Head of Software Architecture, Embodied AI Platform

About the Role

This is a hands-on leadership role owning the end-to-end architecture of an agentic SaaS platform that manages and operates general-purpose humanoid robots at fleet scale. Reporting directly to the CTO, you will lay the foundational architecture while growing a software platform team from roughly 10 to 15+ engineers. The work sits at the intersection of distributed cloud systems, edge computing, and physical AI, making it one of the most technically ambitious roles in the embodied AI space today.

What You'll Do

• Design and own the full platform architecture spanning robot connectivity, fleet management, AI and agentic features, data pipelines, and model training workflows as one coherent system.
• Set technical direction across frontend, backend, robot-side, and infrastructure, making key architectural decisions as the team scales.
• Stay hands-on writing and reviewing production code, especially during early phases where foundational abstractions are critical.
• Architect how AI agent capabilities (chatbots, agentic behaviors, fleet data learning) integrate safely into the platform with proper guardrails for physical robots.
• Grow and lead the software platform team, establishing engineering standards and architecture review processes.

What We're Looking For

• 8+ years of experience in software architecture, with staff or principal-level scope at a company involving hardware, IoT, or connected-device systems.
• Proven ability to design end-to-end platform architectures spanning edge, cloud, and frontend (think hardware-software ecosystems in automotive, smart home, or similar domains).
• Hands-on coding ability: you write production code regularly, not just design documents.
• Strong command of distributed systems and real-time communication patterns such as WebSockets, gRPC, and pub/sub messaging.
• Experience with data pipelines, OTA update systems, and fleet management at scale.
• Familiarity with AI agentic systems including tool use, multi-step planning, and chatbot integration.
• Strong CS fundamentals from a relevant technical degree.
• Prior startup or early-stage experience as a first architecture hire or early engineering leader is a plus.
• No visa sponsorship is available for this role; candidates must be authorized to work in the US.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary range: $250,000 to $400,000 USD annually . Equity participation is expected at this seniority level. No visa sponsorship is available.

Location

On-site in Santa Clara, California, USA . Candidates must be based in or willing to relocate to the Santa Clara area.