Principal Robotics Architect - Autonomy & Field Deployment

Socket.dev; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

FieldAI's Irvine team leads the development of robust autonomy software that drives embodied AI in field deployments. You will architect production-grade systems spanning perception, localization, planning, and control, and ensure stable interfaces that empower dozens of engineers to move fast without breaking the fleet.

You will translate cutting-edge research into field-ready capabilities, mentor senior engineers, and champion reliability with strong observability and diagnostics for

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field—or equivalent industry experience.
• 10+ years of experience building production robotics or autonomy software, with a track record of Principal- or Staff-level technical impact.
• Deep expertise in modern C++ and Python, with strong command of ROS/ROS2, Linux, and Git.
• Demonstrated experience architecting large-scale autonomy systems across two or more of: perception, SLAM/localization, planning, and control.
• Strong foundation in real-time systems, concurrency, and performance optimization.
• Proven ability to lead complex technical efforts across multiple teams and to influence direction without formal management authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to make sound architectural trade-offs and articulate them to engineers and stakeholders alike.

Responsibilities

• Autonomy Stack Leadership: Drive deep technical work across perception, localization and mapping, planning, and control.
• Production Software Quality & Stable Interfaces: Define and enforce stable API contracts between autonomy components and the broader software platform.
• Cross-Team Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Align engineers across multiple teams on shared technical direction without formal authority.
• Research-to-Production Translation: Partner with research collaborators to mature learning-based methods—from prototypes to deployed capabilities.
• Field Reliability & Incident Resolution: Lead root-cause analysis and establish observability and engineering practices for reliable real-world operation.

Skills

C++

Python

ROS/ROS2

Linux

Git

Real-time systems

Architectural leadership

Communication

Distributed systems

Education

Master's or PhD in Robotics / CS / EE

Tools

Isaac Sim

Gazebo

MuJoCo

Job description

FieldAI's Irvine team leads the development of robust autonomy software that drives embodied AI in field deployments. You will architect production-grade systems spanning perception, localization, planning, and control, and ensure stable interfaces that empower dozens of engineers to move fast without breaking the fleet.

You will translate cutting-edge research into field-ready capabilities, mentor senior engineers, and champion reliability with strong observability and diagnostics for