Forward Deployed Engineer

Clera Labs, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

RLWRLD is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to own the deployment lifecycle of robotics systems, from data collection to production troubleshooting and observability. You will work directly with customers in the field, diagnose and fix hardware, software, and perception failures, and collect insights feeding into core AI models.

You will be among the first US hires, collaborating with partners like NVIDIA and AWS, traveling 50–75% and spending ~3 days weekly in the SF office to ensure smooth

Qualifications

• Experience deploying robotics or automation in factory, warehouse, or logistics environments.
• Hands-on debugging hardware and software integrations in the field.
• Exposure to perception hardware (cameras, depth sensors, tactile sensors).
• Familiarity with Vision-Language-Action models counts if from academic work.
• Willingness to travel 50–75% and be in SF office ~3 days/week.

Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end deployment cycles: data collection, model fine-tuning, physical system setup, and production monitoring.
• Isolate and patch hardware, software, and perception failures quickly under dynamic demo and production conditions.
• Gather raw operational data and failure modes from deployed systems to inform foundation model training and architecture.
• Troubleshoot complex integrations across perception hardware, compute stacks, and edge deployment environments.
• Travel 50–75% to customer sites across the US, adapting to unpredictable field deployment schedules.

Skills

Robotics deployment

Field debugging

Perception hardware

Customer-facing

Vision-Language-Action models

Tools

GPU compute stacks

Job description

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at RLWRLD, you'll own the complete deployment lifecycle of our robotics systems, from data collection and model fine-tuning through production troubleshooting and observability. You'll work directly with customers in the field, rapidly diagnosing and fixing hardware, software, and perception failures while collecting operational insights that feed back into our core AI models. You'll be one of the first hires on the US team and work directly with partners like NVIDIA and AWS.

What You'll Do

• Drive end-to-end deployment cycles: data collection, model fine-tuning, physical system setup, and production monitoring.
• Isolate and patch hardware, software, and perception failures quickly under dynamic demo and production conditions.
• Gather raw operational data and failure modes from deployed systems to inform foundation model training and architecture.
• Troubleshoot complex integrations across perception hardware, compute stacks, and edge deployment environments.
• Travel 50–75% to customer sites across the US, adapting to unpredictable field deployment schedules.

What We're Looking For

• 2–8 years deploying robotics or automation solutions in factory, warehouse or logistics environments.
• Early-stage startup mindset: hands-on, proactive, comfortable debugging hardware and software integrations in the field.
• Practical debugging experience with perception hardware (optical cameras, depth sensors, tactile sensors).
• Basic understanding of and some exposure to Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models; academic or lab work counts.
• Eager to dive deep and learn, genuinely enthusiastic about physical AI and robotics.
• Willing to travel extensively and to be in the SF office ~3 days a week.

Nice to Have

• Hands-on experience with GPU compute stacks and edge deployment environments.
• Korean language proficiency (helpful for working with the Seoul team, not required).

Compensation

• $180,000–$220,000 base, early-stage equity grant, premium medical, dental and vision.