Research Scientist (Research)

The Robot Age; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition's Sunnyvale office is seeking researchers to advance physical AI for autonomous driving and robotic generalist systems. You will build methods that bridge research and customer-facing autonomy, leveraging fleet data, simulation infrastructure, and deployed systems across trucks, industrial machines, humanoids, and manipulation.

You will publish or communicate high-quality work while staying close to applied product constraints, collaborate with researchers and engineers, and

Qualifications

• Strong research background in ML, robotics, autonomy, CV.
• Publications or shipped systems.
• Ability to balance model quality with deployment constraints.
• Willingness to work at Sunnyvale office.

Responsibilities

• Develop research methods for physical AI, autonomy, and robotic generalist systems.
• Test approaches using fleet data and internal tooling.
• Collaborate with researchers and engineers to transfer to deployed programs.
• Publish or communicate high-quality research close to product constraints.

Skills

Machine learning

Robotics

Autonomy

Computer vision

Publications

Education

PhD or MS in ML/CS/Robotics

Job description

What the role actually is

Applied Intuition is hiring research scientists into its research group, which works on physical AI for autonomous driving and robotic generalist systems. The role is about developing methods that can move from research into customer-facing autonomy and robotics programs.

The posting points to work with fleet data, simulation infrastructure, and deployed autonomous systems including trucks, industrial machines, humanoids, and dexterous hands.

What you would work on

• Develop research methods for physical AI, autonomy, and robotic generalist systems
• Use large-scale fleet data and internal tooling to test new approaches
• Collaborate with researchers and engineers on methods that can transfer into deployed programs
• Publish or communicate high-quality research while staying close to applied product constraints

What they are asking for

• Strong research background in machine learning, robotics, autonomy, computer vision, or a related field
• Evidence of original research through publications, shipped systems, or comparable applied work
• Ability to reason about both model quality and real-world deployment constraints
• Comfort working from Applied's Sunnyvale office

Why this one is worth a look

Applied's research group sits close to a broad physical AI customer base, which makes the role more applied than a pure lab seat. It is especially relevant if you want research that can influence autonomous vehicles, industrial machines, humanoids, and manipulation systems.