Description:
As a Robotics Systems Architect, you will define and lead the control architecture for next-generation intelligent robotic platforms, including wheeled humanoids and advanced mobile manipulators. You will own the system-level design of whole-body control, actuator interfaces, and deterministic execution across the robotics stack.
This role sits at the intersection of hardware, controls, and embodied intelligence. You will work across software, AI, and hardware domains to ensure robotic systems are safe, performant, and deployable in real industrial environments. Your work will directly influence how learning-driven systems translate policy outputs into reliable, real-world motion.
In this role you will:
- Architect and lead development of whole-body control systems for advanced robotic platforms, including humanoids and mobile manipulators
- Design real-time control interfaces and hardware abstraction layers across the robotics stack
- Define actuator interfaces and performance specifications in collaboration with external hardware manufacturing partners
- Develop and optimize kinematics, dynamics, and coordinated motion control systems
- Own safety architecture and deterministic execution across the robotics platform
- Collaborate with AI and perception teams to define state representations and control APIs
- Validate hardware performance, including torque bandwidth, latency, and thermal behavior
- Lead system-level integration, testing, and debugging across hardware and software boundaries
- Drive architectural decisions that balance research flexibility with production reliability
- Ensure systems are deployable, serviceable, and scalable in real-world industrial environments
What makes you a great fit:
- 8+ years of experience building complex robotic systems
- Strong background in control systems, rigid body dynamics, and robot kinematics
- Experience working with mobile manipulators, humanoids, or high-DOF robotic platforms
- Deep understanding of actuator systems, torque control, and motor performance characteristics
- Experience with ROS2, real-time Linux environments, and modern C++
- Proven experience deploying physical robotic systems beyond research prototypes
- Comfort working with external hardware vendors and defining detailed technical specifications
- Strong system-level debugging skills across mechanical, electrical, and software domains
- Ability to operate at both architectural and implementation depth
- Based in or willing to relocate to the Greater San Francisco Bay Area and able to work from 5 days from Formic’s Oakland, CA office