Here at Humanoid, we believe in a future where robots amplify human potential. That’s why we’ve set out on a mission to build the world’s most capable, commercially-scalable, and safe humanoid robots. We’re bringing that mission to life with HMND‑01 Alpha - our rapidly developed humanoid platform now running in real industrial pilots - and we’re growing the team to take it even further.

About the Role

We are looking for a SeniorLow-level Control Engineer to join ourControl Team in London, focusing on control development and integration for ourend-effectors.

You will design, implement and validateactuator- and joint-level controllers andgrasp-level behaviours across a family of end-effector variants - parallel and multi-finger grippers, vacuum and suction tooling, and purpose-built tooling for specific customer tasks. Each variant brings different actuation, different sensing and, critically,different transmission mechanisms: geared direct drives, cable- and tendon-driven routings, differential and coupled linkages, and underactuated designs where few actuators must produce adaptive, compliant grasping across many degrees of freedom.

The ideal candidate has asolid background in control theory, strongsoftware engineering skills in C++, and comfort working from real-time embedded control up through kinematics/dynamics and hardware debugging. You will work closely with mechanical and hardware engineers - early enough in the design cycle that your input shapes actuation and transmission choices rather than merely inheriting them.

What You'll Do

Low-Level Control Development:

• Tune and validate actuator- and joint-space control loops (PID, feedforward, impedance/admittance, observers, state feedback) for multi-DoF end-effectors in ROS2.

• Develop grasp-level behaviours: grasp force control, compliant closing, slip detection and correction, and adaptive grasping on underactuated grippers.

• Implement safety and fault-handling mechanisms — thermal and over-current protection, stall and jam detection, grip-loss detection, safe behaviour on fault.

Transmission Mechanisms, Modeling & System Identification:

• Build and identify models of actuators, transmissions and mechanisms - geared, cable/tendon-driven, differential, coupled and underactuated - including compliance, friction, backlash, hysteresis, cable stretch and pretension effects.

• Own the joint-to-actuator abstraction for these mechanisms and the correct exposure of joint versus actuator state through the control stack.

• Contribute directly to transmission mechanism design: work with mechanical engineers on routing, reduction ratios, DoF coupling and underactuation strategy, bringing the controllability and observability consequences of each option into the conversation early.

Sensor & Hardware Integration:

• Integrate and calibrate end-effector sensing (F/T, tactile, encoders, temperature/current, vacuum feedback) with real-time acquisition across the control stack.

• Hands-on bring-up and debugging of new end-effectors, including test-stand work and vendor-supplied units.

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration:

• Close the loop with mechanical/electronics engineers across sites on actuation, transmission and sensing requirements.

• Work with data collection, applications and deployment teams so end-effectors work reliably in real use.

What We're Looking For

• Shipped real-time-safe, object-oriented C++ control software running on real hardware.

• Tuned and validated controllers on physical actuators, including sensor calibration and bring-up.

• Modelled, identified and controlled through real mechanical transmissions - gearing, cables/tendons, differentials, coupled linkages or underactuated mechanisms - and dealt with the compliance, friction and backlash they introduce.

• Worked on end-effectors or comparable multi-DoF mechanisms, including grasp control and supporting sensing.

• Debugged at the fieldbus and OS layer: e.g. EtherCAT or CAN, on an RTOS or real-time Linux.

• Strong control theory foundation (linear/nonlinear control, stability, observers, state estimation, feedback/feedforward, filtering, frequency-domain analysis) applied to multi-DoF mechanisms via Jacobians, numerical IK/FK, and URDF/Xacro.

Nice to have:

• BLDC motor control (commutation, current control, torque optimization).

• ros2_control internals (hardware interfaces, controllers, controller_manager, plugins, lifecycle nodes).

• Tendon- or cable-driven mechanisms specifically, including pretension management, routing friction and wear behaviour.

• Tactile sensing integration; vacuum and suction tooling, including multi-cup arrays and grip-loss handling.

• System identification toolchains and simulation environments (MATLAB/Simulink, MuJoCo, Isaac Sim).

What We Offer

• Competitive equity: stock options with meaningful upside as we scale.

• 30+ paid days off, including 23 days of annual leave, all UK bank holidays, and additional company closure days (including Christmas–New Year shutdown).

• Private healthcare, including virtual and in-person care.

• Pension scheme with 8% total contribution (5% employee, 3% employer) on full earnings.

• Free daily breakfast, catered lunch, and snacks in-office.

• Work at the frontier - collaborate daily with world-class engineers, researchers, and product experts building the next generation of AI and humanoid robotics.

• Real ownership - direct access to founding leadership, meaningful input on product direction, and the ability to drive key initiatives from day one.