Research Engineer / Research Scientist — Robotics & Physical AI

About the Role

Join a Y Combinator–backed Physical AI startup at the frontier of robotics research and development. This team is building AI-driven systems that enable robots to learn, reason, and operate in the physical world — spanning learning algorithms, simulation, and hardware. You'll work on problems that directly shape how robots perceive, plan, and act, pushing capabilities from simulation into real-world deployment.

This is a hands-on, cross-functional role suited to people who are equally comfortable writing research code, running hardware experiments, and shipping infrastructure. New graduates and experienced researchers/engineers are both welcome to apply.

What You'll Do

• Develop learning systems for robots, including policies, world models, and vision-language-action models.

• Build and maintain simulation environments and evaluation frameworks for robotic tasks.

• Apply and advance computer vision and perception algorithms for autonomous robots.

• Design pipelines connecting simulation and real-world robot deployment (real-to-sim and sim-to-real workflows).

• Work with robot hardware, sensors, actuators, and embedded systems to prototype and test capabilities.

• Train and evaluate reinforcement-learning and imitation-learning systems for manipulation, locomotion, or mobile platforms.

• Integrate and experiment with robot platforms to validate algorithms in the physical world.

• Create tools and infrastructure that accelerate robotics research and development velocity.

• Collaborate with external robotics companies and research labs on technical challenges.

What We're Looking For

Required:

• Experience developing and maintaining robotics simulation environments and evaluation frameworks (e.g., Isaac Lab, MuJoCo, MJX, Genesis).

• Hands-on experience training and evaluating reinforcement-learning and/or imitation-learning systems for manipulation, locomotion, or mobile platforms.

• Practical experience with robot hardware, sensors, actuators, and embedded systems for prototyping and testing.

• Strong software skills in C++ and Python.

• Deep learning and computer vision experience in a robotics or physical AI context.

• US work authorization required (visa sponsorship is not available).

• Ability to work on-site in San Francisco, CA (this role is not remote).

Nice to Have:

• Experience with modern ML tools and models — LLMs, Transformers, multimodal AI, diffusion models, AI agents.

• Familiarity with CAD or Blender for asset creation and sim environment design.

• Comfort moving fluidly between research, engineering, experimentation, and product development in a small team.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $100,000 – $300,000 USD annually, depending on experience and seniority.

• Equity participation in an early-stage, venture-backed startup.

Location

• On-site in San Francisco, CA — this role requires in-person presence and is not eligible for remote work.

• US work authorization is required; visa sponsorship is not available.