Networking Engineer for Robotics - San Francisco

Overview:

Polymath Robotics is creating software that can safely control all of the world's industrial vehicles, and we’re looking for a Network Engineer/DevOps person to join our team. We’re a small, close-knit group of roughly 20 people, each of us experts in our fields, working to bring autonomous vehicles to various industries quickly. We believe robotics and autonomy are at a tipping point, similar to how the PC industry reshaped the world in the 80s, and we need your help.

Most of our robots don’t live in a clean Wi-Fi world — they’re on farms, construction sites, and mines. We need someone to own the connectivity stack that keeps those robots online and communicating with our cloud services. As a Networking Engineer, you’ll build, troubleshoot, and scale the network layer that ties our systems together, both on the robot, and off the robot.

Responsibilities:

• Design and maintain reliable network configurations across edge devices and cloud systems.
• Build and manage connectivity solutions including VPNs, NAT traversal, LAN/WAN segregation, and cellular-based links.
• Develop tools and automation to simplify setup, provisioning, and troubleshooting.
• Ensure secure connectivity across variable and lossy environments.
• Collaborate with infrastructure and software teams to embed networking reliability into deployments.
• Create network monitoring dashboards and alerting for field systems.
• Document and continuously improve networking best practices for internal and field use.
• Recommend hardware and software solutions for internal teams, integration partners, and clients.

Qualifications:

• 3–5 years of experience in network engineering or systems administration.
• Strong understanding of TCP/UDP, routing, NATs, VPNs, DNS, and firewalls.
• Familiarity with Linux networking tools (iptables, nftables, systemd-networkd, netplan, etc).
• Experience with cellular and low-bandwidth communication setups a major plus.
• Ability to automate network configuration and testing (Python, Bash, etc).
• Strong debugging skills across both cloud and edge systems.
• Comfortable bridging software and hardware realities.
• Familiarity with Peplink hardware in particular is a nice to have.

Why Join Polymath Robotics?

• Collaborative Environment: Work alongside fantastic team members on collaborative projects
• Hybrid Workplace: Enjoy the flexibility of a hybrid work model, with engineering based in our SF Mission office three days a week, giving a good balance of maker time and synchronization time.
• Open Source Advocacy: We strongly support open-source robotics efforts, allowing your work to be shareable and publishable whenever possible.
• Humor & Passion: We might occasionally be a bunch of rosbags, but our passion and humor drive us to accelerate the realization of autonomous vehicles in the industry.

Application Process:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume, and any relevant portfolio or project links. A cover letter is optional, but always appreciated.

Polymath Robotics is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We don’t look for a “cultural fit”, we look for people who add to the culture.

Ideally we want to get through this process in 1 week, 2 worst case:

1. Intro call - 30 mins on Zoom
2. Technical Interview - 1 hr on Zoom or in person
3. Team Meet & Great - 1 hr in person, usually around lunch
   • Can be combined with Technical Interview
4. Founders Call - 30 mins on Zoom or in person