Chief Scientist - Physical AI

Huawei Canada; Montreal (administrative region); On-site; CAD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Huawei Canada is seeking a Chief Scientist to join their Noah’s Ark lab in Montreal. The role involves pioneering research in Embodied AI and Spatial AI, requiring a strong foundation in generative AI and deep learning frameworks. Candidates should possess a PhD in a related field with a proven research track record. The position emphasizes collaboration across functions to enhance AI technologies and contribute to publications in prestigious venues. Proficiency in English is necessary for communication with teams outside Quebec, maintaining a French-speaking environment. The application process is inclusive and accessible.

Qualifications

• PhD or Master's degree in a relevant field with research experience.
• Strong foundation in generative AI and sequence modeling.
• Proven research track record with first-author publications in top-tier venues.
• Solid expertise in deep learning frameworks and proficiency in Python.
• Hands-on robotics experience including decision-making and control.

Responsibilities

• Work on Embodied AI and Spatial AI to resolve real-world challenges.
• Develop approaches in Physical AI including robotic foundation models.
• Translate problem formulations into production-grade systems.
• Design experiments across simulation and real-world platforms.
• Drive closed-loop learning for system improvement.
• Collaborate across functions for system coherence and scalability.
• Contribute to high-impact research outputs like patents and publications.

Skills

Generative AI

Deep learning frameworks

Python

Robotics systems

Multimodal learning systems

Education

PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, AI, or related field

Master’s with equivalent research and industry experience

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

ROS

Job description

Huawei Canada – Chief Scientist

Huawei Canada has an immediate permanent opening for a Chief Scientist.

About the team

Founded in 2012, the Noah’s Ark lab has evolved into a prominent research organization with notable achievements in academia and industry. The lab’s mission focuses on advancing artificial intelligence and related fields to benefit the company and society. Driven by impactful, long‑term projects, the aim is to enhance state‑of‑the‑art research while integrating innovations into the company's products and services, including LLMs, RL, NLP, computer vision, AI theory, and autonomous driving.

About the job

• Work at the forefront of Embodied AI and Spatial AI, collaborating with researchers and engineers to solve real‑world challenges and bridge cutting‑edge research with scalable deployment.
• Develop state‑of‑the‑art approaches in Physical AI, including robotic foundation models, world models, multimodal representation learning, reasoning and planning, as well as imitation and reinforcement learning with integrated low‑level control.
• Translate advanced problem formulations and model designs into efficient, production‑grade systems, enabling rapid iteration through large‑scale experimentation.
• Design and execute experiments across both simulation and real‑world robotic platforms, covering data collection, evaluation, and performance analysis.
• Drive closed‑loop learning by integrating data, models, and real‑world feedback to continuously improve system robustness and adaptability.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally across research, infrastructure, and robotics systems to ensure end‑to‑end system coherence and scalability.
• Contribute to and lead high‑impact research outputs, including patents and publications in top‑tier venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, and ICRA.

Job requirements

About the ideal candidate

• PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, AI, or a related field (or Master’s with equivalent research and industry experience).
• Strong foundation in generative AI and sequence modeling, particularly in vision‑language or multimodal learning systems.
• Proven research track record with first‑author publications in top‑tier conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, or ICRA.
• Solid expertise in modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) and strong proficiency in Python.
• Hands‑on experience with robotics systems, including decision‑making, planning, and control; experience with real‑world robots or ROS is an asset.
• Experience working with large‑scale datasets, sensor data, and advanced architectures such as transformers or diffusion models.

Additional Information

Huawei Canada is committed to a fair, inclusive, and accessible recruitment process. If you require accommodation during any stage of the hiring process, please let us know, and we will work with you to meet your needs.

All applications for this position are reviewed directly by our hiring team; we do not use artificial intelligence tools to screen or select candidates.

Huawei aims to support a French‑speaking work environment for its employees in Quebec. We have taken steps to avoid requiring a language other than French for this position. However, proficiency in English is essential for this role for the following reasons: the person will be required to communicate regularly with colleagues located outside Quebec, where English is the primary language used for communication between offices. In addition, the nature of the tasks related to this position, which falls within a highly specialized field of artificial intelligence, also requires knowledge of English.