Lead Robotics Scientist, Embodied AI & MEGA

Wayve; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayve in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a Principal Roboticist to join the MEGA team and help build a foundation-model driven robotics program from the ground up. This senior role involves defining the research agenda, shaping the hardware-software stack, and leading end-to-end experiments with real robots while collaborating across robotics, ML, and hardware teams.

You will own the direction from research to deployment, turning insights into robust robotic systems across diverse embodiments, and

Qualifications

• Experience in robot manipulation and working with robot hardware.
• Experience leading robotics efforts.
• Strong programming in C++ and/or Python.
• Experience with robot software systems such as control, planning, ROS, or ROS2.
• Experience in Machine Learning and deploying learned robot policies.
• Track record of high-quality research or engineering in robotics or embodied AI.
• Publications in top conferences such as ICRA, CoRL, or IROS are valued.
• PhD preferred; Master’s with equivalent experience welcome.
• 5+ years of relevant industry experience.

Responsibilities

• Build, integrate, and maintain robot hardware platforms for research.
• Develop and maintain robot software in C++ and Python, including control, planning, ROS/ROS2-based systems, and deployment infrastructure.
• Create infrastructure for policy deployment, data collection, evaluation, and the robotics data flywheel.
• Run real‑world robot experiments and define data collection pilots that inform model development.
• Collaborate with research teams on robot policy development, model evaluation, and data strategy.
• Debug and troubleshoot robotic software, hardware, and policy failures.
• Build robust deployment, regression, and validation tests for robot systems.
• Help shape technical direction across robotics, ML, hardware, and experimentation.

Skills

C++

Python

Robot manipulation

Robotics leadership

Machine Learning

Control systems

ROS/ROS2

Education

PhD

Master’s degree or equivalent experience

Tools

ROS/ROS2

Job description

Wayve in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a Principal Roboticist to join the MEGA team and help build a foundation-model driven robotics program from the ground up. This senior role involves defining the research agenda, shaping the hardware-software stack, and leading end-to-end experiments with real robots while collaborating across robotics, ML, and hardware teams.

You will own the direction from research to deployment, turning insights into robust robotic systems across diverse embodiments, and