AI Robotics Researcher

NIO; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading smart electric vehicle company is hiring AI Robotics Researchers to join their intelligent systems team. This role involves conducting cutting-edge research in embodied AI and robotic manipulation, developing multimodal models, and prototyping robotic hands to tackle real-world challenges. Candidates should have a Master's or Ph.D. in related fields and strong skills in Python, modern ML frameworks, and robotic manipulation. This position offers a unique opportunity to blend research with practical deployment in advanced robotics.

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of robot learning and world modeling.
• Hands-on experience with robotic manipulation and grasp planning.
• Strong analytical and system-building skills.

Responsibilities

• Conduct original research in embodied AI and robotic manipulation.
• Develop and evaluate large-scale multimodal models.
• Create prototypes for dexterous robotic hands.

Skills

Robot learning

Reinforcement learning

Imitation learning

Multi-sensor fusion

Analytical skills

Education

Master's or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Science, AI, or related fields

Tools

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

ROS2

Job description

NIO is a global smart electric vehicle company founded in November 2014. Dedicated to shaping a sustainable and brighter future together by providing high-performance smart electric vehicles and exceptional user experiences, NIO is the first car company listed on the NYSE, HKEX and SGX. NIO currently has three major brands under its umbrella: NIO, ONVO and firefly.

Ten years into establishment, NIO is now one of the leading companies in the global premium smart electric vehicle market, committed to fostering its own research and development capabilities for core technologies. As of the end of June 2025, the company had filed for and obtained over 9,900 patents. Additionally, NIO has developed NIO Full Stack, a collection of 12 technology domains.

Currently, NIO has R&D centers and manufacturing facilities in over 10 locations, including Shanghai, Hefei, Beijing, Nanjing, San Jose, Munich, Oxford, Budapest, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. Additionally, it has built a sales and service network across 10 countries and regions, including China, Europe, the Middle East and the Greater Caucasus, serving users in over 350 cities worldwide.

NIO currently offers nine premium smart electric vehicle models under the NIO brand, two smart electric vehicle under the ONVO brand and one small, smart, high-end electric vehicle under firefly brand.

About the Position

We are seeking exceptional AI Robotics Researchers to join our next-generation intelligent systems team—pioneering the intersection of embodied AI, dexterous robotic manipulation, and physical world understanding. This role is ideal for PhD students or recent graduates passionate about bridging fundamental AI research with real-world robotic impact—from developing generalizable models for robot perception and control to enabling dexterous robotic hands to manipulate complex objects in unstructured environments.

You will tackle challenges that lie at the heart of embodied intelligence: how robots perceive, reason, and act in the physical world. You’ll work on models that unify visual, tactile, and proprioceptive learning; build world models that enable prediction and generalization; and deploy AI-driven robots that interact safely and effectively in the real world. Your work won’t stay on paper—you’ll see it come to life through physical robots performing complex tasks, making your research tangible, visible, and impactful across warehouses, factories, and mobility environments. This position offers the rare opportunity to combine cutting-edge research freedom with practical real-world deployment, shaping the next wave of intelligent embodied systems.

Responsibilities

• Conduct original research in embodied AI, robotic manipulation, and world modeling—including perception, planning, and control.
• Develop and evaluate large-scale multimodal models that integrate vision, language, proprioception, and tactile inputs for real-world robotic tasks.
• Create and prototype algorithms for dexterous robotic hands, contact-rich manipulation, and adaptive task generalization.
• Explore methods for sim-to-real transfer, self-supervised physical interaction learning, and reinforcement learning in dynamic environments.
• Collaborate with hardware and systems teams to translate research into real robotic systems—from simulation to physical deployment.
• Publish and present your work at top-tier venues (e.g., CoRL, ICRA, RSS, NeurIPS) and contribute to advancing the state of embodied AI globally.
• Shape the long-term roadmap of NIO’s embodied intelligence initiative, defining the frontier of AI-powered robotics in real-world domains.

Qualifications

• Master’s or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Mechanical/Electrical Engineering, or related fields.
• Deep understanding of robot learning, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, world modeling, or differentiable physics simulation.
• Hands-on experience with robotic manipulation, grasp planning, tactile sensing, or multi-sensor fusion.
• Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow), and robotics middleware such as ROS2.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent research and publish in leading AI/robotics venues.
• Strong analytical and system-building skills; ability to work across simulation, perception, control, and physical robot hardware.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. (or Ph.D. candidate expecting graduation within 6–12 months).
• Track record of publications in top AI or robotics conferences (CoRL, ICRA, IROS, RSS, NeurIPS, CVPR, ICML).
• Experience with dexterous manipulation systems, multi-fingered hands, or grasp optimization.
• Familiarity with 3D perception, neural implicit representations, or foundation models for robotics.
• Experience in sim-to-real transfer, real-time control, or model-based RL.
• Passion for applying AI to physical systems and creating robots that solve real problems in the real world.