Senior Principal Technical Solution Architect – Humanoid Robotics
Location: California Bay Area
Physical AI is transforming how humans interact with intelligent machines. At Cerence, we are extending our leadership in Voice AI and Conversational Intelligence into Humanoid Robotics, building software platforms that enable robots to understand, reason, communicate, and act in the real world.
Role Overview
The Senior Principal Technical Solution Architect owns the end-to-end software architecture for our humanoid robot applications. You will bridge the gap between cutting-edge AI, robotic operating systems, and physical hardware. In this role, you will guide critical technical decisions, manage physical system constraints, and supervise an agile, high-performing startup development team.
Your Impact
Own the end-to-end application architecture for humanoid robots.
Define reusable software platforms spanning robotics, AI, voice, cloud, and edge systems.
Lead technical decisions involving robotics frameworks, operating systems, SDKs, AI infrastructure, and deployment architectures.
Guide proof-of-concepts into production-ready customer deployments.
Collaborate with robotics OEMs, technology partners, and cross-functional engineering teams.
Key Responsibilities
System Architecture: Design scalable, modular software architectures for humanoid robot applications.
Tech Stack Selection: Evaluate and select robotic software frameworks, developer SDKs, etc.
Hardware-Software Co-design: Collaborate closely with mechanical and electrical teams to optimize system latency, compute allocation, thermal envelopes, battery utilization, and power budgets.
Platform Reuse: Drive a platform strategy enabling modular reuse of application logic across different physical robot forms.
AI & Agentic Systems: Define how foundation models, agentic orchestration frameworks, memory systems, multimodal AI, and reasoning engines integrate into robot applications.
Production Readiness: Ensure deployed solutions meet reliability, observability, maintainability, security, and operational requirements.
Team Supervision: Lead, mentor, and unblock a small, fast-moving startup team of developers.
Required Skills & Experience
Mandatory (Must Have)
Robotics Domains: Deep understanding of Navigation & Localization (SLAM, Nav2), Manipulation & Motion Planning (MoveIt2), Perception Pipelines, Sensor Fusion, Robot Middleware, DDS communication, and distributed robotics architectures.
Systems Engineering: Proven experience designing cyber-physical systems operating under compute limitations, thermal constraints, battery optimization, network intermittency, and fail-safe operational requirements.
Programming: Advanced C++ (17/20) and Python architectural design expertise.
Operating Systems: Strong mastery of Linux (Ubuntu/Debian), containerized deployments, and embedded computing platforms.
Leadership: 3+ years managing engineering teams in startup, R&D, robotics, or fast-paced product development environments.
Experience: 8+ years in robotics, autonomous systems, industrial automation, physical AI, or complex cyber-physical environments.
Good to Have (Highly Valued Plus)
Real-Time Linux: PREEMPT_RT and deterministic kernel environments.
Microcontroller RTOS: Zephyr RTOS, FreeRTOS or low-level embedded control platforms.
Developer SDKs & Simulation: NVIDIA Isaac SDK, Isaac Sim, Omniverse, Gazebo, Webots, Intel RealSense.
Safety & Compliance: ISO 13849, IEC 61508, IEC 62443 and Human-Robot Interaction safety requirements.
AI & Foundation Models: Experience integrating LLMs, VLMs, agentic workflows, multimodal reasoning and edge AI inference platforms.
Why Join the Team
Help define the future of Voice AI for Physical AI and Humanoid Robotics.
Influence product direction, platform strategy, and customer deployments.
Work across Robotics, Agentic AI, Voice AI, Edge AI, and Cloud Platforms.
Operate with startup agility backed by Cerence technology and brand.
Education & Qualifications
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline.
What we offer
We offer a generous compensation and benefits package (in addition to the base salary), including:
Salary range $192,500.00 - $290,00.00 USD It is not typical for offers to be made at or near the top of the range. The actual salary will be determined based on experience and other job-related factors.
Annual bonus opportunity
Insurance coverage (medical, dental, vision, life, and disability)
Paid time off
Paid holidays
Company contribution to the RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan)
Equity awards for certain positions and levels
Remote and/or hybrid work available depending on the position All compensation and benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of the underlying plans or programs, as applicable, and may be amended, terminated, or replaced from time to time.
