Head of Software Architecture, Embodied AI Platform

Job Description

Job DescriptionAbout the Role

We are a seed-stage humanoid robotics company building general-purpose autonomous robots powered by advanced AI and dexterous manipulation technology. Our team includes veterans from leading robotics, automotive, and semiconductor organizations, and we are backed by a strong group of investors across the deep-tech and climate space.

We're looking for a Head of Software Architecture — a staff or principal-level engineer with 8+ years of experience — to own the end-to-end architecture of our agentic SaaS platform that manages and operates general-purpose robots at fleet scale. Reporting directly to the CTO, this is a hands-on leadership role where you'll define the foundational architecture while growing the software platform team from ~10 to 15+ engineers.

If you've architected hardware-software ecosystems at the scale and complexity of connected-device or IoT platforms — think automotive software stacks, smart home ecosystems, or industrial IoT — this role is built for you.

What You'll Do

• Design and own the full platform architecture — robot connectivity, fleet management, AI/agentic features, data pipelines, and model training workflows — as one coherent system.

• Set technical direction across frontend, backend, robot-side, and infrastructure layers, making key architectural decisions as the team scales.

• Stay hands-on writing and reviewing production code, especially during early architecture phases where foundational abstractions are critical.

• Architect how AI agent capabilities (chatbots, agentic behaviors, learning from fleet data) integrate safely into the platform with proper guardrails for physical robot operations.

• Grow and lead the software platform team from ~10 engineers today to 15+, establishing engineering standards, patterns, and architecture review processes.

• Bridge edge, cloud, and frontend concerns into a unified, scalable system — spanning real-time communication (WebSockets, gRPC, Pub/Sub), OTA updates, and data pipeline infrastructure.

What We're Looking For

Required

• 8–10+ years of software engineering experience with staff or principal-level platform architecture ownership.

• Demonstrated experience architecting SaaS platforms that manage or control physical hardware devices at scale (IoT, connected devices, robotics, automotive, or similar).

• Deep expertise in distributed systems and end-to-end platform design spanning edge, cloud, and frontend.

• Hands-on coding ability — you write and review production code regularly, not just architecture documents.

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science or a closely related technical discipline.

• Based in or willing to relocate to the Santa Clara, CA area (on-site role).

• No visa sponsorship available — candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with AI agentic systems, including chatbots, tool use, and multi-step planning pipelines.

• Prior startup or early-stage experience as a first architecture hire or founding engineering leader.

• Background in or exposure to robotics, simulation-to-real workflows, or reinforcement learning infrastructure.

Tech Stack Signals

• Distributed Systems, Edge-Cloud Architecture

• WebSockets, gRPC, Pub/Sub, Real-time Communication

• Fleet Management, OTA Updates, IoT/Connected Devices

• Data Pipelines, AI/Agentic Systems Integration

• API Design, Frontend Architecture

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: $250,000 – $400,000 USD annually

• Equity participation in a well-funded seed-stage company

• Opportunity to be a foundational technical leader at the ground floor of a high-growth robotics venture

Location

This is a full-time, on-site role based in Santa Clara, CA. Candidates should be local or genuinely willing to relocate. Visa sponsorship is not available.