Director / VP, Perception & Physical AI Software
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Department: Engineering
About the role
- We are seeking a Director / VP of Perception & Physical AI Software to lead the productization, deployment, and scaling of our perception and physical AI technologies. This role is responsible for transforming cutting-edge algorithms into robust, production-grade software platforms that can be deployed, updated, and supported across customer environments at scale.
This is a highly technical leadership role for someone who has built and shipped complex autonomy or robotics software in the real world—and who can also attract, lead, and scale a world-class software organization. You will partner closely with the Head of Physical AI Algorithms to commercialize perception and AI capabilities as reliable software products, while setting the bar for software quality, velocity, and operational excellence.
What you'll do
- Own the end-to-end software productization strategy for perception and physical AI solutions
- Lead development of production-ready software platforms and SDKs built on top of perception and AI algorithms
- Partner with the Physical AI / Algorithms leadership to transition research and prototypes into scalable, maintainable products
- Define and drive software architecture, modularization, and API design for long-term scalability
- Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing software engineering organization across perception, autonomy, infrastructure, and platform teams
- Establish and enforce best practices for software development workflows; code quality, testing, and validation; release management and versioning; OTA updates and field deployment
- Ensure software is reliable, observable, and debuggable in real-world deployments
- Work closely with product, systems, hardware, applications, and customer teams to align software capabilities with market needs
- Represent software strategy and execution at the executive and board level
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Robotics, or a related technical field
- 12+ years of experience building and shipping large-scale robotics, autonomy, or AI software systems
- Proven track record of shipping complex SW products to customers and supporting it
- Proven track record of leading and scaling software teams that deliver production systems
- Deep technical background in perception, robotics software, or autonomy stacks
- Hands-on experience with software architecture and system design for complex, real-time systems
- Experience deploying software to field robotic systems with OTA update mechanisms
- Strong understanding of software quality, reliability, and operational best practices
- Ability to remain technically engaged while operating at a strategic leadership level
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience developing and deploying self-driving or humanoid robotics software (e.g., Tesla Autopilot / Optimus, Waymo, Cruise, Zoox, Boston Dynamics, etc.)
- Background in perception, sensor fusion, and physical AI systems
- Experience building commercial software platforms or SDKs for external customers
- Familiarity with cloud-backed robotics infrastructure, telemetry, and fleet management
- Experience scaling software from R&D to production and customer deployment
- Strong intuition for balancing innovation speed with software robustness
Benefits (subject to location and local regulations)
- Competitive salary and equity
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Flexible vacation and time-off policy
- Collaborative, fast-paced, and inclusive work environment
- Opportunity to work on cutting-edge technologies with a highly cross-functional team
About the Company
About Lyte
Lyte builds perception systems for Physical AI operating in complex environments. The company combines custom silicon, integrated sensors, and software into a unified platform for robotics, mobility, and next-generation automation. Lyte is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with a global presence. For more information, visit www.lyte.ai
If you’re excited about building impactful technology in a dynamic, hands-on environment, we’d love to hear from you!
There are more than 50,000 engineering jobs:
Subscribe to membership and unlock all jobs
Engineering Jobs
60,000+ jobs from 4,500+ well-funded companies
Updated Daily
New jobs are added every day as companies post them
Refined Search
Use filters like skill, location, etc to narrow results
Become a member
🥳🥳🥳 452 happy customers and counting...
Overall, over 80% of customers chose to renew their subscriptions after the initial sign-up.
To try it out
For active job seekers
For those who are passive looking
Cancel anytime
Frequently Asked Questions
- We prioritize job seekers as our customers, unlike bigger job sites, by charging a small fee to provide them with curated access to the best companies and up-to-date jobs. This focus allows us to deliver a more personalized and effective job search experience.
- We've got over 200,000 jobs from 15,000+ vetted companies. No fake or sleazy jobs here!
- We aggregate jobs from 15,000+ companies' career pages, so you can be sure that you're getting the most up-to-date and relevant jobs.
- We're the only job board *for* software engineers, *by* software engineers… in case you needed a reminder! We add thousands of new jobs daily and offer powerful search filters just for you. 🛠️
- Every single hour! We add 2,000-3,000 new jobs daily, so you'll always have fresh opportunities. 🚀
- Typically, job searches take 3-6 months. EchoJobs helps you spend more time applying and less time hunting. 🎯
- Check daily! We're always updating with new jobs. Set up job alerts for even quicker access. 📅
What Fellow Engineers Say