Research Engineer / Research Scientist, Robotics and Physical AI

About this role

Join an early-stage robotics AI company to develop learning systems and simulation frameworks that bridge the gap between simulated robot training and real-world deployment. You'll own end-to-end projects spanning algorithms, computer vision, hardware integration, and physical robot testing.

What you'll do

• Develop robot learning policies, world models, and vision-language-action systems
• Build and maintain simulation environments and evaluation frameworks for robotic tasks
• Apply computer vision and perception algorithms for autonomous robot capabilities
• Create sim-to-real and real-to-sim pipelines connecting simulation to physical deployment
• Work with robot hardware, sensors, actuators, and embedded systems for prototyping
• Train and evaluate reinforcement learning and imitation learning systems for manipulation or locomotion

What they're looking for

• Python and C++
• Deep learning and reinforcement learning
• Computer vision
• Simulation platforms (Isaac Lab, MuJoCo, MJX, Genesis)
• Sim-to-real transfer and domain adaptation
• Robotics hardware and embedded systems
• CAD and mechanical engineering
• Multimodal AI (transformers, diffusion models, world models)

Benefits

• Competitive salary range $100K–$300K annually
• On-site position in San Francisco with modern robotics infrastructure
• End-to-end ownership and autonomy as an individual contributor
• Collaboration with leading robotics companies and research labs
• Work on cutting-edge physical AI and embodied intelligence