Member of Technical Staff: Data Curriculum Lead

walden-robotics; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Cash bonus

Company equity

Insurance programs

401(k) with match

Flexible PTO

Daily lunch

Job summary

Walden Robotics is seeking a senior IC to own the data curriculum across pre-training and post-training. You will bridge the data platform and research teams, shaping what data models learn and in what order to maximize quality.

You will build tooling, run rigorous data-centric experiments, and mentor cross-team collaboration to drive stronger model performance and reliability across our workloads.

Qualifications

• Experience improving models via data-driven methods, not architecture alone.
• Rigorous experimental design and attribution of model changes to data.
• Able to lead cross-cutting work streams and influence multiple teams.
• Strong engineering skills to build supporting tooling for experiments.
• Clear communication of results and implications.

Responsibilities

• Own the data curriculum—sourcing, mixing, sequencing, and weighting data across pre- and post-training.
• Run experiments to quantify how curriculum choices affect model quality.
• Build tooling to make curriculum changes fast, measurable, and reproducible.
• Develop an evidence-based understanding of data usefulness and impact.
• Partner with research and data teams and mentor data-centric methodologies.

Skills

Data-Centric ML

Experimental Rigor

Influence

Engineering

Communication

Job description

At Walden Robotics, we envision a world where general-purpose robots dramatically improve the quality of life for all people—supporting us at home, at work, in factories, on farms, and beyond. To accomplish this, we are building a team of exceptional professionals who combine world-class technical skills with creative vision, grounded in humility and collaboration.

Position Summary:

You will build the data curriculum—what data our models learn from, in what mix, and in what order—across pre-training and post-training. This is a senior IC role at the heart of model quality, sitting between the data platform and the research teams, and one of our highest-leverage bets.

Core Responsibilities:

• Curriculum Ownership: Build the data curriculum—sourcing, mixing, weighting, sequencing, converting—across pre- and post-training.
• Data-Centric Experiments: Run experiments that quantify how curriculum choices move model quality.
• Tooling: Build tooling that makes curriculum changes fast, measurable, and reproducible.
• Understanding Data: Develop an evidence-based understanding of which data helps, which hurts, and why.
• Cross-Team Influence: Partner across research and data teams and mentor on data-centric methodology.

Required Qualifications:

• Data-Centric ML: A track record of improving models through data rather than architecture alone.
• Experimental Rigor: Rigor in experimental design and in correctly attributing model changes to data changes.
• Influence: The ability to lead a cross-cutting work stream and influence multiple teams without owning them.
• Engineering: Sound skills to build the tooling your experiments depend on.
• Communication: Clear communication of results and their implications.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with large multimodal or VLA training data.
• Familiarity with data-mixture and scaling-law research.
• A history of data-centric wins on real models.

Walden Robotics offers a competitive total compensation program, including salary, annual cash bonus, company equity, company-subsidized insurance programs, 401(k) with company match, flexible PTO, daily lunch, and other benefits. The pay ranges noted on our posts are for salary only.

Walden Robotics is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request to [e-mail].

Walden Robotics participates in E-Verify. If you receive an offer of employment from Walden, you will need to go through the E-Verify process of digital verification of your employment authorization documents as provided on the Form I-9. Participation in E-Verify does not limit your right to work and verification will only be completed after you become an employee with Walden Robotics.