Senior Manager, Software Engineering - Robotics Manipulation

Details

NVIDIA is the engine of modern AI, and robotics is where AI meets the physical world. The Isaac robotics platform—spanning Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, Isaac ROS, the foundation models behind Isaac GR00T, and the accelerated libraries that run on Jetson and in the data center—is how developers and industrial leaders build intelligent robots.

We are looking for an exceptional engineering leader and manager to head up Isaac for Manipulation. You will lead efforts to give robotic arms and dexterous systems the perception, grasping, motion, and learned skills they need to do real, impactful work. You will be responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and execution for Manipulation, turning contact-rich problems in manufacturing, logistics, and industrial automation into shipping capabilities that partners and developers can build on.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Isaac Manipulation team by recruiting, growing, and mentoring a high-performing team of robotics software engineers; set direction, raise the technical bar, and manage team health, velocity, and delivery.
• Collaborate with Product Management to define and drive the strategy and roadmap for grasping, motion planning and control, perception for manipulation, and learned manipulation policies, from research through productized and supported platform capabilities.
• Translate difficult contact-rich manipulation tasks in manufacturing, logistics, assembly, and machine tending into robust real-world capabilities.
• Partner with NVIDIA Research, the Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab teams, and foundation-model teams such as Isaac GR00T and Cosmos to bring sim-to-real, imitation-learning, and reinforcement-learning approaches into the platform and onto physical arms.
• Serve as a technical representative of Isaac Manipulation to robot-arm OEMs, system integrators, and the developer community; gather requirements, run joint engineering efforts, and ensure APIs and tools meet real workflows.
• Support the developer ecosystem through responsible migration handling for solutions built on the platform.
• Drive architecture and execution that use NVIDIA GPUs, CUDA, and the accelerated-computing stack across simulation, training, and on-robot inference on Jetson and edge platforms.
• Plan and execute complex, cross-functional programs; own quality, performance, and real-world deployment of learned policies and manipulation stacks on physical robots.
• Represent manipulation in platform-level technical and business decisions and help shape NVIDIA's robotics investments.

Requirements

• BS, MS, or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 12+ years of relevant industry experience building robotics or robotics-adjacent systems, including 3+ years leading, mentoring, and managing engineering teams.
• Hands-on expertise with robotic arms, manipulation, and physics, including grasping, numerical-optimization and sampling-based motion planning, force and impedance control, contact-rich control, and perception-guided manipulation.
• Working understanding of GPU-accelerated computing and modern machine-learning infrastructure, including how to architect robotics software for CUDA, PyTorch, GPU-accelerated simulation, and edge inference.
• Demonstrated ability to work directly with external partners, customers, and developer communities and translate their needs into roadmaps and shipping products.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals in modern C++ and Python, with the ability to contribute to technical and architectural decisions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building manipulation or industrial-automation products at an established robot-arm company or manipulation startup, with knowledge of use cases, integrators, and platforms from leading vendors.
• Experience building developer-facing or low-code platforms and tooling that abstract across multiple robot-arm brands.
• Deep experience with imitation learning, reinforcement learning, sim-to-real transfer, or manipulation foundation models, including shipping learned policies onto real hardware.
• Contributions to ROS 2, ros2_control, MoveIt, or the broader robotics open-source and standards community.
• Experience starting or scaling a product or team from the ground up in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.

Compensation and Benefits

The base salary is determined based on location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is USD 272,000–431,250 for Level 4 and USD 320,000–488,750 for Level 5. The role is also eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications will be accepted at least until July 13, 2026. This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes. NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and is an equal opportunity employer. The company does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.