Mainblades is at the forefront of autonomous aircraft inspection, and we are entering a critical scale-up phase. We have proven our system works, from high-resolution image capture to ML-driven defect detection, and it’s now being deployed at major airlines worldwide. We are looking for a senior engineer to join our Navigation team and drive the leap from robust prototypes to reliable, production-grade systems operating at scale.

If you’ve had your hands on autonomous robotics in production environments where reliability matters more than elegance, and uptime is the name of the game you’ll feel right at home. You will work alongside a talented group of R&D engineers, most of whom bring strong academic backgrounds and early-career experience, and who are now pushing hard to industrialize their work. Your impact will be immediately felt and long-lasting.

What you will be doing:

• Architect, develop, and optimize software for real-time autonomous systems-control, perception, communication- with an eye on performance, robustness, and maintainability.
• Translate complex customer needs into scalable software and system designs.
• Identify and eliminate bottlenecks in reliability and maintainability in both firmware and software pipelines.
• Contribute to system testing frequent on-site sessions at Schiphol and in our The Hague office.
• Act as a force multiplier: mentor and support a growing team of 3-4 engineers with 2-7 years of experience.
• Lead the transition from research-driven development to production-grade deployment processes.

The team you will join: 

You’ll become part of the Navigation team, a tight-knit group of smart, self-directed engineers with a strong academic base and a get-things-done mentality. They work closely across embedded systems, ML, and cloud integration; collaborate in person at our The Hague office and test regularly on-site at Schiphol Airport.

We believe in code reviews that make us better, real test data, and iteration cycles that are fast but informed. The culture is Dutch-direct, pragmatic, and ambitious - but we’re scaling, and we need your seasoned experience to smoothen that path.

About you:

We're looking for someone who has already shipped robotics at scale. You’ve built embedded Linux-based robots - AMRs, drones, or autonomous platforms - that customers use every day. You’ve fought the war on flakiness, resilience, and lifecycle cost, and you’ve come out the other side with scalable architectures and tight code.

• 10+ years of experience, with at least 5 years building production-grade robotic systems in environments where they run at scale and deliver measurable value.
• Have built or maintained a deployed fleet of autonomous robots, UAVs, or AGVs where you’ve had to think about failure modes, uptime, deployment tooling, observability, etc.
• Deep expertise in modern C++ (17 or newer). You write clean, performant code, and you know what robust embedded software really means.
• Strong background in control, state estimation, or motion planning, preferably in real-world settings.
• Hands-on experience with Linux, Docker, embedded systems, and ideally Balena.
• Proficient in Git, GitLab, Jira, CI/CD pipelines.
• Comfortable navigating trade-offs between performance, maintainability, and speed.
• Fluent in leading by example and pushing for software engineering best practices.
• Bonus if you’ve worked with PX4, MAVLink, or DJI SDKs.

What you bring: 

You’re not here to maintain the status quo. You’ve seen what “real” production looks like: at scale, under pressure, with SLAs to meet and you’re bringing that experience to a fast-moving team that’s hungry to grow. You’ll raise the bar and help others do the same.

What we offer:

You will be part of a dynamic, fun and driven team with a high degree of flexibility.

• Competitive compensation that reflects your experience and impact.
• 30 vacation days + 8 flexible public holiday swap days.
• Flexible employment.
• Optional pension contribution (3rd pillar).
• Employee Incentive Plan: get a stake in what you help build.
• Fresh fruit, good coffee, and a no-BS culture.
• A chance to shape not just a product, but an entire industry.
• A product that’s actually used around the world - and growing fast.