Machine Learning Engineer

Deft AI, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision plans

Daily meals stipend

Support for attending conferences

Job summary

Deft AI, Inc. is seeking an experienced engineer to design and develop a modular robot autonomy stack for advanced robotic systems. The successful candidate will develop critical action refinement layers and architect interfaces around VLA models.

Applicants must hold a PhD or MS in a relevant field, have extensive experience in machine learning and robotics, and a proven track record of deploying ML systems. The position offers a competitive salary of $150,000 to $200,000 annually along with various benefits.

Qualifications

• PhD or MS degree in a relevant technical field.
• Experience developing and deploying ML systems from research to production.
• Hands-on experience with machine learning frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop a modular robot autonomy stack.
• Build robust data collection pipelines for production robots.
• Architect clean interfaces for VLA models.

Skills

Machine learning fundamentals

Reinforcement learning

Python (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Ray)

Education

PhD or MS in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics

Job description

What you'll do

• Design and develop a modular robot autonomy stack that composes Vision‑Language‑Action (VLA) models with purpose‑built modules to enable grasping and dexterous behaviors in unstructured environments.
• Develop action refinement and safety layers that post‑process VLA outputs — constraint satisfaction, collision and force guards, smoothing, and runtime monitors for safety‑critical deployment.
• Architect clean interfaces and abstractions around base VLA models so they can be swapped, benchmarked, and upgraded as the SOTA evolves — keeping the stack model‑agnostic.
• Design and maintain robust data collection and curation pipelines for production robot fleets.
• Build reliable, high‑speed robot autonomy software stack optimized for inference performance.
• Advance SOTA dexterous manipulation architecture through novel methodologies while bridging theory & practice—real customer use‑cases with clear success criteria.

Required Qualifications

• PhD or MS degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or equivalent technical discipline.
• Deep expertise in machine learning fundamentals, reinforcement learning, and associated frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Ray, etc.).
• 3+ years of proven track record developing and deploying ML systems from research through production implementation.
• Hands‑on experience with model lifecycle management including training, deployment, and maintenance in production settings.

Preferred Qualifications

• Authored or co‑authored peer‑reviewed publications in robotics or related fields.
• Hands‑on experience designing and implementing bimanual manipulation tech stacks with imitation learning or RL‑based methods.
• Background in real‑time ML inference systems, simulation‑to‑reality transfer, or advanced reinforcement learning implementations.

Benefits

• We support publishing at top robotics/ML venues and presenting at conferences (travel + time fully covered).
• Medical, dental & vision plans.
• Daily meals stipend.

Expected Compensation

• $150,000 – $200,000 annual salary + cash and stock awards + benefits.
• The pay offered for this position may vary based on several individual factors, including job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include additional components/benefits depending on the specific role. This information will be shared if an employment offer is extended.