Principal/Senior Robotics AI Architect - CA, San Jose, United States
$207,550 - $355,800 USD yearly
Originally posted 18 May 2026 by the employer.
Define reference architectures and multi-layer AI control loops across CPU, GPU, and accelerator subsystems for complex robotic platforms.
About the role
AMD is seeking a Robotics AI Architect to define and scale Physical AI systems with a focus on complex robotic platforms, including humanoids. The role leads architecture across multi-layer AI control loops and collaborates with lighthouse customers to reach production-grade performance targets.
What you'll do
- Define hierarchical AI control loop architectures spanning perception, world modeling, task and motion planning, low-latency control, and adaptation loops. - Establish timing models and system constraints for deterministic execution (µs–ms) and bounded perception/planning latency (ms-scale). - Guide compute-software co-design across CPU, GPU, and accelerators to minimize latency, jitter, and data movement across heterogeneous systems. - Act as architectural lead for strategic lighthouse customers, conducting architecture reviews, performance tuning, and translating constraints into platform requirements. - Define reference architectures and partitioning strategies across on-robot compute, edge/accelerator subsystems, and cloud infrastructure. - Shape the roadmap for Physical AI SDKs, runtime frameworks, and robotics middleware integrations including ROS2.
What you'll need
- Bachelor’s or Master’s in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related field. - Experience in robotics or autonomous systems AI architecture, definition, and development. - Technical leadership experience influencing internal stakeholders and external customer engineering leaders. - Deep understanding of AI inference runtimes, deployment tradeoffs, and system-level performance, latency, and isolation. - Deep understanding of system architecture level CPU/GPU/NPU scheduling and contention. - Working knowledge of determinism, real-time, and safety considerations in mixed-criticality systems.
Nice to have
- Experience with RL work, Sim-to-real, cloud-to-sim, and real-to-sim/cloud from an AI perspective. - Understanding of software frameworks including ROS2, OpenCV, and GStreamer. - Familiarity with inference frameworks such as vLLM. - Familiarity or experience with AMD GPU and NPU AI SW stacks and tools.
Skills: robotics AI architect, AI control loops, heterogeneous systems, CPU, GPU, accelerators, robotics reference architectures
This role has been open 158 days — well above the 86-day median for AI/ML Hardware Engineering roles.
AI/ML Hardware Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
507
|
Median days open
86 d
|
Median salary
$236k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | AMD | All employers we track in this specialty (507 roles · 76 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 33 | 507 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 389 | 6277 · 144 employers |
| Median days open | 107 d | 86 d (+21 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $236k |
Skills observed across this category: robotics AI architect, AI control loops, heterogeneous systems, CPU, GPU, accelerators, robotics reference architectures
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 105 open roles · median 115 d
- NVIDIA · 89 open roles · median 57 d
- AMD (this employer) · 34 open roles · median 107 d
- Micron Technology · 26 open roles · median 58 d
- Mobileye · 20 open roles · median 84 d
- Analog Devices · 18 open roles · median 42 d
How we counted: 507 open AI/ML Hardware Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 76 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 24 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.