Senior robotics software engineer

At Mainblades, we’re redefining how airplanes get inspected. Our autonomous drone system captures high-resolution images, detects defects using machine learning, and is already being used in production at major airlines across the globe.

We’ve proven the concept. Now we’re scaling. And that means taking things from “works well” to “works everywhere, every time.” That’s where you come in.

We’re looking for a senior engineer to strengthen our Navigation team: someone who’s built autonomous systems before, understands the difference between a working demo and a working fleet, and isn’t afraid to make decisions, guide others, and leave behind short-term hacks in favor of long-term robustness.

What you’ll do

• Work on the core software that controls, localizes, and guides our drones, bringing structure, performance, and reliability to our autonomy stack.


• Improve and expand systems for control, state estimation, motion planning, and onboard decision-making.


• Help define how we scale: from handling edge cases to designing better system feedback and smarter recovery.


• Support and guide a team of software and embedded engineers with 2–7 years of experience.


• Test and validate directly with real aircraft, both in our office and at Schiphol airport.


• Make technical decisions that push the product forward. Not just short-term fixes, but long-term improvements.

What we’re looking for

You’ve worked on robots that were actually deployed. You know what breaks in the real world. You’ve scaled systems that had to run safely and reliably, without someone watching over their shoulder.

• 5+ years of experience in robotics or autonomous systems, with at least 3 years building systems in production settings.


• Deep expertise in C++ (17 or newer). You write clean, efficient code and know how to keep it that way.


• Strong background in control, state estimation, or motion planning for mobile robotics.


• Solid experience with embedded Linux, Docker, and working close to the hardware.


• A practical mindset, you care about uptime, logs, edge cases, and what happens when the system gets stuck.


• Comfortable navigating trade-offs between performance, maintainability, and speed.


• Ability to work independently, give direction, and push things forward without waiting for permission.

Bonus points if you have experience with:

• PX4, MAVLink, DJI SDKs


• Balena, GitLab CI, or other deployment and observability tooling


• Working with drones, UAVs, or other flying robots
  
  

What we offer:

You will be part of a dynamic, fun and driven team with a high degree of flexibility.

• Competitive compensation that reflects your experience and impact.


• 30 vacation days + 8 flexible public holiday swap days.


• Employee Incentive Plan, because we believe you should get a stake in what you help build.


• Optional pension contribution (3rd pillar).


• Fresh fruit, good coffee, and fun colleagues.


• A chance to shape not just a product, but an entire industry.