Robotics Simulation Engineer II

ICON is looking for a Robotics Simulation Engineer to join our Software team. As a Robotics Simulation Engineer, you will build and maintain high-fidelity simulation environments that accelerate the development, validation, and certification of ICON's robotic systems. You will be responsible for developing physics-accurate models of ICON's robotic platforms, bridging simulation and hardware to support a "test-as-you-fly" development paradigm, and contributing to shared kinematics and dynamics toolkits used across all ICON programs. This is a full-time, onsite role is based at ICON's Austin, TX headquarters and will report to the Director of Robotics.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Build and maintain high-fidelity simulation environments for ICON's robotic systems.
• Develop and tune physics-accurate models of ICON's robotic platforms — including kinematics, dynamics, actuator behavior, and material interaction — validated against physical hardware test data.
• Own the sim-to-real gap: systematically measure and reduce discrepancies between simulation predictions and physical system behavior.
• Contribute to and maintain shared kinematics and dynamics libraries that are reused across ICON's robotic programs.
• Integrate simulation environments into CI/CD pipelines to enable automated regression testing of motion planning, control, and safety-critical software components.
• Collaborate with controls, perception, and mechatronics engineers to ensure simulated sensor models and environmental conditions are sufficient for algorithm validation.
• Participate in architecture decisions for the simulation layer and its interfaces to the broader software stack.
• Participate in design and code reviews to maintain consistency and high-quality output.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree or higher in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• 3+ years of professional experience in robotic simulation, dynamics modeling, or related robotics software development.
• Hands-on experience with NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, or a comparable physics simulation platform (e.g., Gazebo, MuJoCo, Webots).
• Strong foundational understanding of rigid body dynamics, robotic arm kinematics (forward and inverse), and multi-body simulation.
• Proficiency in modern C++ (17 or newer) and Python within a professional robotics development environment.
• Experience integrating simulation environments into automated test and CI/CD workflows.
• Familiarity with robotics frameworks such as ROS 2 and their interaction with simulation backends.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Experience developing and tuning robot models and environments in physics-based simulators.
• Familiarity with physics-informed modeling, including actuator dynamics, joint compliance, and contact/friction modeling.
• Experience with sim-to-real transfer techniques and systematic approaches to quantifying and reducing the sim-to-real gap.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset; comfortable making data-driven decisions about model fidelity tradeoffs.
• Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a culture of performance.