Postdoctoral Researcher: Robotics & Autonomous Systems

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Laurel (MD); On-site; USD 85,000 - 156,000; Full time

Job summary

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) seeks a Postdoctoral Researcher in Robotics and Autonomous Systems to advance autonomy in mission-driven environments.

We invite recent PhD graduates to join the Tailored Autonomous Systems Group (QPJ) and translate cutting-edge research into real-world robotic systems, emphasizing rapid prototyping, field experiments, and cross-disciplinary collaboration across mechanical, electrical, software, and AI/ML teams.

Qualifications

• PhD in robotics, mechanical/electrical engineering, computer science or related field.
• Strong research record in robotics or autonomous systems.
• Hands-on experience building/testing robotic systems.
• Familiar with embedded platforms and real-time processing.
• Experience with ROS/ROS2 and simulation environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead and contribute to applied robotics research, turning ideas into prototypes.
• Design, build, and integrate robotic platforms with sensing, compute, control, and communications.
• Develop autonomy pipelines on resource-constrained hardware including perception and planning.
• Evaluate systems using simulation, digital twins, and hardware-in-the-loop environments.
• Conduct field experiments and performance evaluations in realistic scenarios.
• Collaborate across mechanical, electrical, software, and AI/ML disciplines to deliver integrated capabilities.
• Publish results and help shape future research directions and proposals.

Skills

Robotics research

ROS/ROS2

Python

C++

Embedded platforms

Education

PhD in Robotics or related field

Tools

Gazebo

Isaac Sim

NVIDIA Jetson

Job description

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) seeks a Postdoctoral Researcher in Robotics and Autonomous Systems to advance autonomy in mission-driven environments.

We invite recent PhD graduates to join the Tailored Autonomous Systems Group (QPJ) and translate cutting-edge research into real-world robotic systems, emphasizing rapid prototyping, field experiments, and cross-disciplinary collaboration across mechanical, electrical, software, and AI/ML teams.