System Identification & Controls Engineer
On-site · San Mateo, California, United States
Job Summary
System Identification & Controls Engineer responsible for characterizing, modeling, and validating the dynamics of Skild AI's robots at fleet scale. Plan and execute system identification across robot platforms, design excitation trajectories and tests, perform actuator and motor characterization with hardware-in-the-loop setups, fit dynamics models, assess accuracy, and close the sim-to-real gap against simulators. Apply classical controls (state estimation, calibration, stability and bandwidth analysis) to real hardware, build automated pipelines to scale from a single robot to the entire fleet, quantify unit-to-unit variation and wear, and document findings to set the standard for system identification at Skild.
Required Qualifications
- MS or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Controls, Robotics, Aerospace, or related field — or equivalent hands-on experience
- hands-on track record of system identification on real robotic or electromechanical hardware
- strong classical controls foundation: feedback, feedforward, cascade control, frequency-response, stability analysis, state estimation, Kalman filtering
- grasp of robot hardware and mechatronics: motors, field-oriented control, transmissions, encoders, IMUs, force-torque sensors
- experience with excitation design, hardware data collection, parameter estimation (time- and frequency-domain methods)
- Python and C++ proficiency in Linux; MATLAB/Simulink a plus
- familiarity with robotics dynamics tooling and simulators (MuJoCo, Isaac Sim, Drake, Pinocchio, ROS/ROS2)
- experience deploying calibration or controls across a large fleet of robots or vehicles
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