About Overlay

Why This Role Is Different

What You’ll Do

• Own full-system integration and bring-up of Overlay’s robotic platform. 
• Integrate motion, perception, sensing, calibration, safety logic, and hardware systems into a reliable MVP robot. 
• Drive robot-level execution and ensure the system works as a complete product,
• Build and improve perception-to-action flows that enable precise, responsive, and safe robot behavior. 
• Develop calibration and bring-up workflows for accuracy, repeatability, and product readiness. 
• Lead cross-team debugging across robotics, mechanical, software, perception, hardware, and manufacturing. 
• Define system-level validation plans, acceptance criteria, test procedures, and release gates. 
• Work closely with external partners to support build readiness, manufacturing feedback, and issue closure. 
• Partner with the perception lead on sensing feedback, safety integration, and real-time execution. 
• Partner with mechanical and hardware engineers on subsystem integration, robustness, serviceability, and robot-level validation. 
• Architect and validate safety layers, fault detection, interlocks, and failure-response behavior for human-facing operation. 
• Translate ambiguous system failures into clear reproduction steps, owners, root causes, fixes, and closure criteria. 
• Create practical tools, logs, test scripts, and procedures that make robot bring-up and debugging faster. 
• Contribute to core robotics architecture and product-level engineering decisions. 
• Embody our values of ownership, velocity, and craft.

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in robotics, systems integration, controls, automation, or complex electromechanical systems. 
• Hands-on experience bringing up physical robots or hardware systems in the real world. 
• Strong understanding of motion control, calibration, sensors, actuators, real-time behavior, and system validation. 
• Experience integrating perception, motion, hardware, and safety-critical behavior. 
• Comfort debugging across hardware and software boundaries. 
• Strong coding ability in Python, C++, or similar languages. 
• Experience with ROS2 or similar robotics frameworks. 
• Strong engineering judgment — able to make practical tradeoffs under constraints. 
• Experience defining test plans, acceptance criteria, validation workflows, or release gates. 
• Ability to drive alignment across internal engineers, external partners, and manufacturing stakeholders. 
• Clear communicator who can turn messy technical ambiguity into structured execution. 
• Energized by working in person with a small, fast-moving team

Bonus Points

• Experience with robot calibration, gantry systems, CNC, 3D printers, lab automation, industrial automation, or precision motion systems. 
• Experience working with contract manufacturers, factory bring-up, or pilot builds. 
• Background in safety systems, interlocks, fault detection, or human-facing robotics. 
• Experience shipping robotics or complex hardware products to real users. 
• Experience building internal tools for logging, calibration, validation, or robot bring-up. 
• Strong ability to debug messy real-world systems with incomplete information.

Benefits

• Highly competitive salary & generous early-stage equity
• Best-in-class medical, dental & vision insurance
• 401(k) matching program
• Flexible Time Off with 10 paid holidays
• Commuter benefits
• Office in downtown Oakland near 19th Street BART station

The Team

• Small, fast-moving team with high ownership and low process
• Strong bias toward shipping, learning, and iterating quickly
• In-person collaboration in our Oakland office

Culture & Values

1. Move Fast, Move Smart: Act quickly, but with clear thinking and good judgment.
2. Extreme Ownership: Own outcomes fully from idea to execution to results.
3. Disagree Boldly, Then Commit Fully: Challenge ideas openly, then align and execute without hesitation.
4. Intellectual Honesty Above All: Prioritize truth over ego. Be candid, admit mistakes, and follow the evidence.
5. Live Demos: Show real, working results instead of talking about ideas.