Applied Scientist, Fauna

The Robot Age; Sunnyvale, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Fauna is hiring an applied scientist focused on robot navigation in Sunnyvale. The role spans classical navigation, learning-based methods, foundation models, simulation, on-device evaluation, and sim-to-real transfer.

The work aims to make robot movement reliable, measurable, and safe in cluttered indoor spaces where humans share space with robots. This is a hands-on research role with direct product impact.

Qualifications

• Applied science experience in machine learning, robotics, navigation, or related fields.
• Strong programming ability in Python, C++, Java, or similar languages.
• Experience publishing, patenting, or evaluating technical research.
• Comfort turning experimental methods into product-relevant robot behavior.

Responsibilities

• Develop navigation methods for indoor environments with static and moving obstacles.
• Build simulation and on-device evaluation benchmarks for navigation behavior.
• Run sim-to-real transfer experiments and close reliability gaps.
• Compare classical, learning-based, and foundation-model approaches for autonomy.

Skills

Applied ML

Robotics

Navigation

Python

C++

Java

Tools

Python

C++

Java

Job description

What the role actually is

Fauna is hiring an applied scientist focused on robot navigation in Sunnyvale. The role spans classical navigation, learning-based methods, foundation models, simulation, on-device evaluation, and sim-to-real transfer.

The human-facing angle is practical: navigation failures are user experience failures when robots share indoor spaces with people. This role is about making robot movement more reliable, measurable, and safe in messy environments.

What you would work on

• Develop navigation methods for indoor environments with static and moving obstacles
• Build simulation and on-device evaluation benchmarks for navigation behavior
• Run sim-to-real transfer experiments and close reliability gaps
• Compare classical, learning-based, and foundation-model approaches for autonomy

What they are asking for

• Applied science experience in machine learning, robotics, navigation, or related fields
• Strong programming ability in Python, C++, Java, or similar languages
• Experience publishing, patenting, or evaluating technical research
• Comfort turning experimental methods into product-relevant robot behavior

Why this one is worth a look

Navigation is where autonomy becomes visible to users. A home robot can have a clever model and still feel broken if it hesitates, blocks paths, or moves unpredictably, so this is a research role with a direct line to lived product experience.