AI Research Scientist, Robotics

Meta; Redmond; On-site; AUD 219,000 - 309,000; Full time

Job summary

Meta is seeking an AI Research Scientist specializing in Robotics to conduct foundational research and build novel prototypes for embodied AI. You will collaborate with a broad team of scientists and engineers to push the frontiers of robotics, ML, and perception in a focused incubation setting.

The role emphasizes research across multiple modalities, from simulation to real-world hardware, with opportunities to publish and contribute to the next generation of AI-powered robotic systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in computer science/engineering or related field.
• PhD in AI/Robotics or related area in progress or completed.
• Experience in robotics/embodied AI and related research areas.
• Knowledge of sim-to-real transfer, RL, and multi-modal learning.

Responsibilities

• Perform fundamental and applied research in embodied AI for robotics.
• Invent/improve data-driven paradigms for robotics.
• Investigate paradigms for varied embodied behaviors in robots and simulations.
• Develop algorithms based on ML and neural networks.
• Define, build and benchmark new AI functionalities.
• Plan and execute long-term research aligned with organizational goals.

Skills

Embodied AI research

Robot learning

Reinforcement learning

Vision-language models

Large language models

Python programming

DL frameworks PyTorch

DL frameworks TensorFlow

Education

PhD in AI/Robotics

Bachelor's degree in CS/CE or related field

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

GitHub/Open Source

Job description

Summary

The ideal Research Scientist candidate will use their skills in system design and modeling and possess knowledge of a wide variety of components and technologies. These roles will require research and problem-solving skills, as well as fabrication and prototyping to design, develop, and construct novel prototypes and architectures. These roles will work in a focused incubation team and collaborate with a large and wide-ranging set of scientists and engineers in the greater organization.

Required Skills

AI Research Scientist, Robotics Responsibilities:

1. Perform fundamental and applied research to push the scientific and technological frontiers of embodied artificial intelligence
2. Invent/improve novel data-driven paradigms for robotics, leveraging a variety of modalities (images, video, text, audio, tactile, etc)
3. Investigate paradigms that can deliver a spectrum of embodied behaviors - from simulated characters to real robots, and from short-horizon, low-level to long-horizon, high-level intelligence
4. Develop algorithms based on state-of-the-art machine learning and neural network methodologies
5. Define, build and benchmark new functionalities needed for the next generation of AI
6. Conduct research towards long-term product goals while identifying intermediate milestones
7. Plan and execute novel research based on long-term objectives of the organization

Minimum Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

1. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience
2. Currently has or is in the process of obtaining a PhD degree in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Language, a related field, or equivalent practical experience
3. Experience with any of the following research areas: robotics, motion planning, embodied AI, human-robot interaction, sim-to-real transfer, learning from demonstration, reinforcement learning, dexterous manipulation, digital agents, vision language models, computer vision, egocentric perception, and/or LLMs
4. Experience in relevant robotics related research areas, such as: VLM, robot learning, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, action-conditioned world models, task and motion planning, sim-to-real transfer robotic control, manipulation, navigation, or generally embodied AI

Preferred Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Experience solving complex problems and comparing alternative solutions, tradeoffs, and different perspectives to determine a path forward
2. Experience working with robot simulations and real-world hardware
3. Experience working and communicating cross functionally in a team environment
4. 2+ years of industry experience in relevant robotics related research areas, such as: robot learning, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, action-conditioned world models, task and motion planning, sim-to-real transfer robotic control, manipulation, navigation, or generally embodied AI
5. Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, as well as publications at leading workshops, journals or conferences in Machine Learning (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR), Robotics (ICRA, IROS, RSS, CoRL), Computer Vision (CVPR, ICCV, ECCV)
6. Experience with manipulating and analyzing complex, large scale, high-dimensionality data from varying sources
7. Experience building systems based on machine learning and/or deep learning methods
8. Demonstrated research and software engineering experience via an internship, work experience, coding competitions, or widely used contributions in open source repositories (e.g. GitHub)
9. Experience with deep learning frameworks (such as PyTorch, Tensorflow) and Python

Public Compensation

$154,000/year to $217,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits

Industry: Internet

Equal Opportunity

Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affiriative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment.

Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at [e-mail].