Robotics Software Engineer

Our mission is to enable farmers to work more efficiently, enjoyably, and sustainably. By developing software for advanced robotics, you contribute directly to animal welfare, food quality, and the future of sustainable agriculture.

As a Robotics Software Engineer, you will play a direct role in advancing our autonomous agricultural robots that are transforming dairy farming. You will join a multidisciplinary team of robotics, software, systems, electronics, and mechanical engineers working on robots that operate in real-world farm environments. Your primary focus will be on robot simulation, system validation, testing infrastructure, and software quality, ensuring that our autonomous systems perform reliably before they reach the field. At the same time, you'll contribute to the future of our autonomy stack, helping shape capabilities such as navigation, motion planning, and intelligent robot behavior.

We are looking for someone who thrives on collaboration, enjoys taking responsibility, and gets excited about building practical robotics solutions with societal value.

Your main responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain simulation environments that accelerate robotics development and validation.
• Design and build automated test frameworks, system-level validation pipelines, and CI/CD workflows for robotics software.
• Develop tools that enable faster integration, debugging, performance analysis, and regression testing.
• Drive software quality through code reviews, automated testing, and engineering best practices.
• Help define the future of our autonomy stack, contributing to areas such as navigation, path planning, motion control, and robot behavior.
• Take ownership of technical solutions from concept through deployment on real robots.

What is your experience?

We are looking for someone with a broad interest in robotics who feels comfortable in an environment where learning and collaboration are central. You enjoy working on solutions that are both technically strong and practically applicable.

If you recognize yourself in most of the points below, we encourage you to apply:

• A bachelor's or master's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or a similar field.
• Experience with Embedded Linux, Git, and C++.
• Experience with robot simulation environments such as Gazebo, Isaac Sim, Webots, or similar.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices for robotics software.
• A system-wide perspective when analyzing and solving problems.
• Openness to feedback, curiosity about new ideas, and motivation to keep learning.
• Comfortable asking questions, expressing concerns, and contributing to a supportive team environment.

What you can expect from us

Working at Lely means contributing to sustainable progress within one of the most innovative organizations in the Netherlands. You help make the agricultural sector future-proof. We make sure you have the space, resources, and support you need to grow and do your best work.

• An international environment where collaboration, initiative, and diverse perspectives are valued.
• A culture that encourages learning, experimentation, and ownership of ideas.
• Excellent working conditions, including up to 8 weeks of vacation per year and a good pension scheme.
• Control over your own development, with access to a wide range of courses through the Lely Academy.
• Daily access to excellent sports facilities on the Lely Campus: an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, basketball and volleyball courts, table tennis, and table soccer. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training and challenge your colleagues during an active break.
• Fresh coffee and tea from our own barista, with milk from our farm, and a healthy, affordable company restaurant.

Work-life balance

• A healthy work-life balance thanks to our hybrid work policy: you work at least three days a week on Campus, with flexible working hours and plenty of room to spend extra time on site between 06:00 and 20:00.
• A free shuttle bus will take you to and from the metro in Maassluis, so your workday starts and ends smoothly.

About Lely

At Lely, we believe in achieving a sustainable, profitable and agreeable future for dairy farmers by combining robotisation, engineering and farming expertise.