Senior Cloud-Scale Simulation Platform Architect

Apptronik; Austin, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Apptronik in Austin, TX seeks a Staff Simulation Architect for the Core Simulation Platform to own the architecture of high-performance, distributed software for RL training and controls validation.

You will design cloud-native pipelines and platform APIs, collaborating with AI, perception, and controls teams to scale millions of parallel experiences daily.

This role requires leadership, strong system design, and a proven track record delivering large-scale robotics software.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 7+ years of software engineering, including leadership on large-scale systems.
• Experience architecting high-performance distributed software in robotics, simulation, or related domains.
• Proven ability to define APIs and abstractions for scalable platforms.
• Strong communication of trade-offs to engineers and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture of the core simulation platform — high-performance distributed systems foundational to policy training and controls validation.
• Design cloud-native pipelines to generate millions of experience hours per day with scalable compute workloads.
• Define platform abstractions and APIs to keep the system extensible for new physics, sensors, and rendering.
• Set direction on performance, reliability, and scalability; resolve systemic bottlenecks in a high-throughput system.
• Define roadmaps and review designs to reduce RL and perception iteration time.
• Partner with Controls, AI Research, and Perception leadership to align needs with architecture.
• Mentor engineers on system design and bring distributed-systems experience into robotics context.

Skills

C++/Python

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

CI/CD & testing

Architectural trade-offs

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS/Engineering

Tools

Ray

Kubernetes

AWS/GCP/Azure

Job description

Apptronik in Austin, TX seeks a Staff Simulation Architect for the Core Simulation Platform to own the architecture of high-performance, distributed software for RL training and controls validation.

You will design cloud-native pipelines and platform APIs, collaborating with AI, perception, and controls teams to scale millions of parallel experiences daily.

This role requires leadership, strong system design, and a proven track record delivering large-scale robotics software.