Embedded Software Manager, Mobile Robotics
Summary
Lead a team of embedded engineers building safety-rated firmware for Amazon’s autonomous robot fleets, ensuring real-time obstacle detection and IEC 61508 compliance.
Amazon Robotics is seeking a Software Development Manager to lead an embedded software team building the safety-rated sensor processing firmware that lets one of the world's largest autonomous robot fleets operate safely alongside people. You will lead a team of embedded software engineers who own real-time safety applications, sensor processing pipelines, and system interfaces on heterogeneous multi-core MCU/CPU/GPU platforms: the firmware that enables robots in Amazon facilities worldwide to detect and respond to obstacles reliably. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will set technical direction, grow and develop the team, and own delivery of firmware that meets the rigor of IEC 61508 functional safety certification.
We are looking for a manager who pairs people leadership with strong technical depth in embedded or safety-critical systems. This is a highly technical role, not a purely people-management one: you should be able to dive deep in design and safety-analysis discussions, review architecture and code with authority, make sound architectural trade-offs, and earn the technical trust of a team that writes code where correctness is not optional. You will coach engineers, hold a high bar on design and code quality, and partner effectively across electrical, mechanical, functional safety, navigation, and manufacturing teams.
Key job responsibilities
The ideal candidate is passionate about building the right solutions for our customers, developing great engineers, and raising the bar for associate safety at Amazon scale. As the manager of this team, you will:
- Hire, coach, and develop a high-judgment, bar-raising team of embedded software engineers.
- Own the technical roadmap, delivery, and operational excellence for your team's portfolio of safety-rated firmware.
- Set and uphold engineering standards across the sensor processing pipeline: from driver integration through point cloud generation to real-time collision detection.
- Partner with electrical, mechanical, functional safety, navigation, and manufacturing teams to close failure modes identified in failure mode analyses.
- Represent the team in safety certification, design reviews, and third-party witness testing, ensuring artifacts meet the rigor required for IEC 61508.
- Make transparent trade-offs between long-term architecture and near-term delivery, balancing safety, performance, and schedule.
A day in the life
No two days are the same. You might start in 1:1s and a design review, helping an engineer think through a black-channel diagnostic or a latency budget. Before lunch you negotiate scope for the next certification milestone with functional safety and navigation. In the afternoon you head to the test floor alongside your engineers and the electrical and QA teams: is it firmware, hardware, or a faulty sensor? In between, you unblock the team, give feedback on a design, and think ahead about hiring and architecture. Our managers own it all, from their engineers' growth to what ships to production robots.
About the team
The AR Firmware organization is the world-leading embedded software team behind many of the robotic systems Amazon Robotics deploys: fleets of over 1M drive units and safety-critical products that let associates work alongside robots safely. Within it, the Safety Perception team owns the safety-critical firmware in Proteus, Amazon's first robot that can safely share a work area with people. We specialize in the bandwidth and complexity of depth cameras, LiDARs, iTOFs, and dTOFs, and in proving under certification that those sensors meet requirements across all operating conditions. We keep safety software lean, prioritize test infrastructure early, and sweat the details so others do not have to.
We are looking for a manager who pairs people leadership with strong technical depth in embedded or safety-critical systems. This is a highly technical role, not a purely people-management one: you should be able to dive deep in design and safety-analysis discussions, review architecture and code with authority, make sound architectural trade-offs, and earn the technical trust of a team that writes code where correctness is not optional. You will coach engineers, hold a high bar on design and code quality, and partner effectively across electrical, mechanical, functional safety, navigation, and manufacturing teams.
Key job responsibilities
The ideal candidate is passionate about building the right solutions for our customers, developing great engineers, and raising the bar for associate safety at Amazon scale. As the manager of this team, you will:
- Hire, coach, and develop a high-judgment, bar-raising team of embedded software engineers.
- Own the technical roadmap, delivery, and operational excellence for your team's portfolio of safety-rated firmware.
- Set and uphold engineering standards across the sensor processing pipeline: from driver integration through point cloud generation to real-time collision detection.
- Partner with electrical, mechanical, functional safety, navigation, and manufacturing teams to close failure modes identified in failure mode analyses.
- Represent the team in safety certification, design reviews, and third-party witness testing, ensuring artifacts meet the rigor required for IEC 61508.
- Make transparent trade-offs between long-term architecture and near-term delivery, balancing safety, performance, and schedule.
A day in the life
No two days are the same. You might start in 1:1s and a design review, helping an engineer think through a black-channel diagnostic or a latency budget. Before lunch you negotiate scope for the next certification milestone with functional safety and navigation. In the afternoon you head to the test floor alongside your engineers and the electrical and QA teams: is it firmware, hardware, or a faulty sensor? In between, you unblock the team, give feedback on a design, and think ahead about hiring and architecture. Our managers own it all, from their engineers' growth to what ships to production robots.
About the team
The AR Firmware organization is the world-leading embedded software team behind many of the robotic systems Amazon Robotics deploys: fleets of over 1M drive units and safety-critical products that let associates work alongside robots safely. Within it, the Safety Perception team owns the safety-critical firmware in Proteus, Amazon's first robot that can safely share a work area with people. We specialize in the bandwidth and complexity of depth cameras, LiDARs, iTOFs, and dTOFs, and in proving under certification that those sensors meet requirements across all operating conditions. We keep safety software lean, prioritize test infrastructure early, and sweat the details so others do not have to.