Senior System Software Engineer, Robotics - CA, Santa Clara, United States
$152,000 - $287,500 USD yearly
Originally posted 23 September 2026 by the employer.
This role focuses on humanoid robots and embodied intelligence.
About the role
This role involves joining the Robotics Team to build a robotics platform for intelligent robots, including humanoid systems, with a strong focus on humanoid robots and embodied intelligence. You will enable the real-world deployment of embodied AI on humanoid robots and integrate foundation models and learning-based policies into production robotic systems.
What you'll do
- Develop system software, runtime components, tools, and workflows for deploying embodied AI models on real robots.
- Optimize model execution and system performance across compute, memory, networking, sensors, and actuators.
- Build validation, testing, benchmarking, and observability infrastructure spanning simulation, hardware-in-the-loop environments, and physical robots.
- Measure and improve critical system-level metrics, including end-to-end latency, determinism, throughput, reliability, resource utilization, and startup performance.
- Debug complex issues across application software, middleware, operating systems, device drivers, firmware, and hardware.
- Own technical issues through investigation, root-cause analysis, resolution, and field validation.
What you'll need
- BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Robotics, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
- 5+ years of experience developing robotics, embedded, platform, distributed, or system software.
- Strong understanding of robotics system architecture, platform software, and hardware-software integration.
- Hands-on experience bringing up, debugging, and deploying complex robotic systems on both physical hardware and simulation.
- Strong knowledge of Linux, embedded software, distributed computing, and real-time systems.
- Proven ability to provide technical leadership and deliver complex projects across multiple functions.
Skills: robotics platform, system software, runtime components, Linux, embedded software, device drivers
This role has been open 16 days — well below the 59-day median for Systems Software Engineering roles.
Systems Software Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
683
|
Median days open
59 d
|
Median salary
$213k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | NVIDIA | All employers we track in this specialty (683 roles · 73 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 129 | 683 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 952 | 6035 · 146 employers |
| Median days open | 51 d | 59 d (−8 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $213k |
Skills observed across this category: robotics platform, system software, runtime components, Linux, embedded software, device drivers
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 169 open roles · median 74 d
- NVIDIA (this employer) · 128 open roles · median 51 d
- AMD · 59 open roles · median 50 d
- Mobileye · 29 open roles · median 73 d
- Broadcom · 22 open roles · median 45 d
- Arm Holdings · 20 open roles · median 107 d
How we counted: 683 open Systems Software Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 73 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 10 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.