Principal/Senior Robotics AI Architect

Advanced Micro Devices; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Advanced Micro Devices is seeking a Robotics AI Architect to define and scale next‑generation Physical AI systems for complex robotic platforms. You will lead architecture decisions across multi‑layer AI control loops and collaborate with lighthouse customers to ensure production‑grade performance.

The role requires deep expertise in AI inference runtimes, robot perception, planning and real‑time control, with focus on latency, power, and safety.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or Computer Science.
• Experience influencing external and internal stakeholders on complex projects.
• Deep understanding of AI inference runtimes, CPU/GPU/NPU scheduling and latency.

Responsibilities

• Define and scale next-gen Physical AI systems for robotics (humanoids, high DoF platforms).
• Lead lighthouse customer co-engineering and deployments to achieve production-grade performance.
• Influence reference architectures, platform architecture, and SDK roadmaps.
• Guide deployment architecture and performance trade-offs across CPU, GPU, and accelerators.

Skills

Robotics AI architecture

RL & Sim-to-real

AI inference runtimes

ROS2

System latency optimization

Stakeholder influence

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s in EE/CS

Tools

OpenCV

GStreamer

vLLM

AMD GPU/NPU tool stacks

Job description

WHAT YOU DO AT AMD CHANGES EVERYTHING

At AMD, our mission is to build great products that accelerate next‑generation computing experiences—from AI and data centers, to PCs, gaming and embedded systems. Grounded in a culture of innovation and collaboration, we believe real progress comes from bold ideas, human ingenuity and a shared passion to create something extraordinary. When you join AMD, you’ll discover the real differentiator is our culture. We push the limits of innovation to solve the world’s most important challenges—striving for execution excellence, while being direct, humble, collaborative, and inclusive of diverse perspectives. Join us as we shape the future of AI and beyond.

THE ROLE:

We are seeking a Robotics AI Architect to define and scale next‑generation Physical AI systems, with a focus on complex robotic platforms (including humanoids). This role emphasizes architectural leadership across multi‑layer AI control loops and tight collaboration with lighthouse customers to achieve production‑grade performance targets.

THE PERSON:

As a key technical authority, you will synthesize learnings from real‑world deployments and translate them into platform‑defining capabilities, shaping the roadmap for our AI SDKs, runtime, and reference architectures to enable broad ecosystem scalability.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. End‑to‑End AI Control Loop Architecture (Core Focus)
2. Lighthouse Customer Co‑Engineering
3. Influencing Robotics Reference Architectures, Platform Architecture & SDKs

• Define architecture for hierarchical AI control loops, including:
• Perception (sensor fusion, VLMs, state estimation)
• World modeling and scene understanding
• Task and motion planning
• Low‑latency control and actuation
• Learning and adaptation loops
• Establish timing models and system‑level constraints:
• Deterministic execution for control loops (µs–ms)
• Bounded latency for perception/planning (ms‑scale)
• Guide architectural decisions to:
• Minimize latency, jitter, and data movement
• Optimize compute utilization across heterogeneous systems
• Influence compute‑software co‑design across CPU, GPU, and accelerators
• Act as architectural lead for strategic/lighthouse customers, guiding:
• System design decisions
• Performance trade‑offs
• Deployment architecture
• Influence customer implementations to align with:
• Platform best practices
• Scalable architectural patterns
• Translate real‑world constraints (latency, power, safety) into:
• Platform requirements
• Architecture refinements
• Lead deep technical engagements, including:
• Architecture and design reviews
• Performance tuning strategies
• System‑level debugging approaches
• Define reference architecture for complex robotic systems (humanoids, high‑DoF manipulators, mobile manipulation platforms), establishing industry‑leading blueprints for Physical AI systems
• Influence architectural partitioning strategies across:
• On‑robot compute (real‑time loops)
• Edge/accelerator subsystems
• Cloud (training, simulation, fleet learning)
• Provide architectural guidance on:
• Whole‑body control integration
• Locomotion and balance systems
• Dexterous manipulation pipelines
• Multi‑modal perception stacks
• Serve as a bridge between lighthouse deployments and platform evolution, translating system‑level insights into:
• SDK feature direction
• Runtime and middleware enhancements
• Reference pipeline abstractions
• Shape the roadmap of:
• Physical AI SDK and runtime frameworks
• Robotics middleware integrations (ROS2 and beyond)
• Dataflow and scheduling architectures for deterministic execution
• Identify systemic gaps and influence solutions in:
• Scheduling and orchestration models
• Memory and dataflow efficiency
• Inter‑process/inter‑node communication
• Real‑time guarantees and QoS mechanisms
• Drive the creation of scalable architectural patterns, including:
• Reusable operator graphs and pipelines
• Standardized deployment topologies
• Benchmark and validation frameworks
• Ensure that lighthouse customer learnings are abstracted and generalized into:
• Repeatable reference architectures
• Platform capabilities consumable across a wide customer base

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:

• Experience in Robotics, Autonomous systems AI architecture, definition and development, RL work, Sim‑to‑real, cloud‑to‑sim, real‑to‑sim/cloud from AI perspective.
• Proven technical leadership experience influencing external and internal stakeholders.
• Deep understanding of:
• AI inference runtimes and deployment tradeoffs
• System architecture level CPU/GPU/NPU scheduling and contention
• System‑level performance, latency, and isolation
• Software frameworks and usage (multimedia, ROS2, OpenCV, gstreamer, etc.)
• Industry leading SW inference frameworks (vLLM, etc.), runtimes, tools
• Performance bottleneck characterization
• Determinism, real‑time and safety considerations in mixed‑criticality systems
• Ability to engage credibly with customers’ engineering leaders and AI architects.
• Track record of transforming customer deployments into platform and roadmap feedback.
• Hands‑on architect who can guide engineers, debug problems, create innovative PoCs as well as abstract unnecessary details for executive presentations.
• Familiarity/experience with AMD GPU and NPU AI SW stacks and tools will be a plus.

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related field.

This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Benefits offered are described: AMD benefits at a glance

AMD and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity, inclusive employers and will consider all applicants without regard to age, ancestry, color, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, religion, political and/or third‑party affiliation, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants' needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.

AMD may use Artificial Intelligence to help screen, assess or select applicants for this position. AMD’s “Responsible AI Policy” is available here.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.