Here at Swish Robotics, we're bringing embodied intelligence into the home-starting with Bento, an AI-powered cooking robot that prepares fresh meals in under 20 minutes. Backed by top investors, we are assembling a world-class team to build intelligent consumer robots that transform everyday life.
We're looking for a Founding Software Engineer to architect and develop the software stack that powers our robots. This is an opportunity to own the software foundation of a category-defining product, working alongside the founding team to take Bento from prototype to mass production.
The Role
As the Founding Software Engineer, you will lead the design and development of Bento's software stack, including its real-time control, embedded systems, and AI-driven user experience. You'll be responsible for core system architecture, companion app development, firmware development, cloud connectivity, and user interface integration-playing a pivotal role in shaping both the technical and strategic direction of Swish Robotics.
What You'll Do
- Own Embedded Systems Software Stack - Design and implement the system architecture for robot control, embedded computing, and cloud connectivity.
- Develop Real-Time Control Systems - Write firmware to control motors, sensors, and actuators on ESP32 and Raspberry Pi 5.
- Integrate AI & Computer Vision - Work with onboard AI models for object recognition, sensor fusion, and real-time decision-making.
- Build a Dynamic UI & User Experience - Develop a custom UI for the robot using PyQt5 and manage app-to-robot communication.
- Optimize Performance & Reliability - Ensure the system is fast, responsive, and robust, even in constrained environments.
- Cloud & IoT Integration - Enable remote monitoring, OTA updates, and real-time feedback from the Bento robot.
- Establish Best Practices - Define coding standards, DevOps pipelines, and system monitoring tools for long-term scalability.
Who You Are
Required Qualifications:
- Experience in software engineering, embedded systems, or robotics.
- Expertise in Python, C++, or Rust for real-time and embedded applications.
- Experience developing software for robotics, automation, or real-time control systems.
- Familiarity with hardware communication protocols (UART, SPI, I2C, gRPC, MQTT, WebSockets).
- Experience with Linux-based embedded systems (Raspberry Pi, Jetson, etc.).
- Ability to architect full-stack solutions integrating firmware, edge computing, and cloud services.
- Passionate about building consumer hardware and making robotics accessible to everyday users.
Bonus:
- Experience with computer vision, speech recognition, or reinforcement learning
- Solid foundation in AWS (EC2, Lambda, S3, IoT Core, etc.)
Why Join Us?
Build Something Revolutionary - Be at the forefront of consumer robotics and embodied AI.
High Ownership & Impact - Your work will directly shape the future of Swish.
Equity - Meaningful equity in one of the fastest-growing robotics companies.
First 5 Employees - Help define the culture, vision, and technical foundation of our company.
Fast Execution - We move quickly, break things, and learn fast.
It's a Grind (But Worth It) - We're building ambitious hardware, which means long hours, high standards, and constant problem-solving. It's not easy-but if you're wired for this, there's nowhere more exciting to be.