Research Scientist / Engineer: Planning and Control

Holiday Robotics; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation stipend

Free daily meals

Competitive equity

Job summary

Holiday Robotics is seeking a Research Scientist/Engineer in Mountain View, CA to advance motion planning, trajectory optimization, and navigation for Friday, our mobile humanoid robot.

You will design real-time algorithms, validate them in simulation, and deploy on hardware, collaborating with perception, control, ML, and firmware teams to meet physical constraints and safety requirements.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Robotics or closely related field.
• 7+ years in robotics focusing on motion planning and control for mobile platforms or manipulators.
• Strong knowledge of planning algorithms (GCS, RRT*, PRM) and trajectory optimization (TrajOpt) and MPPI.
• Strong optimization and state estimation with rigorous mathematical grounding.
• Experience with AI-assisted coding to accelerate real-robot deployment.

Responsibilities

• Design real-time motion planning and collision avoidance for Friday.
• Develop trajectory optimization and predictive control frameworks (e.g., MPC).
• Coordinate mobile-base navigation with upper-body manipulation for whole-body motion.
• Validate algorithms in simulator and deploy on hardware with cross-team collaboration.

Skills

Motion planning

Trajectory optimization

Model Predictive Control

Robotics programming

AI-assisted coding

Education

MS/PhD in Robotics or related field

Tools

GCS

RRT*

PRM

TrajOpt

MPPI

Job description

Research Scientist / Engineer: Planning and Control

Mountain View, CA (On-site)

• Full-time

About The Role

Holiday Robotics Research Inc. is the US subsidiary of Holiday Robotics, the fastest-growing robotics company in South Korea. We build our systems entirely from scratch - hardware, firmware, low-level controllers, simulators, and end-user software - all in-house, with the goal of freeing humans from tedious, dangerous, and repetitive tasks.

We are looking for a Research Scientist / Engineer in planning and control to drive the development of motion planning, trajectory optimization, and navigation algorithms for our mobile-based humanoid robot, Friday. You will design computationally efficient, real-time algorithms that enable Friday to safely navigate dynamic, complex environments while executing dexterous manipulation tasks.

You will implement real-time, kinematically feasible motion planning; develop trajectory optimization and predictive control frameworks (e.g., MPC) that ensure dynamic balance under high payloads; and build robust pipelines for dynamic collision avoidance that fuse real-time perception to continuously re-plan on the fly. You will formulate algorithms that coordinate mobile-base navigation with upper-body bimanual manipulation for smooth, safe whole-body motion, validate them in our in-house simulator, and deploy them on physical hardware - working closely with the perception, control, machine learning, hardware, and firmware teams to respect real physical constraints such as actuator limits and communication latencies.

Key Areas

• Motion planning
• Trajectory optimization
• Model Predictive Control
• Collision avoidance
• Whole-body coordination
• Mobile manipulation
• State estimation

Required Qualifications

• MS or Ph.D. in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related quantitative field.
• 7+ years of experience (or 5+ years with an advanced degree) in robotics, focusing on motion planning and control for mobile platforms, manipulators, or autonomous vehicles - both custom-built and commercially available systems.
• Deep theoretical and practical understanding of classic and modern planning algorithms (e.g., GCS, RRT*, PRM), trajectory optimization (e.g., TrajOpt), and predictive control (e.g., MPPI).
• Strong background in optimization theory and state estimation, with a deep commitment to mathematical exactness for the governing physical equations.
• Proficiency in AI-assisted coding (e.g., Claude, Codex) to rapidly write, debug, and optimize code, accelerating the transition from research to real-robot deployment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with whole-body control architectures or model predictive control on mobile-based humanoid or quadrupedal platforms.
• Experience with machine learning approaches to planning, such as imitation learning or reinforcement learning for trajectory generation and policy synthesis.
• Experience in bimanual manipulation, including object handovers, dual-arm coordination, and impedance/admittance control.
• Experience bridging the sim-to-real gap for complex, long-horizon tasks.

What We Offer

• Base salary range: $200,000 – $300,000 USD annually, commensurate with experience and technical proficiency.
• Competitive equity packages in a rapidly growing, well-funded startup.
• 100% employer-covered health, dental, and vision insurance (full-network PPO).
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Relocation stipend for out-of-state candidates.
• Free daily meals.