VP of Robotics System Engineering, Humanoid Team

Position Summary

As the Head of Robotics System Engineering, Humanoid Team, you will own both the strategic leadership and hands‑on engineering of the full‑stack software platform that powers our general‑purpose humanoid robots - initially focused on a dual‑arm mobile manipulator and expanding to humanoids.

You will translate ambitious product goals into a scalable, safety‑certified architecture that spans everything from low‑level motor control loops to cloud‑connected autonomy services. You will scale the systems‑engineering organization from advanced prototype through volume production, combining team‑building, budget oversight, supplier strategy, and product‑lifecycle management with deep individual technical contributions.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Management

Robotics System Product Management

• Define, document, and deliver end‑to‑end system requirements (functional, safety, performance, cybersecurity) that balance customer value, business viability, and technical feasibility. Shepherd those requirements through design, verification, validation, and release so they become robust, shipping products.
• Partner tightly with Hardware, Controls, Teleoperation, AI, Cloud Infrastructure, Production, and Service teams to align every development stage from concept to field deployment.

Roadmap Planning & Execution

• Build and maintain a cross‑functional roadmap that covers embedded firmware, real‑time middleware, high‑level autonomy, and cloud integration.
• Secure head‑count, allocate resources, control budgets, and remove roadblocks until the system is in customers’ sites - on schedule and within quality and cost targets.

System Architecture & Design

• Low‑Layer Control - Own architecture for motor‑drive firmware (e.g., BLDC FOC, PID gain tuning), high‑rate sensor I/O, and deterministic CAN‑FD / RS‑485 / RS‑422 / I2C etc communications between custom PCBs and the Jetson main computer.
• Mid‑Layer Control - Design and implement ROS 2 control stacks (ros2_control), safety observers, and mission state machines that seamlessly switch between Teleoperation, Autonomous, and Vision‑Language‑Action (VLA) modes. Provide ultra‑low‑latency video and command streaming for teleop and VLA.
• High‑Layer Control - Integrate MoveIt 2 motion planning, whole‑body controllers, Localisation, teleoperation UIs, and cloud orchestration services. Ensure tight coupling with ML inference pipelines and fleet‑management back‑ends.
• System Integration & Validation - Drive hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL) and software‑in‑the‑loop (SIL) testbeds, field acceptance testing to guarantee reliability, safety, and performance at scale.

Project & Stakeholder Management

• Translate stakeholder needs (customers, business, hardware, production, service) into clear system‑level requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Track critical path, manage risk, and communicate status to executives and cross‑functional partners.

Qualifications

Professional Experience

• Experience of leading multi‑disciplinary robotics software or systems‑engineering teams (or equivalent tech‑lead experience with clear people‑management potential).
• Demonstrated P&L or budget responsibility for production‑grade robotic system programs.
• Proven track record of shipping complex robotics software (beyond PoC) that operates reliably in real‑world customer environments.

Technical Skills

• Expert in ROS 2 ecosystem (ros2_control, rclcpp, DDS, MoveIt 2).
• Deep understanding of embedded control (BLDC FOC, PID), real‑time Linux, and deterministic field‑bus protocols (CAN‑FD, RS‑485 and common embedded protocols for sensors).
• Strong background in distributed systems, networking (gRPC, WebRTC, RTSP)
• Proficiency in C++ and Python
• Familiarity with functional‑safety design patterns, formal verification, and cybersecurity hardening.

Soft Skills & Culture Fit

• Ownership mentality - takes responsibility for outcomes and proactively solves problems.
• User‑centric mindset - balances technical elegance with customer value and operational practicality.
• Excellent communication skills in English; Japanese proficiency is a plus.