Principal Tools Engineer, Simulation
San Carlos, CA (On-site)
About 1X
We’re building humanoid robots that work in home - doing the chores, handling the tasks, and giving people their time back. Simple, but it’s not.
To do this right, we have to solve robotics, AI, manufacturing - at the same time, at scale, in a form factor that has to be safe enough to live with your family. If you’re inspired by this, you’ll thrive here. We’ve been at this since 2014 and we’re at the point where the hard problems are behind us and the hard work is in front of us.
NEO is our flagship - a home robot designed to move, learn, and operate in the real world alongside real people. We’re not demoing it - we’re shipping it. We’re excited to meet you, if this excites you.
If you’ve spent your career working on problems that matter and want to see them actually reach the world - this is that moment. We’re scaling, we’re hiring with intention, and we need people who want to build something that will genuinely change how humans spend their time - safely creating abundance for all.
About the Team
The Tooling team builds the tools, pipelines, and infrastructure that speed up iteration and give us confidence our software works properly before it reaches physical robots. This team turns our simulator into a first-class tool that is easy to use, extensible by developers, and accurate to our robot’s unique hardware – leveraging game engine assets and expertise to accelerate the development of embodied AI.
Your Charter
Build the next generation of simulation tooling that powers robotics development at 1X. You will improve the simulator, developer workflows, and content pipelines that allow engineers to rapidly create environments, manage assets, automate testing, and validate robot behavior at scale. This role blends game engine engineering, developer tooling, technical art workflows, CI/CD infrastructure, and simulation platform development to create a world-class robotics development environment.
Key Outcomes
Design and build scalable tooling that enables robotics engineers to efficiently create, manage, and test simulation environments throughout the development lifecycle.
Improve end-to-end simulation content pipelines, including asset ingestion, environment creation, versioning, validation, and deployment workflows.
Integrate simulators into automated testing frameworks and CI/CD pipelines that continuously validate robot behaviors across large simulation environments before production deployment.
Build internal tools that improve developer productivity, reliability, and engineering velocity across all 1X software teams.
Establish scalable platform architecture and engineering best practices that support long-term growth of the simulation ecosystem.
Key Competencies
Deep expertise building developer tooling, simulation platforms, or game engine infrastructure.
Strong systems thinking with experience designing scalable content pipelines and engineering workflows.
Experience creating easy to use tools that empowers developers, designers, or technical artists.
Excellent software engineering skills with a focus on performance, maintainability, and automation.
Comfortable driving technical direction across multidisciplinary teams in a fast-moving startup environment.
Minimum Requirements
6+ years of professional experience (Senior) or 10+ years (Staff) developing game engine tooling, simulation platforms, developer tools, or large-scale content pipelines.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Game Development, or a related technical field.
Strong proficiency in C++, C#, Python, or similar programming languages.
Experience developing tools within Unreal Engine, Unity, proprietary game engines, or large-scale simulation environments.
Experience building CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, or deployment systems for engineering workflows.
Preferred Skills
Experience building simulation platforms for robotics, autonomous systems, gaming, or digital twins.
Experience developing end-to-end asset and content management pipelines, including import, validation, versioning, packaging, and deployment.
Background as a Technical Artist, Tools Engineer, Build Engineer, or Engine Programmer with strong software engineering fundamentals.
Familiarity with source control systems, build automation, cloud infrastructure, and continuous integration technologies.
Experience developing tools for large multidisciplinary teams, including engineers, artists, designers, researchers, or simulation developers.
Familiarity with ROS/ROS2, robotics simulation platforms (Isaac Sim, Gazebo, MuJoCo), or physics engines.
What does a successful 1X Team Member look like:
Team members at 1X who thrive here are builders. They move fast, own their work completely, and treat time like it’s the one thing you can’t get back - because it is. They say what they mean, finish what they start, and hold themselves to a standard before anyone has to ask. We push each other to be better, and we do it with honesty and respect.
Compensation Range
$190,000 – $280,000 + Equity
Benefits
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
Generous paid time off, company holidays, and parental leave
401(k) plan with company match (100% on the first 3% of contributions, 50% on the next 2%)
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) options
Commuter benefits (transit and parking)
Short-term and long-term disability, and life insurance
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental health, financial, and personal support
Onsite snacks and catered lunches
Equal Opportunity Employer
1X is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, disability, military or veteran status, justice system impact, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.