At Embodied AI, our robots are deployed at customer sites rather than in a lab. They are controlled remotely and expected to work reliably in the field. As our Senior Distributed Systems Engineer, you would own the backbone that makes this possible: the APIs, services, and device-side software that connect our fleet of in-field robots to the cloud and to the people operating them.
This is a senior role, and we are looking for someone who has experience with the realities of running a fleet, including observability, deployment hygiene, and the patterns that keep things working when you cannot physically reach the device. We care more about judgment in deciding what to build than about raw output, and we hire for system design and the ability to define the right problem.
You will be part of a fast-growing cutting-edge robotics and AI team looking towards developing solutions to real world problems.
What you'll do
- Design and evolve the distributed system that connects our robots, cloud services, and operator interfaces.
- Own the APIs we expose and the ones we consume, including their design, versioning, reliability, and documentation.
- Build and harden the device-side software stack: connectivity, OTA updates, telemetry, and recovery from bad states.
- Choose and integrate the right building blocks. We prefer picking strong libraries (WebRTC, GStreamer, cloud SDKs, message brokers) and integrating them well rather than reinventing them.
- Be the person on point when something fails at a customer site, and drive both the fix and the prevention.
- Show your work organically every one to two weeks. We demo what we have, decide what to keep, and move on.
What you bring
- At least two years at a robotics, IoT, or in-field-devices company, where reliability in the field was a real constraint.
- Strong distributed systems fundamentals, including APIs, state synchronisation, failure modes, and observability.
- Comfort across the stack: cloud (containers, orchestration), device-side software, and the network in between.
- A preference for integration over invention, and for shipping demoable slices rather than polished plans.
- Considered opinions about what makes a system maintainable when you cannot physically reach the device.
Nice to have
- Experience with ROS2, WebRTC, or GStreamer.
- Production experience with OTA pipelines or fleet management at scale.
- A background in customer-facing technical roles, such as demos, integrations, or field support.
Logistics
- Based in Lausanne or Rome.
- Salary band based on seniority.
- Schengen Area citizenship required.
A few notes on applying
- Please apply to one role only. If you see yourself fitting more than one, just mention that in your application — we'll consider you for all of them.
- Keep your application short and concise. We thank you for not making us read more than half a page.
- (Optional): Tell us about one prototype you built quickly, that wasn't perfect, and that you demoed to a customer (or another real user). How did you build this prototype? How did you define what to build? What shortcuts did you take? We are keen to hear your short story, but can also ask for it once your CV was short-listed.
Embodied AI is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
