Staff Robot Platform Engineer

Persona AI, Inc.; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Persona AI, Inc. in Houston seeks a Staff Robot Platform Engineer to own the real-time control stack and the hardware abstraction layer for the robot platform. You will drive the robot API/SDK and ensure deterministic execution from hardware to higher level behavior.

You will mentor engineers, set architectural direction, and push for clean interfaces as hardware evolves. The role demands deep C++ fluency, 8+ years in real-time/embedded, and hands-on EtherCAT experience.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in systems/embedded/real-time software engineering, with robotics or hard real-time domain experience.
• Deep C++ fluency and comfort with real-time constraints, latency budgets, and determinism.
• Hands-on EtherCAT experience or equivalent deterministic networking background.
• Track record designing clean hardware abstraction layers, backend-agnostic interfaces, and/or SDKs/APIs across hardware revisions.
• Bias toward architecturally simple, verifiable systems and evidence-based design reviews.

Responsibilities

• Build and harden real-time control loops turning high-level commands into coordinated joint motion with deterministic execution from actuator to full-body behavior.
• Own the hardware abstraction layer end to end (cyclic data paths, timing constraints, fault recovery) for downstream teams.
• Design and evolve the robot API/SDK with long-term stability, versioning, and clear abstraction boundaries as hardware evolves.
• Own the messaging layer connecting on-robot processes with low-latency, deterministic delivery.
• Build diagnostics and health-monitoring hooks for fault detection, state reporting, and safe degraded operation.
• Set technical direction for platform architecture and mentor engineers across the team.

Skills

C++ proficiency

Real-time systems

Embedded software

Robotics experience

Hardware abstraction

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS or related field

Tools

EtherCAT

Job description

Job Title: Staff Robot Platform Engineer

Department: Software Engineering

Reports To: Principal Software Engineer

Employment Type: Full-Time

Location: Houston, TX

Travel: 20%

Who We Are

Persona AI is building humanoid robots for the most demanding environments in heavy industry — shipyards, steel mills, fabrication facilities, and offshore platforms — performing welding, grinding, maintenance, inspection, and material-handling work that is dangerous, physically demanding, and increasingly difficult to staff.

We are backed by leading strategic and financial investors and engaged with global industrial leaders across Korea, Japan, the United States, and Singapore. Korea is the center of gravity for our early commercial strategy, anchored by relationships with the world’s leading shipbuilders and steelmakers. Our work spans both the robot platform itself and the systems, partners, and playbooks required to deploy it at scale.

Why Join Persona AI?

• We offer competitive compensation, a performance-based bonus, 99% employer covered medical benefits, early-stage equity, competitive PTO, and a company-wide paid winter break between December 24th and January 2nd.




• You’ll shape technology that’s redefining the possibilities of robotics and human interaction.




• Work alongside passionate teammates who value creativity, and continuous learning.

About the Role

Platform owns the foundational software that runs on the robot itself: the layer between raw hardware and everything else we build. You\'ll drive our real-time control stack, our hardware abstraction layer, and the robot API/SDK that every other team (controls, perception, behaviors, ops tooling) builds against.

What You Will Be Doing

• Build and harden the real-time control loops that turn high-level commands into coordinated joint motion, with hard timing guarantees and deterministic execution from the actuator level up through whole-body behavior




• Own the hardware abstraction layer end to end (cyclic data paths, synchronization and timing constraints, and fault recovery), so perception, planning, and behaviors never have to care which actuator, sensor, or hardware generation sits underneath




• Design and evolve the robot API/SDK (the interface every downstream team programs against), with an eye toward long-term stability, clean versioning, and abstraction boundaries that hold up as the hardware evolves




• Own the messaging layer connecting every on-robot process, with low-latency, deterministic delivery guarantees




• Build the diagnostics and health-monitoring hooks (fault detection, state reporting, and safe paths for degraded operation) that let every other team trust what the platform tells them about the robot\'s state




• Set technical direction for platform architecture (interface boundaries, backend abstractions, design reviews) and mentor engineers across the team

What We Are Looking For:

• 8+ years in systems/embedded/real-time software engineering, with meaningful time in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or another hard real-time domain




• Deep C++ fluency and comfort reasoning about real-time constraints, latency budgets, and determinism




• Hands-on EtherCAT experience (master implementation, PDO/SDO, cyclic vs. acyclic data) or an equivalent fieldbus/deterministic networking background




• A track record designing clean hardware abstraction layers, backend-agnostic interfaces, and/or public-facing SDKs or APIs that held up across hardware revisions or product generations




• A bias toward architecturally simple, verifiable systems, and comfort pushing back on unvalidated assumptions in design review




• Bachelor’s Degree in computer science or related field

Bonus Skills:

• Rust, Zenoh, Jetson/embedded GPU platforms, momentum-observer or F/T-based force estimation, Pinocchio or similar dynamics libraries

Persona AI is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.