Senior Engineer – Robotics Middleware & Applications

Join Axon and be a Force for Good. At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other. Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter. Your Impact The Axon Robotics Middleware & Applications team is part of the Robotics New Ventures Pillar and supports critical Drone offerings for Special Forces and Law Enforcement. These Drones work together harmoniously to provide Tactical Reconnaissance and Advantage during critical and stressful missions. Both aerial and ground robots are developed — see the full product portfolio at: https://www.axon.com/products/axon-sky-hero . We are actively working on truly disruptive, innovative next-generation Drone technology that we strongly believe will advance our mission to Protect Life. The Robotics Middleware & Applications team owns the Upper Middleware layers on a powerful Embedded Linux System-on-Chip. This means building and maintaining high-performance, reliable Linux daemons and services that orchestrate all business-critical use cases for Robots, including: Device cloud registration Firmware Updates Video Streaming Pipeline Video Recording Pipeline Logging & Diagnostics Robotics use cases and more Test Automation for all of the above use cases Beyond these core responsibilities, this team collaborates very closely with Controls and Vision Engineers to help tune the Drone and contributes to advanced flying and maneuvering capabilities. The team also works closely with Platform BSP, Camera Imaging, Lower Middleware, and Hardware Engineering teams. Rust is the preferred language, but C/C++ is also heavily used. Python is used for scripting and test automation. As a strong, senior engineer — either level 1 or level 2 — on the Robotics Middleware & Applications team, you'll be responsible for architecting and developing the daemon infrastructure that powers Robot business logic, while also contributing to a culture of engineering excellence through mentorship, design documentation, and best-in-class testing practices. Working on these next-generation robotics products is not only a career-defining accomplishment, but a real opportunity to help advance the mission to Protect Life. What You’ll Do Location: Scottsdale, AZ, Boston, MA or Seattle WA This role is based out of our Scottsdale or Boston office or Seattle Office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in-person collaboration and ask that team members work onsite Tuesday through Friday, with some flexibility, unless there is an approved workplace accommodation. We believe that connection fuels innovation, and our in-office culture is designed to foster meaningful teamwork, mentorship, and shared success. Reports to: Engineering Manager, Robotics Middleware & Applications Be part of a high-performing team that designs and develops game-changing Robotics products to Protect Life Architect, design and develop Linux user-space daemons that orchestrate all Robot business use cases end-to-end Develop in C/C++ and Rust in resource-constrained Embedded Linux environments; use Python for scripting and test automation Design and implement performant inter-process communication between daemons and across system boundaries Collaborate with Controls Engineers to help tune drone behavior and contribute to advanced flying and maneuvering algorithms Integrate Sensors and Actuators, complex logic, and autonomous behavior into middleware services Implement Robotics use-cases in ROS2 and custom Robotics Frameworks Ensure high quality across the entire product lifecycle — design and implement Unit Tests, Integration Tests, and CI pipelines Be hands-on with prototyping, development, and debugging at all stages of the product lifecycle Author design documents and technical specifications for middleware systems Invest in the growth of those around you — sharing knowledge, raising the engineering bar, and helping build a team culture where excellence, curiosity, and craftsmanship thrive Collaborate with distributed Hardware, Software, Firmware, Controls, Manufacturing, and Compliance teams What You Bring Candidates with active Robotics experience on mobile phone-like System-on-Chips (SoC) using embedded Linux will be prioritized over those with Microcontroller-only experience. We also prioritize candidates who have shipped a product from start to finish and stayed with it post-release to learn from its in-market performance. Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Robotics, or equivalent Minimum 5+ years of industry experience building commercial products Minimum 5+ years of experience with C/C++, Python, and/or Rust Demonstrated track record of bringing commercial devices to market Strong experience with Linux user-space daemon development and service architecture Strong experience with performant inter-process communication (e.g. ZeroMQ, Zenoh, D-Bus, or similar) Experience building and owning device lifecycle features such as firmware OTA updates, device pairing, or video pipeline management Strong understanding of Systems Architecture , with the ability to implement complex, multi-service, interrelated systems Strong understanding of Operating Systems, Concurrency, and Networking concepts Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and QA processes , including test automation frameworks Solid Software Engineering background (algorithms, data structures) Engineering with AI : This role's interview process includes an AI-assisted coding loop designed to reflect how we actually build software here. Rather than a traditional whiteboard or solo-c