Head of AI (Robotics)

Axiōma Search; Greater London; Vor Ort; GBP 120.000 - 180.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

Axiōma Search, a VC-backed robotics company, is hiring a founding lead to steer research and set technical direction with the CTO and CEO. You will own the model stack, guide architecture, and recruit a 6–7 person team as the company scales.

You will adapt open VLA foundations to proprietary operator data, push toward imitation learning, and plan RL-based methods for real-world autonomy across industrial machines.

Qualifikationen

• Strong background in robotics and embodied AI.
• Hands-on RL experience applied to real systems.
• Experience building or fine-tuning foundation models at scale.
• Track record deploying models in real-world environments.
• Ability to coach and lead a team of researchers.
• Applied research focus with delivery to production.
• Experience in robotics labs or autonomous systems teams.

Aufgaben

• Own the model stack end-to-end — architecture, training, evaluation, and iteration.
• Adapt and fine-tune open VLA foundations on proprietary operator data.
• Define and execute the near-term AI roadmap, starting with imitation learning.
• Build toward RL-based methods once the imitation baseline is validated.
• Translate research ideas into production-ready systems on physical machines.
• Set technical direction for the AI team and hire into it as the company scales.
• Work directly with the CTO on strategy, roadmap, and team structure.

Kenntnisse

Robotics expertise

Embodied AI

Physical autonomy

Reinforcement learning

Foundation models

Production deployment

Leadership / team-building

Jobbeschreibung

About

This is a VC-backed robotics company building the intelligence layer for industrial machines — forklifts, cranes, excavators and other heavy equipment. The approach is pragmatic: start with remote teleoperation to generate real-world operator data at scale, then train Vision-Language-Action models toward increasing autonomy.

The teleoperation system is live and generating data. The autonomy stack is being built on top of it now. The near-term approach is imitation learning on open VLA foundations, adapted to proprietary operator data. RL follows once the baseline is proven.

This is a founding hire to lead the research efforts, working alongside the CTO and CEO — setting technical direction, owning the model stack, and hiring a team of 6–7 over the coming months.

What you’ll do

• Own the model stack end-to-end — architecture, training, evaluation, and iteration
  
• Adapt and fine-tune open VLA foundations on proprietary operator data from live teleoperation
  
• Define and execute the near-term AI roadmap, starting with imitation learning
  
• Build toward RL-based methods once the imitation learning baseline is validated
  
• Translate research ideas into production-ready systems running on physical machines
  
• Set technical direction for the AI team and hire into it as the company scales
  
• Work directly with the CTO on strategy, roadmap, and team structure

What you’ll need

• Strongbackgroundinrobotics,embodiedAI,orphysicalautonomy
• Hands-onRLexperience—appliedtorealsystems,notjustsimulation
• Experiencebuildingorfine-tuningfoundationmodelsatscale(ideallyVLA-stylearchitectures)
• Trackrecorddeployingmodelsinreal-worldenvironments,notjustbenchmarks
• Comfortableoperatingasaplayer-coach:technicallyhands-on,capableofleadingateam
• Appliedresearchfocus—youdelivertoproduction,notpapers
• Backgroundataroboticslab,autonomousvehiclecompany,orembodiedAIteam

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 48 hours.