Senior Backend Developer, Robot Systems

$201,600 - $289,800/Yr

Toyota Motors - Los Altos, CA

Full-time - Senior

Los Altos, CA

Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

About the position

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we are on a mission to improve the quality of human life through innovative research and development. Our focus is on creating new tools and capabilities that enhance the human experience, particularly in the realm of mobility. We have assembled a world-class team dedicated to high-risk, high-reward research in areas such as Energy & Materials, Human-Centered AI, Human Interactive Driving, and Robotics. We are currently seeking a versatile individual to join our Opportunity Discovery and Technology Adoption (ODTA) department as a Senior Backend Engineer. This role is crucial for driving real-world impact from the groundbreaking research produced within our robotics division. As a Senior Backend Engineer, you will be instrumental in architecting and developing the software systems necessary for our robotics research to thrive in practical applications. This position represents a greenfield opportunity, allowing you to design, communicate, and build solutions that meet the current needs of our robotics research while advancing it towards reliable production implementations. You will collaborate closely with robotics and vision researchers, user-experience researchers, frontend developers, and factory engineering teams to define and integrate technical requirements, ensuring that our backend systems are adaptable, reliable, and scalable at each stage of deployment.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop scalable backend architectures that support deployment trials and future production systems.
• Work closely with robotics and vision researchers, user-experience researchers, frontend developers, and factory engineering teams to define and integrate technical requirements.
• Drive implementation, ensuring clear communication and alignment across multidisciplinary teams.
• Address and build infrastructure and data needs, ensuring the right level of adaptability, reliability, and scalability of backend systems at each stage of deployment.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 8+ years experience in backend development, focusing on system design, architecture, and implementation.
• Proficient in Python and SQL (or equivalent Database language) with experience interfacing with C++.
• Experience in delivering production backend solutions for robotics in manufacturing or logistics environments.
• Expertise in building and consuming APIs for web applications (e.g., REST).
• Experience interfacing with PLCs such as Rockwell Automation (Allen-Bradley) or TOYOPUC.
• Experience designing and deploying cloud and on-prem compute and networking solutions.
• Understand software development processes and the tooling required to enact them, such as version control (e.g., Git) and CI/CD (e.g., Jenkins).
• Demonstrable communication of complex, technical concepts utilizing design documents and systems drawings.
• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to lead initiatives with input across teams.
• A passion for tackling technical challenges, bringing a proactive and independent working style with strong problem-solving abilities.

Benefits

• 401(k) eligibility
• Various paid time off benefits, including vacation, sick time, and parental leave
• Annual cash bonus structure