Backend Software Engineer – Human-Robot Interaction

At Pickle Robot, we're on a mission to automate global supply chains with Physical AI. Our robots work alongside warehouse teams to unload trucks and containers — one of the toughest, most understaffed jobs in logistics — making the work safer, faster, and more efficient for the people doing it.

As Pickle enters its next phase of growth — scaling fast as a VC-backed company built by a team of MIT roboticists and engineers — we're looking for a Backend Software Engineer to join our Human-Robot Interaction team, focused on building scalable systems that support task planning and robotic workflows.

This role sits at the intersection of software engineering and robotics infrastructure. You'll work closely with robotics engineers to design and build backend services that power real-world robotic systems on the warehouse floor.

We're looking for a strong software engineer who cares deeply about code quality, system design, and performance — someone who can bring solid backend engineering practices into a robotics environment and isn't afraid to get close to the hardware.

At Pickle, your code directly impacts how autonomous robots operate in production warehouses. You'll own meaningful pieces of the stack, collaborate across a tight-knit engineering team, and see the results of your work in the real world. 

Responsibilities

Design and build backend services supporting front-end systems 

Develop scalable, reliable, and performant systems using Python

Contribute to system architecture and service design within the team

Build and maintain event-driven systems and messaging-based architectures

Collaborate closely with robotics engineers to integrate backend systems with real-world workflows

Improve system performance, reliability, and maintainability across services

Participate in code reviews and technical discussions to elevate engineering standards

Skills & Experience

2-5+ years of experience in backend or distributed systems engineering

Strong programming experience in Python

Experience building or supporting web applications using Flask or REST API

Experience with C++ or another strongly typed language (e.g., Rust, Go, Java)

Strong understanding of software architecture, concurrency, and distributed system design

Experience building or supporting event-driven systems, messaging frameworks, or service-oriented architectures

Experience developing systems that interface with hardware, robotics, or real-world operational environments is a plus

 

Nice to have:

Experience working across multiple programming languages

Familiarity with distributed systems or microservices architectures

Exposure to robotics, autonomy, or hardware-integrated systems

Experience with messaging systems (e.g., Kafka, ROS, or similar)

Experience with Human-Robot Interaction