Platform Software Lead – Physical AI

Velaura AI, Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Flexible work arrangements

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

Velaura AI, Inc. seeks a Platform Software Lead to define and build the software foundation for its Physical AI platform, intersecting silicon, system software, and robotics middleware.

You will shape architecture, enable efficient AI workloads in robots and autonomous systems, and collaborate across architecture, hardware, and software teams to deliver a scalable platform.

Qualifications

• Experience developing platform software, runtime systems, SDKs, firmware, drivers or system software.
• Deep understanding of operating systems, software architecture, and performance optimization.
• Experience with compilers, runtime systems, graph execution frameworks, or AI deployment stacks.
• Experience with hardware/software co-design and heterogeneous computing systems.
• Strong software engineering, debugging, and problem solving skills.
• Ability to work effectively across architecture, hardware, and software teams.

Responsibilities

• Define the software architecture for the Velaura platform, including SDKs, runtime software, drivers, firmware, and developer tools.
• Drive compiler, runtime, scheduling, memory management, and workload orchestration technologies that maximize system performance and efficiency.
• Lead HW/SW co-design efforts spanning architecture, execution models, memory hierarchy, and system-level optimization.
• Enable seamless deployment of AI workloads in robots, drones, AMRs, and autonomous systems.
• Drive integration with ROS2, DDS, and related robotics software ecosystems.
• Build profiling, performance analysis, and optimization infrastructure across the full software stack.
• Establish software engineering processes and help build a world-class platform software team.
• Developers can deploy AI workloads quickly and efficiently on Velaura platforms.
• Robotics developers can integrate the platform with minimal friction.
• The software stack extracts maximum performance and efficiency from the hardware.
• Hardware/software co-design becomes a key competitive advantage.

Skills

Platform software development

OS concepts & performance optimization

Compiler / runtime / AI deployment

HW/SW co-design

Cross-functional collaboration

Debugging & problem solving

Tools

ROS2

DDS

Job description

Role Overview

We are seeking a Platform Software Lead to help define and build the software foundation for Velaura’s next-generation Physical AI platform. This role sits at the intersection of silicon architecture, system software, AI workloads, robotics middleware, and developer experience. You will work closely with architects, performance modelers, and application developers to create a platform that enables efficient deployment of AI workloads in real-world robotic and autonomous systems. You will help define the architecture, not merely implement software on top of it. We welcome both experienced technical leaders and highly technical individual contributors who are passionate about
building systems from first principles.

Responsibilities

• Define the software architecture for the Velaura platform, including SDKs, runtime software, drivers, firmware, and developer tools.
• Drive compiler, runtime, scheduling, memory management, and workload orchestration technologies that maximize system performance and efficiency.
• Lead HW/SW co-design efforts spanning architecture, execution models, memory hierarchy, and system-level optimization.
• Enable seamless deployment of AI workloads in robots, drones, AMRs, and autonomous systems.
• Drive integration with ROS2, DDS, and related robotics software ecosystems.
• Build profiling, performance analysis, and optimization infrastructure across the full software stack.
• Establish software engineering processes and help build a world-class platform software team.
• Developers can deploy AI workloads quickly and efficiently on Velaura platforms.
• Robotics developers can integrate the platform with minimal friction.
• The software stack extracts maximum performance and efficiency from the hardware.
• Hardware/software co-design becomes a key competitive advantage.

Required Qualifications

• Strong experience developing platform software, runtime systems, SDKs, firmware, drivers, or system software.
• Deep understanding of operating systems, software architecture, and performance optimization.
• Experience with compilers, runtime systems, graph execution frameworks, or AI deployment stacks.
• Experience with hardware/software co-design and heterogeneous computing systems.
• Strong software engineering, debugging, and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to work effectively across architecture, hardware, and software teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in AI platform software, runtime systems and compilers, embedded systems and firmware, robotics and autonomous systems, GPUs and heterogeneous computing, AI accelerators, mobile and edge computing
  platforms, or real-time and safety‑critical systems.

$200,000 - $300,000 a year

Compensation & Benefits

At Velaura, we believe exceptional talent deserves exceptional rewards. Compensation for this role includes a base salary and very competitive equity compensation, allowing team members to share in the company’s long‑term success.

The base pay listed represents a good faith estimate that the Company reasonably expects to pay for this position at the time of hire. Actual compensation will depend on multiple factors, including the candidate's skills, qualifications, relevant experience, and geographic location.

In addition to base salary and equity compensation, Velaura offers a comprehensive benefits package that may include medical, dental, and vision coverage; paid time off; flexible work arrangements; professional development opportunities; and other benefits designed to support the well‑being and growth of our team.

Velaura is committed to pay equity and transparency and regularly benchmarks compensation to ensure we remain competitive in the market.

Why Velaura?

Velaura is building next‑generation compute technology for cloud, edge, and PhysicalAI. Our solutions will enable robots, autonomous systems, drones, and other intelligentmachines to operate efficiently in the physical world.
This is an opportunity to help build foundational technology at a time when the industry is undergoing fundamental change. You will work alongside experienced leaders, architects, engineers, and operators who have delivered industry‑defining products across mobile, cloud, semiconductor, and AI platforms. If you enjoy solving difficult problems, working across disciplines, and helping shape the future of Physical AI, we would love to hear from you.

Equal Employment Opportunity and Accommodations

Velaura is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity.Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race,color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability orprotected veteran status. We also take affirmative action to offer employment
opportunities to minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans.

Velaura is committed to working with qualified individuals with physical or mentaldisabilities. Applicants who would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of ourwebsite or who need special assistance or a reasonable accommodation for any part ofthe application or hiring process may contact us at: [e-mail]. This contact
information is for accommodation requests only. Evaluation of requests for reasonableaccommodation will be determined on a case‑by‑case basis.