About Cerence
Cerence is a global leader in conversational AI and voice technologies. We are expanding our innovations beyond automotive into robotics and physical AI, creating intelligent systems that interact naturally with people across industries and environments.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Cerence is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Cerence Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNC and www.cerence.com) is the global industry leader in creating unique, moving experiences for the automotive world. Spun out from Nuance in October 2019, Cerence is a new, independent company that has quickly gained traction as a leader in the automotive voice assistant space, working with all of the world’s leading automakers – from Ford and Fiat Chrysler to Daimler, Audi and BMW to Geely and SAIC – to transform how a car feels, responds and learns. Its track record is built on more than 20 years of industry experience and leadership and more than 500 million cars on the road today across more than 70 languages.
As Cerence looks to the future and continues an ambitious growth agenda, we need someone to join the team and help build the future of voice and AI in cars. This is an exciting opportunity to join Cerence’s passionate, dedicated, global team and be a part of meaningful innovation in a rapidly growing industry.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYERCerence is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, citizenship status, sexual orientation, protected military or veteran status, genetic information and other protected classifications. Cerence Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.
All prospective and current Employees need to remain vigilant when it comes to executing security policies in the workplace. This includes:
- Following workplace security protocols and training programs to familiarize with the ways to maintain a safe workplace.
- Following security procedures to report any suspicious activity.
- Having respect for corporate security procedures to allow those procedures to be effective.
- Adhering to company's compliance and regulations.
- Encouraging to follow a zero tolerance for workplace violence.
- Basic knowledge of information security and data privacy requirements (e.g., how to protect data & how to be handling this data).
- Demonstrative knowledge of information security through internal training programs.
Skills Required
- Deep understanding of Navigation & Localization (SLAM, Nav2), Manipulation & Motion Planning (MoveIt2), Perception Pipelines, Sensor Fusion, Robot Middleware, DDS communication, and distributed robotics architectures.
- Proven experience designing cyber-physical systems operating under compute limitations, thermal constraints, battery optimization, network intermittency, and fail-safe operational requirements.
- Advanced C++ (17/20) architectural expertise.
- Python architectural design expertise.
- Strong mastery of Linux (Ubuntu/Debian), containerized deployments, and embedded computing platforms.
- 3+ years managing engineering teams in startup, R&D, robotics, or fast-paced product development environments.
- 8+ years in robotics, autonomous systems, industrial automation, physical AI, or complex cyber-physical environments.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related discipline.
- Basic knowledge of information security and data privacy requirements and demonstrative knowledge via internal training programs.
- Experience with real-time Linux (PREEMPT_RT) and deterministic kernel environments.
- Experience with microcontroller RTOS such as Zephyr RTOS or FreeRTOS.
- Experience with developer SDKs & simulation: NVIDIA Isaac SDK, Isaac Sim, Omniverse, Gazebo, Webots, Intel RealSense.
- Familiarity with safety & compliance standards: ISO 13849, IEC 61508, IEC 62443, and Human-Robot Interaction safety requirements.
- Experience integrating LLMs, VLMs, agentic workflows, multimodal reasoning, and edge AI inference platforms.
Cerence Inc. Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Cerence Inc. and has not been reviewed or approved by Cerence Inc..
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare is described as strong and affordable, with mentions of a great health care plan and wellness support. Feedback suggests these offerings contribute to work-life balance and peace of mind.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Lifestyle perks such as gym membership reimbursement and transit subsidies are highlighted as meaningful add-ons. Feedback suggests these perks enhance the overall rewards package.
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Strong & Reliable Incentives — Bonuses and equity incentives, including spot awards, short-term incentive targets, and ESPP, are cited as part of total rewards. Feedback suggests these programs are a notable component beyond base pay.
Cerence Inc. Insights
What We Do
Cerence (NASDAQ: CRNC) is the global industry leader in creating unique, moving experiences for the mobility world. As an innovation partner to the world’s leading automakers and mobility OEMs, it is helping advance the future of connected mobility through intuitive, powerful interaction between humans and their cars, two-wheelers, and even elevators, connecting consumers’ digital lives to their daily journeys no matter where they are. Cerence’s track record is built on more than 20 years of knowledge and more than 400 million cars shipped with Cerence technology. Whether it’s connected cars, autonomous driving, e-vehicles, or buildings, Cerence is mapping the road ahead.
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