Lead Software Engineer – Robotics Test Infrastructure (AI & Physical Systems) | Milpitas, CA | Visa + Salary Insights

📍 Location: us

🏷 Type: Full-time

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Job Overview

This role is a high-impact Lead Software Engineer position focused on building robotics test infrastructure from the ground up for an AI robotics company specializing in Physical AI systems for industrial automation. The engineer will design and own scalable validation frameworks spanning simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), ML evaluation, and factory-level end-of-line testing. The ideal candidate is a senior-level systems engineer with deep expertise in Python, C++, CI/CD pipelines, and robotics systems integration. This is not a maintenance role but a foundational architecture position shaping how all robotics software is tested, validated, and deployed globally.

📅 Job Timeline & Status

This is an early-to-mid stage hiring cycle for a foundational engineering function. Given the scope of building core test infrastructure for robotics, the role is highly strategic and likely to attract senior distributed systems and robotics engineers globally. Candidates should apply immediately due to high competition and the architectural importance of the position. Delays may reduce visibility as early applicants are prioritized for technical screening.

🌍 Work Eligibility & Location

This is a fully Onsite role based in Milpitas, California, requiring close collaboration with robotics, embedded, and simulation teams. The company supports visa sponsorship, making it accessible to global senior engineers, especially those in robotics, autonomous systems, and infrastructure engineering domains.

💰 Salary Intelligence

This compensation range is competitive for senior robotics infrastructure engineers in Silicon Valley. Given the scope of ownership across CI/CD, simulation pipelines, and ML evaluation systems, total compensation may significantly increase with equity. The role sits at a high-value intersection of robotics systems and production-grade infrastructure engineering.

📊 Role Breakdown

This role focuses on designing and scaling a unified robotics test infrastructure platform. Approximately 40% of time is dedicated to building core test execution frameworks in Python and C++, ensuring modular orchestration of simulation, HIL, and CI pipelines. Around 25% involves integrating machine learning evaluation pipelines for non-deterministic robotics models, including perception and navigation systems. Another 20% focuses on hardware-in-the-loop performance benchmarking, memory profiling, and latency tracking across embedded systems. The remaining 15% includes cross-team collaboration with simulation engineers, embedded developers, and manufacturing teams to deploy end-of-line validation tools. The engineer will also define testing standards, enforce design-for-testability principles, and ensure that all robotics systems are inherently validation-ready at the architecture level.

🧩 Required Skills & Fit

📈 Difficulty & Competitiveness

This is a highly selective role requiring deep systems engineering expertise across software, hardware, and ML testing pipelines. The difficulty level is very high due to its architectural ownership and cross-domain expectations. Candidates without prior experience in robotics infrastructure or large-scale CI/CD systems are unlikely to progress.

🚀 Career Impact

This role provides exceptional long-term value, positioning engineers at the center of next-generation robotics infrastructure. Successful candidates will gain experience in production-grade robotics systems, ML evaluation at scale, and hardware-software integration pipelines, enabling progression into Staff Engineer or Principal Architect roles across AI robotics and autonomous systems companies.

📋 Key Responsibilities

The engineer will architect and maintain a unified robotics testing ecosystem spanning simulation, hardware, and production environments. Responsibilities include building scalable test execution engines in Python and C++, developing automated ML regression pipelines, and integrating Hardware-in-the-Loop systems for real-time validation. They will design CI/CD workflows that ensure continuous validation of autonomy stacks, enforce Design for Testability (DFT) principles, and create performance profiling tools for embedded systems. Additionally, they will collaborate with simulation engineers to orchestrate end-to-end robotics testing scenarios and work with manufacturing teams to deploy factory-grade validation tools. This role also requires mentoring engineers on testing best practices and ensuring all robotics systems are architected for robust, automated validation.

🎯 Application Strategy

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📅 Application Signals

Hiring momentum is strong due to the foundational nature of the role. Expect high competition from senior robotics and infrastructure engineers globally. Response cycles are likely fast for strong candidates, with interviews potentially initiated within days of application submission. Because no hard deadline is published, applications may close without notice, and early submission significantly improves visibility and interview probability.

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✅ Job Source & Verification

This job listing is derived directly from RoboForce official hiring documentation and reflects a high credibility internal engineering posting. Information was last reviewed and structured on May 31, 2026. Compensation and timeline details are estimated based on comparable Silicon Valley robotics infrastructure roles and should be validated at application stage.