Senior Physical AI & Robotics Scientist - Lab Automation

F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 312,000; Full time

Job summary

Genentech is seeking a Senior Physical AI & Robotics Scientist to lead hands-on development of autonomous laboratory systems. You will deploy 3D perception, edge inference, and closed‑loop control on advanced robotic hardware to enable reliable lab automation at scale.

The role requires strong expertise in 3D vision, kinematics, and simulation-to-real validation, with experience in NVIDIA Isaac, Omniverse, and multitask robotics workflows. Relocation benefits are not available.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD with strong robotics/computer science focus and PhD holders with 2+ years in Physical AI are welcome.
• Proven ability to deploy robotics solutions in real-world lab environments.
• Experience with 3D vision, kinematics, and motion planning in dynamic workcells.

Responsibilities

• Develop 3D vision pipelines (point clouds, depth maps) and motion planning for arm manipulation and AMR navigation.
• Create multi-physics simulation environments to model robot-labware interactions and evaluate execution plans.
• Apply sim-to-real tuning and domain randomization for robust policies.
• Fine-tune multimodal vision models for lab anomaly detection in real time.
• Optimize low-latency inference on edge hardware with TensorRT.
• Represent workcell geometry with OpenUSD and integrate heterogeneous hardware APIs.

Skills

3D computer vision

motion planning

ROS2

MoveIt2

Python

C++

PyTorch

robotics systems

sim-to-real

Education

MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field

PhD with 2+ years experience in Physical AI/robotics

Tools

NVIDIA Isaac Sim/Lab

Newton Engine

MuJoCo

Drake

Gazebo

TensorRT

NVIDIA Jetson

Omniverse

OpenUSD

gRPC

SiLA2

vendor SDKs

Job description

A healthier future. It’s what drives us to innovate. To continuously advance science and ensure everyone has access to the healthcare they need today and for generations to come. Creating a world where we all have more time with the people we love. That’s what makes us Roche. Advances in AI, data, and computational sciences are transforming drug discovery and development. Roche’s Research and Early Development organisations at Genentech (gRED) and Pharma (pRED) have demonstrated how these technologies accelerate R&D, leveraging data and novel computational models to drive impact. Seamless data sharing and access to models across gRED and pRED are essential to maximising these opportunities. The new Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE) is a strategic, unified group whose goal is to harness the transformative power of data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist our scientists in both pRED and gRED to deliver more innovative and transformative medicines for patients worldwide.

The Opportunity At Genentech (gRED) and Roche (pRED), we’re applying Physical AI to solve one of humanity’s hardest challenges: building fully autonomous, self‑healing laboratories for lights‑out drug discovery. Advances in AI, data, and computational sciences are transforming drug discovery and development. The Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE) and the Data and Digital Catalyst (DDC) team are building the foundational platform for autonomous labs – turning state‑of‑the‑art AI into real‑world physical action to deliver life‑saving medicines to patients faster than ever before. As a Senior Physical AI & Robotics Scientist, you will be the hands‑on technical lead and scientific architect bringing Physical AI to life – deploying 3D perception, multi‑physics digital twins, edge vision, and closed‑loop control onto state‑of‑the‑art robotic hardware using cutting‑edge stacks like NVIDIA Isaac, Omniverse, and Metropolis. If you are inspired by the challenge of bridging foundation models with complex real‑world hardware to give robots the spatial awareness and resilience to autonomously solve problems on the lab floor, this is your opportunity to pioneer the next generation of autonomous laboratories at global scale.

In this role, you will:

• Develop 3D computer vision perception pipelines (point clouds, depth maps, pose estimation) and dynamic motion planning algorithms (ROS2, MoveIt2, cuMotion) to enable reliable arm manipulation, hand‑eye calibration, grasping, and AMR navigation in dynamic workcells.
• Build multi‑physics simulation environments (NVIDIA Isaac Sim/Lab, Newton Engine) to model robot‑labware interactions, evaluate LLM‑generated execution plans inside digital twins before deployment, and train policy recovery models.
• Apply system identification, domain randomization, and sim‑to‑real tuning to ensure simulation‑trained control policies execute predictably on physical hardware.
• Fine‑tune multimodal Vision AI models (VLMs, NVIDIA Cosmos) using synthetic failure datasets (IsaacSim) for real‑time detection of lab anomaly modes (spills, bubbles, dropped microplates, tilted lids, tip‑pick misses).
• Optimize low‑latency inference with TensorRT on NVIDIA Jetson (Thor/Orin) edge hardware, combining visual servoing and closed‑loop feedback control so systems self‑correct without halting master workflows.
• Harness OpenUSD scene graphs to represent workcell geometry and state, integrating synchronization services to link executable digital twins across heterogeneous hardware APIs (SiLA2, gRPC, vendor SDKs).

Who You Are

• MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related technical field with 5+ years of experience, or a PhD with 2+ years of experience in deploying Physical AI or robotics solutions.
• Strong interest in translating physical AI capabilities into biological workflows and drug discovery pipelines.
• Passionate builder with a proven track record of taking real‑world robotic manipulation and sim‑to‑real systems beyond demonstrations into sustained operation.
• Strong background in 3D computer vision, kinematics, motion planning (ROS2, MoveIt2, cuMotion), and modern machine learning frameworks (PyTorch) with strong C++/Python skills.
• Hands‑on experience with robotics simulation and robot‑learning frameworks (NVIDIA Isaac Sim/Lab, Newton, MuJoCo, Drake, Gazebo) and sim‑to‑real validation methods.
• Experience training or fine‑tuning vision/multimodal models (VLMs, Cosmos) and optimizing neural networks with TensorRT for edge hardware (Jetson Thor/Orin).
• Proficiency with visual servoing, closed‑loop controllers, and hardware API integration (gRPC, SiLA2, vendor SDKs).
• Preferred but not required Hands‑on experience with OpenUSD scene graphs, custom USD schemas, or NVIDIA Omniverse workflows.
• Experience working with high‑throughput lab automation hardware, manipulators, or liquid handlers (e.g., Hamilton, Tecan, Precise Automation, UR arms).
• Background in imitation learning, reinforcement learning, or robot foundation models for contact‑rich manipulation and recovery.
• A public portfolio of real‑world projects on GitHub/GitLab showcasing work in robotics, simulation, or physical AI.

Relocation benefits are NOT available for this opportunity

The expected salary range for this position based on the primary location of SanFrancisco is $168,100 - 312,300 of hiring range. Actual pay will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job‑related factors permitted by law. A discretionary annual bonus may be available based on individual and Company performance.

Benefits

This position also qualifies for the benefits detailed at the link provided below.

Genentech is an equal opportunity employer. It is our policy and practice to employ, promote, and otherwise treat any and all employees and applicants on the basis of merit, qualifications, and competence. The company's policy prohibits unlawful discrimination, including but not limited to, discrimination on the basis of Protected Veteran status, individuals with disabilities status, and consistent with all federal, state, or local laws.

If you have a disability and need an accommodation in relation to the online application process, please contact us by completing this form Accommodations for Applicants.

Genentech is an equal opportunity employer. It is our policy and practice to employ, promote, and otherwise treat any and all employees and applicants on the basis of merit, qualifications, and competence. The company's policy prohibits unlawful discrimination, including but not limited to, discrimination on the basis of Protected Veteran status, individuals with disabilities status, and consistent with all federal, state, or local laws.