Physical AI Founding Engineer

Deplace AI Inc.; Paris; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Deplace AI Inc. is seeking a Founding Engineer to help build our evaluation and data collection platform, partnering closely with the CTO and core technical team.

This hands-on role offers substantial ownership to shape both the technical foundations and product direction from day one. You will design and operate the data flywheel, contribute to the AI and robotics software stack, build evaluation frameworks for Physical AI models, and enable real-world and simulated client tasks with

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Robotics, or a related field.
• Strong empirical research skills and solid technical intuition.
• Good understanding of machine learning and robotics fundamentals, including VLAs, robotic simulation, robot teleoperation, evaluation methods, and data for Physical AI.
• Entrepreneurial builder mindset, comfortable operating in uncharted territory and turning ambiguous problems into working systems.
• Availability of 40h a week or more.
• Contributions to robot learning or robotics research.
• Experience training or working with large-scale foundation models.
• Software engineering background.
• Internship or research experience in robotics and/or AI at a top organization.

Responsibilities

• Build and operate our data flywheel, from data collection to evaluation and feedback.
• Contribute to our core AI and robotics software stack.
• Design and implement evaluation frameworks for Physical AI models in real-world and simulation settings.
• Set up simulation environments based on client tasks, objects, constraints, and performance requirements.
• Support real-world deployments, including teleoperation and human-in-the-loop data collection and evaluations.
• Represent Deplace at robotics and AI conferences.
• Expand offerings with additional solutions (synthetic data, human-in-the-loop, frontier data, etc.).

Skills

Software engineering

Machine learning

Robotics fundamentals

Empirical research

Entrepreneurial mindset

Availability 40h/wk

Foundation models experience

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science / Data Science / Robotics

Tools

Robotics simulation

Teleoperation tools

Job description

We are looking for a Founding Engineer to help build our evaluation and data collection platform, working closely with our CTO and the core technical team.

Deplace is the deployment layer for Physical AI. We evaluate the latest Physical AI models from leading research labs and robotics companies on clients’ real-world tasks, and collect targeted data to enable rapid model improvement and iteration. We are a VC-funded, well-capitalized startup working at the intersection of Physical AI research and real-world robotics deployment.

We are looking for a Founding Engineer to help build our evaluation and data collection platform, working closely with our CTO and the core technical team. This is a hands‑on role with significant ownership, where you will help define both the technical foundations and the product direction of the company.

• Building and operating our data flywheel, from data collection to evaluation and feedback
• Contributing to our core AI and robotics software stack
• Designing and implementing evaluation frameworks for Physical AI models in both real-world and simulation settings
• Setting up simulation environments based on client tasks, objects, constraints, and performance requirements
• Supporting real-world deployments, including teleoperation and human‑in‑the‑loop data collection and evaluations
• Representing Deplace at robotics and AI conferences
• Expanding offerings with additional solutions (synthetic data, human‑in‑the‑loop, frontier data, etc.)
• Master’s degree (completed or in progress) in Computer Science, Data Science, Robotics, or a related field
• Strong empirical research skills and solid technical intuition
• Good understanding of machine learning and robotics fundamentals, including VLAs, robotic simulation, robot teleoperation, evaluation methods, and data for Physical AI
• Entrepreneurial builder mindset, comfortable operating in uncharted territory and turning ambiguous problems into working systems
• Availability of 40h a week or more
• And finally, an incredible passion for robotics & AI and the desire to change the world with it
• Contributions to robot learning or robotics research
• Experience training or working with large‑scale foundation models
• Software engineering background
• Internship or research experience in robotics and/or AI at a top organization.
• Compensation based on qualifications and experience
• Direct collaboration with the founding team from day one
• High‑impact role with real ownership over technical and product decisions
• Opportunity to help shape a company at the core of the Physical AI ecosystem
• Position available in the United States & Europe (Paris, France)