Autonomy Engineer Intern, Simulation & Robotics, 2027 (Zurich)

Description

The company builds drones that fly autonomously, and its computer vision algorithms let them understand their surroundings.

You will join a computer vision and deep learning team whose researchers have worked at the cutting edge in academia and industry.

As a research intern, you will work with core software developers and own a project that moves the team's capabilities and products forward.

This suits you if you have a solid base in mathematics, theory, and software development and want to help build the next generation of autonomy algorithms and bring them into real products.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and extend the core architecture of the company's simulator so it supports many vehicle types, environments, and use cases.
• Improve and extend the physics models for vehicle motion, environmental interaction, and other dynamic agents.
• Model cameras, IMUs, and other onboard hardware with high fidelity, including timing, noise, and hardware behavior.
• Run and validate the full autonomy stack in simulation and check that it matches real-world behavior.
• Build simulator features that open new workflows for customers and internal engineers, from training scenarios to advanced test modes.
• Profile and optimize simulator performance while making it more realistic and accurate.
• Write core simulator components in C++ and Python, meeting near real-time demands.
• Work with autonomy, perception, and controls engineers to keep simulated behavior aligned with real systems.
• Track down bugs that arise from the interplay of physics, sensors, autonomy logic, and rendering.
• Help set the long-term technical direction of the simulator as both a product and an internal platform.
• Document how the simulator works internally so the team shares the same understanding.

Requirements

• Solid software engineering experience with C++ and Python.
• Experience building complex systems where performance, determinism, or correctness is critical.
• Comfortable reasoning about time-synchronized systems, state machines, or real-time execution.
• Able to work in a large, changing codebase with many stakeholders.
• Interest in robotics, simulation, or physical systems. Prior robotics experience is a plus, not a requirement.
• Bonus: experience with robotics, simulation, game engines, or real-time systems.
• Bonus: experience with physics engines, sensor modeling, or hardware abstraction layers.
• Bonus: experience with multithreaded or low-latency system design.
• Bonus: experience debugging systems that span software and physical behavior.

Conditions

Internship based in Zurich, starting in 2027.

Hourly pay of $47 for undergraduate students, $53 for master's students, and $70 for PhD students.

Pay depends on factors such as skill level, proficiencies, transferable knowledge, and experience.

Pay for some positions may vary by location.

The company values diversity and works to build an inclusive team with varied perspectives.

Benefits

• Full-time employees may enroll in the company's benefit plans and receive a range of incentives and stipends in addition to base pay.