Chief Scientist - Physical AI

huaweicanada; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Huawei Canada invites applications for a Chief Scientist to lead research in Embodied AI and Spatial AI, bridging advanced research with scalable deployment in products and services. You will guide experiments across simulation and real robots, shaping data collection, evaluation, and performance analysis for robust systems.

The ideal candidate has a PhD or equivalent, a strong foundation in generative AI and multimodal learning, and a proven publications record at NeurIPS/ICML/ICLR/CVPR/ICRA.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent research/industry experience required.
• Strong foundation in generative AI and sequence modeling.
• Proven track record with first-author publications in top venues.

Responsibilities

• Work at the forefront of Embodied AI and Spatial AI with researchers and engineers.
• Develop state‑of‑the‑art approaches in Physical AI including robotic models and multimodal learning.
• Translate research into production‑grade systems with scalable deployment.
• Design experiments across simulation and real robots, including data collection and evaluation.
• Drive closed‑loop learning integrating data, models, and real‑world feedback.

Skills

Generative AI

Sequence modeling

Deep learning

Python

Robotics systems

Large-scale data

Education

PhD in CS/Robotics/AI or related field

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

ROS

Job description

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.

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.