remote?
Most can’t be fully remote. Hardware, controls and integration engineers need to be with the robot and the lab. Simulation, perception and some software roles can be hybrid. Decide this before the search, because it sets the candidate pool.
Where are robotics companies hiring?
Robotics hiring is national, with strong clusters around companies building humanoid and autonomous robots. Our clients include Apptronik, the humanoid robotics company in Austin, Texas. Miami also has a robust robotics scene, and we recruit for robotics and hardware teams there, including hardware engineers for health tech.
Why robotics searches go wrong.
A robot is several engineering disciplines in one machine, and so is the job post. These are the misses we see most.
- 01
A software engineer in a hardware seat.
Strong code, no feel for timing, power or what happens on the bench.
- 02
A PhD with nothing built.
Excellent papers, and no hardware they brought up themselves.
- 03
Results that only exist in simulation.
The controller works in the sim and falls over on the robot.
- 04
A remote post for lab work.
The role needed hands on the robot, and the search never said so.
- Robotics base out of school, 2026 humanoid searches
- $120K–$130K
- Top of the entry-level and PhD range
- Up to $170K
Every robot works in simulation. We ask what happened on the bench.
We’re technical people, and we take every candidate through a machine they worked on: what it had to do, the subsystem they owned, how it connected to the rest, and what broke when it met the real world. For new graduates and PhDs, their research and lab projects carry that conversation. Every engineer we present also meets our HEART standard.
- The whole machine: what the robot or device did, and how mechanical, electrical, firmware and software fit together.
- What they built themselves: the part of a team or thesis project that was theirs, down to the board or the loop.
- Sim to real: where the real hardware disagreed with the model, and how they found out why.
- Prototype to product: for experienced hires, what changed between the first build and the one that shipped.
| A generalist engineering staffing firm | TekRecruiter |
|---|---|
| Screens new grads on GPA and school name | Screens on the projects they built and debugged |
| Treats a PhD as a keyword | Asks what the research produced, and who built it |
| Treats ROS 2 and C++ as the whole job | Separates controls, perception, embedded and hardware profiles |
| Sends software engineers for hardware roles | Checks bench skills: bring-up, scopes and debugging |
| Guesses at starting pay | Prices from our 2026 robotics searches |
The HEART standard
What we look for beyond skills and experience, in every candidate we present.
- High agencyPeople who see what needs to be done and act without waiting to be told.
- ExecutionPeople who turn ideas into results.
- AccountabilityPeople who own the outcome, not just their piece of the work.
- ResourcefulnessPeople who figure things out when the answer isn’t obvious.
- TransparencyPeople who communicate clearly, honestly, and early.
What we screen out.
The patterns that separate an engineer who has made hardware work from one who has only modeled it.
Simulation only
Every result lives in a simulator; nothing ran on a physical robot.
Can’t name their part
Describes the team’s robot but not the subsystem they personally built.
No bench debugging
Never used a scope or logic analyzer to find a hardware fault.
ROS 2 as a buzzword
Can’t explain nodes, topics, timing or quality-of-service trade-offs.
Safety as an afterthought
No thought for e-stops, fault handling or working around people.
Ignores manufacturing
Designs that work once on the bench and can’t be built at volume.
Early-career, senior and staff robotics engineers.
In robotics, level is how much of the machine someone can own and ship.
Early career and PhD
Owns a well-defined piece of a subsystem.
- Builds and tests a controller, driver, board or perception module
- Brings research methods into product work
- Learns the team’s release and hardware test process
Senior
Owns a subsystem from design to shipped hardware.
- Takes a subsystem through revisions to a production build
- Leads integration and debugging with other disciplines
- Mentors early-career and PhD engineers
Staff and principal
Owns the architecture of the whole robot.
- Sets how hardware, firmware and software fit together
- Makes build-versus-buy calls on actuators, sensors and compute
- Advises leadership on technical risk and roadmap
Our 2026 humanoid robotics searches in Austin offered entry-level engineers and PhD graduates $120K–$130K base out of school, up to $170K. See the 2026 Salary & Rate Guide.
Robotics software engineer vs. hardware engineer vs. embedded engineer.
| Robotics software engineer | Hardware engineer | Embedded engineer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | How the robot plans, perceives and moves | The boards and electromechanical systems | The firmware between hardware and software |
| Typical work | Motion planning, controls, perception, ROS 2 nodes | Schematics, layout, power, bring-up and validation | Real-time firmware, drivers, communication buses |
| Main tools | C++, Python, ROS 2, simulation | Altium or KiCad, SPICE, lab instruments | C, C++, an RTOS, debuggers |
| Hard constraints | Latency, accuracy and robustness | Power, heat, noise and cost | Timing, memory and power budgets |
| Hire when | The robot can’t see, plan or move well enough | Boards fail or need a new revision | Timing, drivers or power are the bottleneck |
How to hire robotics engineers with us.
Direct hire
Permanent robotics, hardware and embedded engineers, including new graduate and PhD cohorts, backed by a 90-day guarantee.
Direct hireContract-to-hire
Bring an engineer on for a prototype build or bring-up phase, then convert when the product is funded.
Contract-to-hireStaff augmentation
Contract engineers for the software around the robot: simulation, tooling, cloud and data pipelines.
Staff augmentation
Hardware and robotics hiring questions, answered.
What do robotics engineers earn out of school in 2026?
In TekRecruiter's 2026 searches for a humanoid robotics company in Austin, entry-level engineers and PhD graduates were offered $120,000–$130,000 in base salary out of school, with the range reaching $170,000. See the 2026 Salary & Rate Guide.
Do you recruit for humanoid robotics companies?
Yes. Humanoid robotics was a large share of our 2026 robotics work. Our clients include Apptronik, the humanoid robotics company in Austin, Texas, and we recruit controls, perception, embedded, hardware and robotics software engineers for teams building humanoid robots.
Do you recruit PhD graduates for robotics companies?
Yes. Much of our 2026 humanoid robotics work was PhD graduates and entry-level engineers. We screen them on what their research and lab projects actually built, because there is little work history to check.
How do you screen an engineer with no work experience?
We go deep on the projects they own: what they designed, what they built themselves, what failed on the bench and how they fixed it, and how the mechanical, electrical and software parts fit together. A candidate who can explain the whole system from their own project is a better bet than a stronger transcript.
Do you recruit robotics and hardware engineers in Miami?
Yes. TekRecruiter is headquartered in Miami, which has a robust robotics scene, and we have recruited robotics engineers there as well as hardware engineers for a Miami health tech company. We recruit nationally for on-site robotics and hardware roles.
What is the difference between a robotics engineer and an embedded engineer?
A robotics engineer works on how the robot plans, perceives and moves, usually in C++ and Python on ROS 2. An embedded engineer writes the real-time firmware on the microcontrollers underneath, where timing, memory and power are hard limits. Robots need both, and they are different hires.
Can hardware engineers work remotely or nearshore?
Usually not fully. Hardware and robotics engineers need to be near the product and the lab. We will tell you early when a role needs to be on site, and point you to nearshore only for the software around the hardware.
What is the HEART standard?
HEART is the standard we screen every candidate against, beyond skills: high agency, execution, accountability, resourcefulness and transparency. It describes people who take ownership, turn ideas into results and move the business forward. See the standard.
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