Member of Technical Staff, Robotics & Embodied AI Research

Confidential; United States; À distance; USD 200 000 - 320 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Equity compensation

Bonus opportunities

Health-insurance premium reimbursement

Paid time off

401(k) with company match

Résumé du poste

Zekai is seeking a robotics research leader to drive frontier embodied AI research in a fully remote setting. You will advance vision-language-action models, world models, and multi-modal sensor data use, while designing scalable experiments and data pipelines.

You will collaborate with AI and robotics teams to translate findings into scalable, real-world solutions, with emphasis on experiment design, evaluation, and publication-ready results.

Qualifications

• Hands-on robotics research experience in embodied AI or related fields.
• Experience building and evaluating robot learning models (VLA, imitation learning, or generalist policies).
• Strong Python skills and familiarity with ML/robotics frameworks.

Responsabilités

• Lead frontier robotics research across VLA models and embodied AI trends.
• Design end-to-end experimentation systems: teleoperation, data collection, simulation, policy deployment, real-world evaluation.
• Develop high-fidelity simulations using real-world data to validate policies.
• Leverage Flow for scaling robotics datasets from egocentric video and sensor data.
• Investigate model limitations and sim-to-real gaps to improve datasets and benchmarks.
• Prototype novel approaches to robot learning and policy optimization.
• Identify high-impact research opportunities and lead projects end-to-end.

Connaissances

Robotics research

Robot learning

Vision-language-action

Python

PyTorch

ROS

Experiment design

Multimodal data analysis

Research ownership

Technical communication

Outils

PyTorch

ROS

MuJoCo

Isaac Sim

Description du poste

Job Title: Member of Technical Staff, Robotics & Embodied AI Research

Job Type: Full-time

Location: Remote

The Role

We're hiring a Robotics Researcher to drive frontier research in embodied AI, robot learning, and physical AI systems.

This is a hands-on research role focused on advancing vision-language-action (VLA) models, generalist robot policies, world models, and emerging approaches to embodied intelligence. You'll design and execute end-to-end robotics experiments, leveraging real-world data, simulation, and human-in-the-loop systems to evaluate and improve robot performance.

You’ll independently explore promising research directions and collaborate with leading AI and robotics teams to translate experimental findings into scalable solutions.

What You'll Do

• Lead frontier robotics research across VLA models, generalist policies, world models, and emerging embodied AI approaches.
• Design end-to-end experimentation systems spanning teleoperation, data collection, simulation, policy deployment, and real-world evaluation.
• Develop high-fidelity simulations using real-world data to evaluate robot policies and validate performance in physical environments.
• Leverage flow, our human-in-the-loop annotation platform, to structure and scale robotics datasets from egocentric video, teleoperation demonstrations, and multimodal sensor data.
• Investigate model limitations, failure modes, and sim-to-real gaps to develop improved datasets, benchmarks, and evaluation methodologies.
• Rapidly prototype and validate novel approaches to robot learning, policy optimization, and embodied intelligence.
• Independently identify high‑impact research opportunities and lead projects from initial exploration through experimentation and scalable implementation.

What We're Looking For

• Strong background in robotics, embodied AI, robot learning, computer vision, or applied machine learning research.
• Hands‑on experience developing, training, or evaluating robot learning models, including VLA models, imitation learning, or generalist policies.
• Proficiency in Python and experience with robotics or ML frameworks such as PyTorch, ROS, or simulation environments.
• Experience designing robotics experiments involving real‑world data collection, simulation, policy evaluation, or hardware deployment.
• Understanding of robot learning methodologies, multimodal perception, and sim-to-real transfer challenges.
• Ability to analyze model behavior, identify failure modes, and translate research findings into measurable performance improvements.
• Strong research ownership, experimental judgment, and ability to independently execute complex technical projects.
• Strong technical communication and collaboration skills across research and engineering teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with world models, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, or diffusion‑based robot policies.
• Hands‑on experience with teleoperation, robotics hardware, sensor integration, or real‑world policy deployment.
• Familiarity with robotics simulators such as MuJoCo, Isaac Sim, or comparable environments.
• Experience building multimodal robotics datasets from egocentric video, robot trajectories, or sensor data.
• Prior experience at a leading robotics or frontier AI research lab.
• Contributions to robotics research publications, open‑source frameworks, or benchmark development.

Compensation & Benefits Notice

The national pay range for this full-time position is base salary of $200,000 –$320,000 USD. All employees are eligible for equity compensation, and employees may also receive performance‑based bonuses, dependent on role and subject to company policies. our partner provides a comprehensive benefits package, including up to 100% reimbursement for health‑insurance premiums, paid time off, a 401(K) plan with a company match, and additional benefits designed to support a high‑performing, remote‑first workforce.

our partner is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation during the application process, reach out to support@our partner.

Our hiring process utilizes artificial intelligence tools to assist in candidate screening and assessment. Our AI tools are designed to complement, not replace, human decision‑making.

This is a 100% remote contract role, open to applicants worldwide in the countries the employer accepts.