Staff Software Engineer - Platform

As a Staff Platform Engineer you will define the technical strategy for how our robotics software is built packaged and delivered — from a developer's laptop to a walking humanoid robot. You will own the vision and architecture for our C++ build platform transforming it into a world-class system that scales with a growing engineering organization and an increasingly complex hardware portfolio.

This role goes beyond building great infrastructure — it requires driving alignment across software robotics and embedded teams shaping engineering culture around build reliability and developer velocity and ensuring that platform investments are tightly coupled to company-wide program milestones. You'll be the technical authority on build systems and developer tooling operating as a force multiplier that makes every engineer at Apptronik faster and more effective.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES or KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Define and own the long-term technical roadmap for the C++ build platform aligning infrastructure investments with software program timelines and organizational growth
• Architect scalable build infrastructure — including remote caching remote execution and cross-compilation for x86 ARM and Jetson targets — and drive strategic technology decisions through RFCs that gain cross-team alignment
• Set the standards for hermetic reproducible builds and artifact provenance that become the engineering-wide default
• Own high-performance build environments and the end-to-end artifact lifecycle — from build output through packaging versioning and delivery to physical robots
• Architect and optimize CI/CD pipelines at scale; instrument build health metrics and establish SLOs for build performance CI reliability and developer iteration speed
• Manage the C++ dependency ecosystem balancing developer flexibility with reproducibility and long-term maintainability
• Partner with engineering leadership to shape the developer productivity roadmap and advocate for sustained investment in platform infrastructure
• Drive cross-team initiatives to consolidate fragmented build patterns eliminate toil and resolve systemic productivity problems that span team boundaries
• Mentor engineers across the organization on build best practices acting as the go-to technical authority for build systems and developer infrastructure
• Serve as the escalation point for complex cross-domain issues spanning application code build systems containerization and infrastructure

• Deep expertise with C/C++ and its build ecosystem (e.g. CMake Bazel Meson) with the ability to reason about toolchains linkers compilers and build behavior at a systems level
• Proven ability to architect and operate build infrastructure at scale including CI/CD pipelines caching systems and cross-compilation environments
• Strong command of the Linux operating system — including internals networking file systems permissions and resource management
• Proficiency in scripting and automation (Python Bash) with an emphasis on building maintainable production-grade tooling
• Demonstrated experience driving technical strategy beyond your immediate team — through design docs RFCs or technical proposals that influenced engineering-wide decisions
• Track record of identifying and solving ambiguous org-wide technical problems that no single team owns
• Excellent communication skills — ability to translate complex build and infrastructure concepts for diverse audiences and advocate for platform investment to leadership
• Solid understanding of core networking fundamentals (TCP/IP DNS HTTP)

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Computer Engineering or a related field or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of relevant experience in a DevOps Software Engineering or Build/Release Engineering role.
• A proven track record of supporting software development teams by building and maintaining reliable infrastructure and effective tooling.

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times
• Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen
• Hearing and speech to communicate

What We Do

Apptronik is building robots for the real world to improve human quality of life and to help solve the ever-increasing labor shortage problem. Our team has been building some of the most advanced robots on the planet for years dating back to the DARPA Robotics Challenge. We apply our expertise across the full robotics stack to some of the most important and impactful problems our society faces and expect our products and technology to change the world for the better. We value passion creativity and collaboration to help us overcome existing technological barriers in the industry to create truly innovative products.

Why Work With Us

At Apptronik we don't see a future where man competes against machine. Instead we envision a harmonious world where man and machine coexist. Our mission statement "It is not Man vs. Machine but Man + Machine" encapsulates our belief that the synergy between humans and robots will pave the way for a brighter more advanced future.

Gallery