Helix AI Engineer, Embedded Android Systems

Figure is an AI Robotics company developing a general purpose humanoid. Our humanoid robot is designed for commercial tasks and the home. We are based in San Jose and require 5 days/week in-office collaboration. It’s time to build.

We're looking for an Embedded Android Systems Engineer with deep expertise in low-level Android systems, the NDK, and real-time sensor and video pipelines. This is not a standard Android app role — you'll be building the mobile application that interfaces directly with our custom sensor hardware over USB, ingests high-frequency camera and IMU data in real time, and runs on-device AI inference at the edge.

If you've spent time below the Java/Kotlin layer — writing C/C++ via the NDK, implementing custom HALs, or building zero-copy sensor pipelines — this role was built for you.

What You'll DO

• • Build and own the Android application that serves as the primary mobile interface to Figure's humanoid robots, connected via USB Host / Android Open Accessory protocols.

• • Architect high-throughput, zero-drop data ingestion pipelines for high-FPS image sensors and high-frequency IMU data, using zero-copy memory techniques and real-time concurrency models.

• • Implement custom hardware abstraction layers (HAL) and leverage the Android NDK (C/C++) for high-performance, low-latency processing.

• • Optimize CPU/GPU workloads for real-time edge filtering under strict thermal and battery constraints, using foreground services and WorkManager for bulletproof background operation.

• • Integrate on-device AI inference libraries (TFLite, MediaPipe, ONNX Runtime, OpenCV) for real-time computer vision and sensor fusion.

• • Implement low-latency video streaming protocols (e.g. WebRTC)

What We're Looking FOR

• • Deep expertise in Android NDK (C/C++) — custom HAL development, USB Host/AOA protocol communication, and direct hardware interfacing below the standard SDK layer.

• • Proven experience architecting real-time, low-latency data pipelines for high-bandwidth sensors — zero-copy memory, real-time concurrency, and synchronization with zero frame drops.

• • Mastery of Android system resource management: CPU/GPU workload optimization, thermal and battery constraints, foreground services, and WorkManager.

• • Strong proficiency in both C/C++ (NDK) and Kotlin/Java for Android.

• • Experience shipping production Android applications in hardware-connected, latency-critical environments.

• • Proven track record shipping and maintaining production Android applications at scale — including crash rate management, OTA update rollout strategies, real-time telemetry and monitoring pipelines, and sustaining reliability across a large, diverse active user base spanning multiple device configurations and Android OS versions

• NICE TO HAVE

• • Experience integrating on-device CV/ML inference: TensorFlow Lite, MediaPipe, ONNX Runtime, or OpenCV applied to raw sensor feeds.

• • Familiarity with WebRTC or other low-latency streaming protocols for real-time video.

• • Background in DSP techniques applied directly to raw sensor data.

• • Prior work in robotics companion apps, industrial Android devices, AR/computer vision mobile apps, automotive HMI, or drone control applications.

• The US base salary range for this full-time position is between $150,000 - $400,000 annually.

• The pay offered for this position may vary based on several individual factors, including job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include additional components/benefits depending on the specific role. This information will be shared if an employment offer is extended.