Research Assistant

Generalist; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Join Generalist as a Research Assistant, where you will design and run experiments at the intersection of machine learning and robotics. This entry-level role focuses on improving experimental reliability and data quality through structured evaluations and rigorous analysis.

The ideal candidate is detail-oriented and enjoys hands-on work with physical systems. Responsibilities include running experiments, collecting data, and analyzing results to drive empirical progress.

Qualifications

• Familiarity with experimental designs, confounding factors, and controls.
• Diligent and detail-oriented in repetitive tasks.
• Basic knowledge of programming and data analysis is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Run structured experiments on robot platforms.
• Collect high-quality robot data and track conditions.
• Analyze results to identify real model improvements.
• Write clear documentation and playbooks for reproducible workflows.

Skills

Experimental design

Data collection workflows

Programming

Data analysis

Robotic systems

Job description

About the Role:

We are looking for a Research Assistant to help design, run, and analyze experiments at the intersection of machine learning and robotics. This is an entry‑level research role for individuals with less than 3 years of research experience, and is designed to be a potential career path towards eventually contributing as a Research Scientist.

At Generalist, we are building foundation models for robots. These models improve through a tight feedback loop: design experiments, collect data, train or fine‑tune models, evaluate them in the real world, analyze results, and repeat. This role helps make that loop faster, more rigorous, and more reliable.

You will work closely with ML researchers and robotics engineers to run robot experiments, design evaluation tasks, brainstorm ideas, collect data, interpret results, and document repeatable workflows.

A major part of this role is helping ensure our evaluations are trustworthy. We care deeply about experimental design, controls, hands‑on iteration, sample sizes, variance, repeatability, and statistical rigor.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Running structured experiments on robot platforms

• Setting up physical tasks, materials, fixtures, and benchmarks for robot evaluations

• Collecting high‑quality robot data and tracking experimental conditions

• Measuring real‑world success rates across tasks, robots, and model variants

• Designing evaluations with attention to controls, repeatability, statistical rigor, and sources of bias

• Analyzing results to help distinguish real model improvements from noise

• Synthesizing findings and communicating them clearly to ML researchers and engineers

• Preparing robots, sensors, workspaces, and materials for rollouts and evaluations

• Helping kick off training jobs, run evaluations, and organize results

• Beta testing internal and third‑party tools for teaching robots new skills

• Troubleshooting physical setups, hardware issues, and procedural bottlenecks

• Writing clear documentation and playbooks so others can reproduce workflows

• Improving experimental reliability, data quality, and operational throughput over time

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have experience running experiments, lab studies, field studies, data collection workflows, or structured evaluations

• Think carefully about experimental design, confounding factors, controls, sample sizes, variance, and what conclusions the data can actually support

• Are diligent and detail‑oriented, especially when tasks are repetitive but subtle differences matter

• Enjoy hands‑on work with physical systems, equipment, materials, or instruments

• Are comfortable following protocols while also noticing when something is wrong or could be improved

• Can coordinate many moving parts: robots, materials, tasks, data, model versions, metrics, and documentation

• Communicate clearly and can summarize what happened, what changed, and what the evidence suggests

• Are curious about machine learning and robotics, even if you are not yet an expert in either

• Have some exposure to programming, data analysis, robotics, hardware, electronics, mechanical assembly, or experimental tooling

• Prefer fast iteration, careful measurement, and empirical progress over abstract theory alone

We are an equal‑opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.