Research Associate

HireArt, Inc.; Los Altos (CA); On-site; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Part time

Job summary

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is hiring a Research Associate to join the Learning from Videos (LFV) team. You will advance world models, video generation, and policy learning, contributing to a shared research codebase and publishing in top venues.

The role emphasizes building state-of-the-art baselines, training large-scale models, and evaluating performance in simulation and on real robotic hardware. The ideal candidate is a current PhD student with strong foundations in computer vision,

Qualifications

• Current PhD student in a related field.
• Strong fundamentals in computer vision, video understanding, generative models, 3D reconstruction, or robotics.
• Experience with video diffusion models, world models, and world-action models.
• Proactive and self-directed with the ability to work in a research-driven environment.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills and ownership of problems end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to research on multimodal and multi-view world models, video generation, video policies, and related areas; coordinate with university partnerships, research meetings, and publications.
• Maintain and evolve the Any4Dv3 video generation codebase, review PRs, stress-test capabilities, and develop new functionality.
• Benchmark state-of-the-art methods for world-action models (WAMs) within Any4Dv3; deploy in simulation and on real hardware; identify gaps and develop solutions.
• Produce maintainable, well-documented code and contribute to internal tooling and open-source releases.

Skills

Computer vision

Video understanding

Generative models

3D reconstruction

Robotics

Education

PhD student in related field

Tools

Any4Dv3

Job description

HireArt is helping our client find a Research Associate to join its Learning from Videos (LFV) team and contribute to research advancing world models, video generation, and policy learning capabilities.

In this role, you'll work with the LFV team to advance world models, video generation, and policy learning while contributing to a shared internal research codebase. Your work will include establishing state-of-the-art baselines, training large-scale models, evaluating performance in simulation and on real robotic hardware, and developing novel approaches to address performance gaps, with contributions supporting top-tier research publications and practical embodied intelligence applications.

The ideal candidate is a PhD student working in a related research field with strong technical foundations in computer vision, video understanding, generative models, 3D reconstruction, or robotics. You're proactive, self-directed, and comfortable contributing both to cutting-edge research and the high-quality software infrastructure needed to support it. As Research Associate, you'll:

• Contribute to research on multimodal and multi-view world models, video generation, video policies, and related areas, including ongoing projects, university partnerships, research meetings, and publications for top-tier conferences.
• Contribute to the team's internal video generation codebase, Any4Dv3, by maintaining high-quality code, reviewing pull requests, stress-testing new capabilities, developing new functionality, and supporting ongoing development.
• Advance research in world-action models (WAMs) within Any4Dv3 by benchmarking state-of-the-art methods, deploying solutions in simulation and on real robotic hardware, identifying gaps in current technologies, and developing approaches to address them.
• Produce maintainable, well-documented code and contribute to internal tooling and open-source releases for the scientific community.

Requirements

• Current PhD student in a related field
• Strong fundamentals in at least one of the following areas: computer vision, video understanding, generative models, 3D reconstruction, or robotics
• Experience with video diffusion models, world models, and world-action models
• Proactive and self-directed, with the ability to operate effectively in a research-driven environment
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to take ownership of problems from end to end

Bonus Qualifications

• A track record of contributions to open-source projects or publications at top-tier venues such as CVPR, ICLR, NeurIPS, RSS, or ICRA

Commitment

This is a part-time (20 hours per week), 6-month contract position staffed via HireArt. It will be onsite and available to candidates local to the Los Altos, CA area.

HireArt provides Equal Employment Opportunity without regard to the applicant's race, color, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, religion, marital status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state or local laws.

Company description

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re working to build a future where everyone has the freedom to move, engage, and explore with a focus on reducing vehicle collisions, injuries, and fatalities. Join us in our mission to improve the quality of human life through advances in artificial intelligence, automated driving, robotics and materials science. We’re dedicated to building a world of “mobility for all” where everyone, regardless of age or ability, can live in harmony with technology to enjoy a better life.

Through innovations in AI, we’ll develop vehicles incapable of causing a crash, regardless of the actions of the driver.

Develop technology for vehicles and robots to help people enjoy new levels of independence, access, and mobility.

Bring advanced mobility technology to market faster.

Discover new materials that will make drive batteries and hydrogen fuel cells smaller, lighter, less expensive and more powerful.

Our work is guided by a dedication to safety – in how we research, develop, and validate the performance of vehicle technology to benefit society. As a subsidiary of Toyota, TRI is fueled by a diverse and inclusive community of people who carry invaluable leadership, experience, and ideas from industry-leading companies. Over half of our technical team carries PhD degrees. We’re continually searching for the world’s best talent ‒ people who are ready to define the new world of mobility with us! We strive to build a company that helps our people thrive, achieve work life balance, and bring their best selves to work. At TRI, you will have the opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds ‒ a fun start up environment with brilliant people who enjoy solving tough problems and the financial backing to successfully achieve our goals. If you’re passionate about working with smart people to make cars safer, enable the elderly to age in place, or design alternative fuel sources, TRI is the place for you. ‒ Start your impossible with us. https://www.tri.global/