Director, Robotics and Physical AI Software (AI2491) San Jose, California
SiMa.ai
Software Engineering, Data Science
San Jose, CA, USA
USD 231,100-358,200 / year
Posted on Mar 24, 2026
Description
Job Title: Director, Robotics and Physical AI Software
Job Location: San Jose, CA (This position requires a full-time, on-site presence in our San Jose, CA office)
Job ID: AI2491
Description
About the Role:
We are seeking an exceptional Director to lead our Robotics and AI software team in developing next-generation autonomous systems. This role combines deep technical expertise with organizational leadership, driving the design, development, and customer deployment of intelligent robotics platforms across multiple domains. SiMa.ai has deep customer engagements to scale Physical AI across multiple areas of Robotics that include AMR’s, Drones, Co-Bots and Humanoids
The ideal candidate brings strong experience in these fields of Robotics, and has a proven track record of building and scaling high-performing engineering teams.
Role Overview:
You will lead global teams working on the AI full-stack for AMR’s which include perception, autonomy, and embodied AI systems. Additionally, you will define the software platform strategy for humanoid robotics platforms and multi-modal AI systems, delivering production-ready robotics solutions aligned with future-ready customer and business objectives using foundation models (e.g., Pi0, Groot-class models)
Key Responsibilities:
Technical Leadership:
- Define, document and drive the architecture, design, and development of robotics systems across AMRs, drones, and humanoid platforms.
- Drive development of perception, localization, and navigation systems using Lidar-based and Visual SLAM.
- Guide integration of deep learning and multi-modal foundation models (vision-language-action) into robotics workflows.
- Drive adoption of Generative AI and embodied AI models (e.g., Pi0, Groot, RT-2) for task planning, reasoning, and interaction.
- Ensure robust real-time embedded system design integrating sensors, compute, and actuators.
Team & Organizational Leadership:
- Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing global robotics and AI engineering team.
- Establish and deploy engineering best practices, robust development processes, and end-customer focused quality standards.
- Drive hiring strategy, retention and talent development across the robotics team.
- Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and execution excellence.
Required Qualifications and Experience:
- Master’s or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
- 12+ years of experience in robotics systems development.
- 5+ years of experience leading engineering teams or large technical programs.
- Strong experience with AMR systems and autonomy stacks.
- Proficiency in C/C++, Python, and ROS/ROS2 frameworks.
- Proven experience with SLAM systems (Lidar-based and Visual SLAM).
- Hands-on expertise and software development experience with embedded systems, RTOS, and edge AI deployment.
- Strong understanding of deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow).
- Familiarity with Generative AI and foundation models (e.g., Pi0, Groot, RT-2, VLA architectures).
Preferred Skills:
- Experience working on humanoid robotics or robotic manipulation systems.
- Knowledge of Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models and embodied AI frameworks.
- Experience with robot learning techniques (reinforcement learning, imitation learning, diffusion policies).
- Familiarity with simulation-first development (Isaac Sim, Mujoco).
- Experience with large-scale robotics datasets (real and synthetic).
- Understanding of multi-modal AI systems and agent-based architectures.
Personal attributes:
Can-do attitude. Strong team player. Curious, creative, and good at solving problems. Execution and results oriented. Self-driven, thinks big and is highly accountable. Good communication skills.
The annual salary for this position ranges from $2,31,100 - $3,58,200. The actual annual salary paid for this position will be based on several factors, including but not limited to, skills, prior experiences, qualifications, expertise, work location, total target compensation, training, company needs, and current market demands. The annual salary range for this position is subject to change and may be adjusted in the future.
EEO Employer: SiMa is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.
