Principal Software Engineer – Robot Applications, Voice AI

Cerence Inc.

Principal Software Engineer responsible for application and cognitive layer of humanoid robots at Cerence. Building voice AI, advanced interaction systems, and business logic for robotics applications.

Posted 7/28/2026full-timeRemote • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $165,550 - $264,450 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in developing high-level application software and integrating advanced robotic capabilities, including voice applications and contextual awareness systems. Proficient in optimizing software for edge hardware and cloud AI services while ensuring robust testing and deployment practices.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Python ProgrammingC++ ProgrammingBehaviorTree.CPPLLMs and VLMs IntegrationCI/CD Practices

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Hard Skills

Application Software DevelopmentWorkflow OrchestrationTask-Planning ArchitecturesNatural Language Understanding (NLU)Speech-to-Text (STT)Text-to-Speech (TTS)Context-Aware Human-Machine InteractionDistributed Services DesignEvent-Driven ArchitecturesAutomated Testing

Tools & Technologies

Robotic Behavioral State MachinesCloud APIsContainerized DeploymentsModel Serving PlatformsTelemetry and Logging Mechanisms

Industry Keywords

RoboticsAI ServicesEdge ComputingHuman-Machine ExperienceObservability

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

C++CloudPython

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Implement high-level application software, interaction workflows, and robotic behavioral state machines
Build the core logic that translates human speech, gestures, environmental cues, and contextual information into deterministic robotic tasks
Integrate vision pipelines, object detection, scene understanding, spatial tracking, and voice interactions to provide contextual awareness
Develop robust voice applications managing STT, NLU, dialog management, wake-word detection, and TTS interfaces
Build orchestration workflows combining LLMs, VLMs, memory systems, tool calling, reasoning engines, and robotic capabilities
Consume and orchestrate navigation, manipulation, perception, and device-control services exposed by the robotics platform
Optimize applications to balance low-latency local execution with cloud-based AI services
Integrate robots with mobile devices, smart home ecosystems, enterprise applications, and cloud APIs
Build telemetry, logging, and evaluation mechanisms supporting continuous model improvement
Contribute to testing, observability, CI/CD, and production deployment practices

Requirements

What you’ll need

5+ years of professional software engineering experience using Python and/or C++
Strong proficiency in BehaviorTree.CPP, state machines, workflow orchestration engines, or task-planning architectures
Hands-on experience building applications using LLMs, VLMs, tool-calling architectures, agent frameworks, RAG systems, or semantic memory platforms
Experience designing scalable application-layer software, API-driven systems, distributed services, and event-driven architectures
Experience optimizing software on resource-constrained edge hardware under intermittent connectivity conditions
Experience integrating cloud AI services, model serving platforms, and containerized deployments
Automated testing, debugging, monitoring, observability, and CI/CD practices
Experience designing natural, context-aware human-machine experiences.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Annual bonus opportunity
Insurance coverage (medical, dental, vision, life, and disability)
Paid time off
Paid holidays
Company contribution to the RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan)
Equity awards for certain positions and levels
Remote and/or hybrid work available depending on the position