Overview
Reports to: Chief executive officer (CEO)
Team size: 50-100
We are seeking a world-class engineering leader to lead the creation of the autonomy and software intelligence of next-generation humanoid robots from first principles. You will lead multidisciplinary engineering teams spanning Robotic Perception, SLAM & Navigation, Teleoperation, Motion Control, Manipulation & Loco-Manipulation, and Robot Control Software, while fostering a culture of bold innovation, rapid experimentation, and engineering excellence.
Your performance will be evaluated based on autonomy milestones and sim-to-real transfer metrics, safety/reliability gates, deployment-readiness, and the team's growth & retention.
International candidates are highly encouraged to apply. Relocation support and global recruitment are available for outstanding talent.
Why join us
You will build the autonomy of a humanoid platform from first principles — not iterate on an existing product. Our key differentiator is a strong, passionate team already capable of building a complete digital twin of the robotic system, enabling comprehensive testing and validation across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and physical robots. You will own that advantage end-to-end, with the freedom to invent new architectures and the infrastructure to validate them fast.
Key Responsibilities
Autonomy Vision & Technology Strategy
- Define the long-term autonomy vision and software technology roadmap for future generations of humanoid robots.
- Drive first-principles engineering to invent new autonomy architectures rather than incrementally improving existing pipelines.
- Identify breakthrough opportunities across the complete software stack, including perception, state estimation, localization and navigation, teleoperation, manipulation and loco-manipulation, motion control, motion planning, and real-time control software.
- Continuously evaluate emerging global research and translate cutting-edge results into competitive robotic capability.
Autonomy Architecture & Innovation
- Lead the design of autonomy architectures that significantly advance robot capability, robustness, dexterity, and intelligence.
- Define how learning-based and model-based components compose across the stack, including the interfaces between control policies, classical planning, and real-time control.
- Challenge conventional approaches and encourage bold technical exploration through rapid prototyping and iterative experimentation.
- Drive system-level architecture decisions balancing capability, latency, determinism, computational cost, scalability, and future extensibility.
- Own safety and field-deployment reliability as a first-class objective – the robots operate near people and in industrial environments (warehouse, EV). Establish safety-relevant engineering practices, validation gates, and reliability standards.
- Lead the development of dexterous manipulation and loco-manipulation as a core humanoid capability, from grasping and in-hand manipulation to whole-body coordinated tasks.
- Own simulation, digital twin, and sim-to-real as first-class infrastructure powering the design-build-test-learn loop.
Engineering Leadership
- Lead multidisciplinary Robotic Perception, SLAM & Navigation, Teleoperation, Motion Control, Manipulation, and Robot Control Software organizations.
- Build a world-class software engineering culture centered on technical excellence, creativity, ownership, and continuous innovation. Grow a team of 76 engineers to 88 engineers in 6 months.
- Mentor senior technical leaders and group leads while establishing high engineering standards, architecture reviews, and technical decision-making processes.
- Foster close collaboration across Foundation AI, Hardware, Product, and Deployment teams to develop integrated robotic systems.
- Define and own the interface contracts between the autonomy stack and: (1) Hardware platform and (2) Foundation AI stack
- Documented specifications, versioned APIs, and clear ownership boundaries; this way, integration happens by design rather than case-by-case.
(*) Scope boundary: this role owns robotics software and autonomy engineering, while Foundation AI owns the learning / foundation-model layer
Advanced Research & Technology Exploration
- Stay at the forefront of global advancements in embodied AI, robot learning, perception, SLAM, optimal control, simulation, and real-time systems.
- Build collaborations with universities, research institutes, startups, and technology partners to accelerate innovation.
- Drive proof-of-concept development, algorithm validation, and feasibility studies for next-generation robot autonomy.
- Encourage patent generation, technical publications, and the creation of proprietary core technologies.
Autonomy Development & Deployment
- Lead the development of the autonomy stack from research prototype through validation on real humanoid platforms.
- Drive rapid design-build-test-learn cycles across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and physical robots.
- Guide engineering trade-offs and system optimization through experimentation, benchmarking, and iterative refinement.
- Ensure autonomy capabilities are robust, safe, and reliable enough to establish the foundation for future commercial products.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Control Engineering, or related disciplines.
- 10+ years of experience developing advanced robotics or autonomous systems software (or an equivalent record of achievement), with significant experience leading multidisciplinary engineering organizations.
- Demonstrated success taking robot autonomy from concept to working systems operating on real hardware.
- System-level understanding of the full robotics software stack (perception, state estimation and SLAM, navigation, teleoperation, motion control, manipulation, motion planning, and real-time control software), with deep, hands-on expertise in one or two of these areas.
- Experience developing humanoid robots, legged robots, or other frontier robotic systems, including the domain-specific software considerations that distinguish them from conventional autonomous systems.
- Strong understanding of how learning-based and model-based methods combine in deployed robotic systems, together with solid command of real-time, safety-relevant software engineering.
- Passion for solving difficult engineering challenges through first-principles thinking and hands-on innovation.
- Proven ability to recruit, inspire, and lead world-class engineering teams in a fast-paced R&D environment.
- Excellent communication and leadership skills in a multicultural and international organization.
Preferred
- Experience at leading robotics, autonomous vehicle, aerospace, or advanced technology companies.
- Strong record of patents, publications, breakthrough algorithms, or commercially deployed autonomy systems.
- Experience building entirely new autonomy platforms rather than incremental product evolution.
- Passion for creating technologies that redefine the future of robotics.
