Machine Learning Intern, Manipulation

Persona AI; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 25,000 - 39,000; Part time

Job summary

Persona AI invites a Machine Learning Intern (Manipulation) to join our Robotics Software Engineering team in Houston for Fall 2026 or Spring 2027. The role focuses on building and optimizing ML models and infrastructure for manipulation tasks on humanoid robots, with real-world evaluation and deployment challenges.

Ideal candidates have hands-on projects in robot learning and deep learning frameworks, and can thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• Experience with robot learning and real-world deployment considerations.
• Strong foundation in deep learning and model evaluation.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced team.

Responsibilities

• Develop and improve machine learning models and infrastructure for manipulation tasks.
• Monitor model performance in real-world settings.
• Contribute to the Persona ML software stack supporting manipulation, navigation, locomotion, and perception.

Skills

Deep learning

Cloud computing

Robot learning

First principles thinking

Education

Master's or PhD preferred

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

TensorFlow

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

Job Title

Machine Learning Internship, Manipulation

Department

Robotics Software Engineering

Employment Type

Internship, Fall 2026 (August - December) or Spring 2027 (January - May)

FLSA

Exempt

Location

Houston, TX – Onsite

Who We Are

Persona AI is developing and commercializing rugged, multi-purpose humanoid robots that perform real work. Persona AI’s founding team has a decades-long history in humanoid robotics, bionics, and product development delivering robust hardware that has touched the stars, worked miles below the surface of the ocean, and even roamed Disney Parks. Our mission is focused squarely on shipping beautiful, reliable products at massive scale, while building a customer-focused team to achieve these aims.

About The Role

We\'re looking for a Machine Learning Intern (Manipulation) to help build Persona\'s machine learning models and infrastructure. We are primarily interested in candidates with experience and relevant projects in robot learning, but can be flexible depending on aptitude and energy.

As a Machine Learning Intern at Persona, you will have an incredible opportunity to work with humanoid robots and solve practical problems in the real world.

What You\'ll Do

• Work with the ML team to develop and improve machine learning models and the infrastructure.


• Monitor and evaluate the performance of models in the real world.


• Collaborate on the design and development of the Persona ML software stack and support its application in manipulation, navigation, locomotion, and perception.

What We\'re Looking For

• Courage and grit to tackle some of the hardest problems in embodied AI.


• Enthusiasm for working collaboratively in a high paced team environment.


• Experience with deep learning frameworks (Pytorch, JAX, TensorFlow, etc.)


• Experience with cloud computing to develop models, manage data, etc. (AWS, Azure, GCP)


• Strong understanding of the state of the art research in robot learning (behavior cloning and reinforcement learning for manipulation, world models, etc.).


• Understanding of the challenges of deploying neural network models in the real world.


• Capable of writing high-quality software.


• Thrive in fast-paced and ambiguous environments.


• Strong first principles thinker.

Preferred Or Bonus Qualifications

• An advanced degree (Master\'s or PhD) in computer science, robotics, machine learning, or another related field.


• Published papers at top ML/Robotics conferences (ICML, ICRA, CoRL, RSS, NeurIPS).

Persona AI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.