Senior HRI Scientist for Social, Trustworthy Home Robots

The Robot Age; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Fauna in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a senior applied scientist to advance human-robot interaction in domestic robots. You will connect research methods with product goals, shaping how people perceive and rely on living with smart machines.

Lead research into social, conversational, and expressive robot behavior, design interaction approaches using context and multimodal cues, and evaluate legibility, trust, and appropriateness in real-world use.

Qualifications

• Senior applied science background in HRI, AI interaction, robotics, or related fields.
• Experience translating ambiguous interaction goals into measurable research programs.
• Ability to work across model behavior, human factors, and embodied constraints.
• Strong communication with design and engineering partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead research into social, conversational, and expressive robot behavior.
• Design interaction approaches that use context, memory, and multimodal cues.
• Evaluate whether robot behavior is legible, trustworthy, and appropriate.
• Collaborate across robotics engineering, product design, and user research.

Skills

HRI research

Interdisciplinary collaboration

User trust evaluation

Communication with design/engineering

Job description

Fauna in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a senior applied scientist to advance human-robot interaction in domestic robots. You will connect research methods with product goals, shaping how people perceive and rely on living with smart machines.

Lead research into social, conversational, and expressive robot behavior, design interaction approaches using context and multimodal cues, and evaluate legibility, trust, and appropriateness in real-world use.