Robotics Solutions Architect - Intern

Altera; United States; On-site; USD 105,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Altera in San Jose, CA, seeks a PhD candidate for a student internship to design end-to-end robotics system architectures, spanning sensors, compute, control, and actuation. The role emphasizes FPGA-accelerated hardware/software partitioning and collaboration with FPGA engineers to map algorithms to RTL, HLS, or SoC platforms.

Responsibilities include performance benchmarking, architecture translation to deployable solutions, and contributing to internal papers or blogs. Eligible for U.S.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a PhD in robotics, EE, CE, or CS or closely related field.
• Strong robotics foundation in perception, control, or autonomy.
• Experience with FPGA-related design and embedded systems.

Responsibilities

• Define end-to-end robotics system architectures across sensors, compute, control, and actuation.
• Evaluate hardware-software partitioning with FPGA acceleration.
• Collaborate with FPGA engineers to map algorithms onto RTL, HLS, or SoC platforms.
• Work with software, silicon, and product teams to align architectural decisions with roadmaps.

Skills

C/C++

Python

ROS/ROS2

FPGA design

Education

PhD in Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or CS

Tools

Verilog/VHDL

HLS

ARM RTOS

Job description

Key Responsibilities

• Robotics Solutions Architecture Define end-to-end robotics system architectures spanning sensors, compute, control, communication, and actuation.
• Evaluate hardware-software partitioning strategies with a focus on FPGA acceleration.
• Design scalable, modular architectures for real-time robotic systems.

FPGA & Hardware Acceleration

• Identify robotics workloads suitable for FPGA acceleration (e.g., perception pipelines, sensor fusion, control loops, AI inference).
• Collaborate with FPGA engineers to map algorithms onto RTL, HLS, or FPGA SoC platforms.
• Analyze latency, throughput, determinism, and power trade-offs.

Research & Innovation

• Translate research concepts into practical, deployable architectures.
• Conduct performance benchmarking and comparative evaluations against CPU/GPU implementations.
• Contribute to internal white papers, or technical blogs.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work with software, silicon, and product teams to align architectural decisions with business and platform roadmaps.
• Support customer-facing demos, proofs-of-concept, and technical presentations when needed.

The pay range below is for Bay Area California only. Actual salary may vary based on a number of factors including job location, job-related knowledge, skills, experiences, trainings, etc. We also offer incentive opportunities that reward employees based on individual and company performance. $105-110K USD

We use artificial intelligence to screen, assess, or select applicants for the position.

Applicants must be eligible for any required U.S. export authorizations.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Strong foundation in robotics systems, including perception, control, or autonomy.
• Good understanding of digital hardware concepts (FPGA, SoC, embedded systems).
• Experience with at least one of the following: FPGA design (Verilog/VHDL, HLS); Embedded systems (ARM, real-time OS); Robotics middleware (ROS/ROS 2); Proficiency in C/C++, Python, or similar languages.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with FPGA platforms
• Familiarity with real-time systems, low-latency design, or safety-critical robotics.
• Exposure to AI/ML acceleration at the edge.
• Publication record in robotics, embedded systems, or hardware acceleration.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear architectural narratives.

Job Type: Student / Intern (Fixed Term)

Shift: Shift 1 (United States of America)

Primary Location: San Jose, California, United States

Additional Locations:

Posting Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by local law, regulation, or ordinance.

About Altera

Altera: Accelerating Innovators Altera provides leadership programmable solutions that are easy-to-use and deploy in applications from cloud to edge, offering limitless AI possibilities. Our end-to-end broad portfolio of products including FPGAs, CPLDs, Intellectual Property, development tools, System on Modules, SmartNICs and IPUs provide the flexibility to accelerate innovation. Altera is helping to shape the future through pioneering innovation that unlocks extraordinary possibilities for everyone on the planet.