Principle Robotics Software Engineer (Physical AI)

Why this role matters

You will own robotic manipulation use cases and define capabilities that demonstrate our solutions’ differentiation. You will lead the software and infrastructure supporting those capabilities across robot data collection and management, simulation and hardware experiments, model training, evaluation, and deployment. Shared tools and interfaces will let researchers compare ideas without rebuilding pipelines or robot integrations for each use case. Measurable success criteria and repeatable demonstrations will give customers and partners evidence of performance and integration requirements, while informing which capabilities merit further product investment.

Responsibilities

• Own manipulation use cases from definition through demonstration. Define capabilities and measurable success criteria, validate differentiation against agreed baselines, and set the platform architecture and integration priorities needed to deliver.
• Turn ambiguous R&D goals into executable plans. Identify unknowns, use focused experiments to reduce risk, and make and document technical trade-offs as evidence and priorities change.
• Lead delivery across engineers with varied experience. Break milestones into scoped work with clear ownership, dependencies, integration plans, and acceptance criteria; resolve blockers and communicate progress and risks early.
• Design, implement, and review core software in C++ and Python. Evolve the ROS 2-based stack and integrate hardware, sensing, control, simulation, and learned policies through maintainable interfaces.
• Bring production-grade engineering to research software. Establish appropriate automated tests, continuous integration, hardware-in-the-loop validation, observability, and release practices, with measurable reliability and performance targets.
• Partner with AI and other software engineers to design data collection and replay, dataset versioning, simulation, training and evaluation workflows, and deployment tooling. Connect these through shared data formats and reproducible environments across robot and remote compute.
• Align software decisions with hardware, controls, and AI constraints. Address timing, synchronization, bandwidth, failure handling, and safe robot operation; distinguish exploratory prototypes from capabilities ready for sustained use.
• Develop the team through design and code reviews, practical coaching, and clear technical documentation. Facilitate constructive disagreement, adapt communication to the audience, and help engineers deliver independently.

Required qualifications

• 8+ years developing software for robotics, autonomous systems, or embedded systems, including integration with physical hardware.
• Track record of delivering substantial software or systems from design into production, including integration, testing, debugging, maintenance, and reliability improvements.
• Strong C++ and Python skills, sound software architecture judgment, and hands-on experience with ROS 2 or comparable robotics middleware.
• Working knowledge of robot control, including feedback, timing constraints, actuator limits, and safe integration of learned policies with lower-level controllers.
• Working understanding of Physical AI infrastructure across data collection, simulation, training, evaluation, and deployment, with hands-on experience in part of that workflow and ability to assess reproducibility, data quality, compute needs, and latency constraints.
• Experience owning use cases: translating application needs into capabilities and success criteria, leading implementation and validation, and explaining demonstrated advantages, limitations, and integration requirements.
• Experience leading technical delivery without reporting-line authority, including scoping work, coordinating dependencies, mentoring engineers, and communicating decisions and risks across disciplines.
• Sound judgment in ambiguous R&D settings: validate assumptions, make decisions with incomplete information, and balance learning speed, maintainability, and delivery commitments.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, robotics, electrical or mechanical engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred qualifications

The following are helpful but not required; expertise in every technical area is not expected.

• Robot manipulation, teleoperation, or integration of tactile, vision, and force sensing.
• Familiarity with robotic simulation tools such as Isaac Sim or MuJoCo.
• Deployment and evaluation of learned robot policies, including reinforcement learning, imitation learning, or vision-language-action models.
• ML data pipelines, GPU or distributed compute infrastructure, or edge inference.
• Controller design, such as impedance/force control or model-predictive control; real-time or embedded systems development.
• Interest in developing people-management skills over time.

For positions requiring access to technical data, Analog Devices, Inc. may have to obtain export licensing approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the U.S. Department of State - Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. As such, applicants for this position – except US Citizens, US Permanent Residents, and protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) – may have to go through an export licensing review process.

Analog Devices is an equal opportunity employer. We foster a culture where everyone has an opportunity to succeed regardless of their race, color, religion, age, ancestry, national origin, social or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, union membership, and political affiliation, or any other legally protected group.

EEO is the Law: Notice of Applicant Rights Under the Law.

Job Req Type: Experienced

Required Travel: Yes, 10% of the time

Shift Type: 1st Shift/Days

The expected wage range for a new hire into this position is $200,000 to $275,000.

Actual wage offered may vary depending on work location, experience, education, training, external market data, internal pay equity, or other bona fide factors.

This position qualifies for a discretionary performance-based bonus which is based on personal and company factors.

This position includes medical, vision and dental coverage, 401k, paid vacation, holidays, and sick time, and other benefits.