Gorbel’s mission is simple: We improve people’s lives. 

That mission guides everything we do, from the products and service we provide to our outside customers to the work environment we foster for our employees. We are a manufacturer of material handling and fall protection products for the production and warehouse/distribution sectors. We’re on the cutting edge of manufacturing and distribution; a thriving, growing company that is constantly seeking out new ways to innovate and elevate our products and our processes – and we’re looking for people like you to join us in that mission. 

We’re currently hiring for open positions in the US and Canada. We operate in Canada as Engineered Lifting Systems and Equipment (ELS)/DBA Gorbel® Canada, and subsequent communication related to Canadian positions may show the ELS name. You may be contacted by phone by recruitment personnel based in either Canada or New York. 

Work Shift:

Job Description:

Position Summary:

We are seeking a Robotics Software Engineer to join our robotics software team. This role is well suited to Engineers early in their careers who are eager to grow into industrial automation, robotic applications, and embedded controls. You will design, build, and ship new features, tooling, and application code for our intelligent robotic and material handling systems, while building working familiarity with the embedded frameworks that drive them. You are encouraged to take ownership of the features you build, from concept through deployment, with rigorous testing and debugging as a natural part of how that work gets shipped. Code you write will run on real, physical equipment (motors, sensors, load cells, and full lifting systems), not just simulators. You will work directly with the Technical Lead, Robotics, who will mentor you as you contribute to real products. 

General Responsibilities:

Contribute to the design, development, and validation of intelligent robotic and automated material handling equipment. Work primarily at the application and tooling level, writing high-level code that interacts with the underlying real-time motion control, embedded firmware, and communication frameworks. Help ensure product reliability through thoughtful design and hands-on validation. 

Specific Duties:

You will develop features and take ideas from concept through implementation, validation, and release, with rigorous testing and debugging woven throughout. The exact split between development and validation work will flex with project needs, and Engineers ready to take on more design and architectural responsibility are welcomed and encouraged to do so. 

• Design and develop new features in our application and tooling code (Python and C/C++), owning the work from concept through deployment 
• Read and trace existing embedded firmware well enough to extend it, localize issues, propose fixes, and grow into deeper firmware contributions over time 
• Develop calibration and diagnostic tooling that interacts with embedded targets over standard interfaces 
• Build automated regression coverage for the features you and the team ship, including turning field-reported issues into repeatable tests so the same bug does not return 
• Create scripts and tooling that let mechanical, electrical, and QA engineers run repeatable procedures on their own, multiplying the team’s ability to validate the product 
• Collaborate directly with mechanical, electrical, and controls engineers on system design and integration 
• Follow a problem wherever it leads. A misbehaving feature might trace back to a sensor, a wiring issue, a mechanical tolerance, or a timing bug in firmware, and you should be willing to chase it across those boundaries with guidance from the Technical Lead 
• Use debugging tools (logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, JTAG/SWD debuggers, serial consoles) to investigate system behavior 
• Use Git daily: branches, clear commits, pull requests, code review, and conflict resolution 
• Contribute to clear technical documentation, interface specifications, and design notes 
• Assist the Technical Lead with firmware bring-up, integration testing, and field troubleshooting 
• Contribute to continuous integration pipelines and automated regression testing 
• Participate in code reviews and team design discussions to build domain knowledge 
• Help maintain technical documentation, interface specifications, and release notes 
• Support customer-facing engineers with diagnostic data collection and reproduction of reported issues 
• Grow into ownership of small firmware features under mentorship as embedded skills develop

Position Requirements:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Mechatronics, or Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field 
• Demonstrable proficiency in Python and C/C++. Candidates should be able to point to non-trivial work where they designed, wrote, debugged, and tested code in these languages, and feel comfortable discussing the technical decisions they made 
• Strong working familiarity with Git: comfortable with branching, committing, pushing/pulling, merging, resolving conflicts, and using a hosted platform such as GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket 
• Strong problem-solving aptitude and a genuine debugging mindset: curiosity about why something is broken, not just what is broken 
• Familiarity with object-oriented programming concepts 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to clearly describe a bug, a test result, or a question 
• Ability to work in a small team and follow structured processes 
• Customer-oriented mindset and willingness to learn industrial automation domain knowledge

Preferred Requirements:

The following are nice-to-haves; we do not expect candidates to have all of them. 

• Exposure to any microcontroller platform (Arduino, STM32, ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico, etc.) 
• Awareness of embedded concepts: interrupts, real-time loops, peripheral drivers, or RTOS basics 
• Hands-on experience with embedded communication protocols, particularly SPI, I2C, and CAN (UART and Ethernet are also a plus) 
• Knowledge of higher-level control algorithms (PID tuning, model-based control, trajectory generation, state machines, or feedback systems) 
• Familiarity with state estimation and filtering techniques such as Kalman filters, complementary filters, or other sensor fusion approaches 
• Exposure to autonomy or planning algorithms (path planning, motion planning, decision logic, or behavior trees) 
• Experience writing automated tests (unit, integration, or hardware-in-the-loop) 
• Project experience involving robotics, sensors, or signal processing 
• Comfort reading schematics or using lab tools (multimeter, oscilloscope, logic analyzer) 
• Experience contributing to a shared Git repository with multiple collaborators 
• Familiarity with modern web frameworks (Svelte / SvelteKit, React, or Vue) and frontend tooling (Vite, npm). 
• A portfolio, GitHub profile, or short writeup of a project you are proud of. We love seeing what you have actually built and how you think about it 

Growth Path 

There is significant room to grow in this role. Strong contributors will expand from high-level application work into deeper firmware ownership, control algorithm design, and system architecture over time. 

Work Environment:

ADA Physical/Mental/Workplace Requirements

• Occasional lifting up to 25 lbs.
• Sitting, working at desk/personal computer for extended periods of time
• Primary work environment is professional corporate

To apply for this position, please visit www.gorbel/careers.

Gorbel® is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, gender, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. Gorbel® is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals so that an individual can perform their job-related duties. If you are interested in applying for an employment opportunity and require special assistance or an accommodation to apply due to a disability, please contact us at 585-924-6204.

The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. At Gorbel, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.

A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Robotics Software Engineer: Min. $86,319 - Max $129,471

Robotics Software Engineer II: Min. $94,945 - Max $142,418

Robotics Software Engineer, Sr: Min. $104,440 - Max $156,660