Senior Robotics Research Engineer, Robotics and AI for Drug Discovery

NVIDIA Corporation; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 224,000 - 357,000; Full time

Job summary

NVIDIA Corporation seeks a Senior Robotics Research Engineer to advance fundamental robotics tech and deploy real-world robotic systems for automation in drug discovery. The role centers on building digital twins, simulation-based design, and multi-sensor perception within the Seattle Robotics Lab and Lilly Co-innovation Lab.

You will collaborate with scientists and engineers to publish high-impact research while shaping an automation and autonomy stack for wet-lab workflows.

Qualifications

• PhD in Robotics, ML, CS, EE, Mechanical Eng, or related field (or equivalent).
• 3+ years post-PhD research/engineering; 5+ preferred.
• Strong robotics and AI theory and practice for real-world applications.
• Excellent communication and collaboration; leadership experience valued.
• Proficient in Python; familiarity with C++, CUDA, Warp a plus.
• Fluent in PyTorch and JAX; experience with GPU training.
• Significant experience with ROS2 and physics sim frameworks (Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, MuJoCo).
• Comfort with simulation vs. real-world robotics, debugging simulators, and designing robust workflows.
• Willingness to explore robotics foundation models and biology/chemistry basics.

Responsibilities

• Build digital twins of robots and lab environments using Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, and Matterix.
• Simulate physics of robots and fluids with NVIDIA Newton.
• Develop perception pipelines for object detection, pose estimation, and tracking using multisensory data.
• Translate protocols into executable procedures and smooth trajectories with task and motion planning.
• Train robots for contact-rich tasks using imitation and reinforcement learning.
• Create real-world systems for discovery, manufacturing, testing, and validation.
• Integrate systems into biological experiment workflows.
• Collaborate with Seattle Robotics Lab and NVIDIA Lilly Lab to mature automation stack.
• Co-author publications on notable research findings.

Skills

Python

C++

PyTorch

JAX

Education

PhD in Robotics or related field

Tools

ROS2

MuJoCo

Isaac Sim

Isaac Lab

CUDA

Job description

We are now looking for a Senior Robotics Research Engineer (Robotics & AI for Drug Discovery)! NVIDIA is at the forefront of the AI and robotics revolution, and NVIDIA’s robotics teams are on a mission to build the essential technology that can enable any company to become a robotics company. The Seattle Robotics Lab is focused on fundamental and applied robotics research across the full robotics stack, including perception, planning, control, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, simulation, world models, and multimodal action models. Over the past 9 years, the lab has published 450+ scientific papers that have been presented at top robotics, AI, and computer vision conferences, with a number of these works leading to a transformative impact on robotics research and NVIDIA’s simulation/robotics products. NVIDIA and Eli Lilly have recently announced a groundbreaking partnership to build a co-innovation AI lab to solve the hardest problems in drug discovery. The Seattle Robotics Lab is leading robotics development for this joint effort, focusing on building physical AI for wet labs with scientists in the loop. We are seeking a senior robotics research engineer to develop fundamental robotics technology and build real-world systems that can bring both automation and autonomy to molecular discovery, manufacturing, testing, and validation.

What you will be doing:

• Using NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, and Matterix to build digital twins of robots, laboratory environments, and scientific procedures
• Using NVIDIA Newton to simulate the physics of robots, articulated rigid bodies, deformable objects, granular media, and fluids
• Developing perception pipelines for object detection, pose estimation, and tracking, leveraging multisensory inputs (e.g., RGB, depth, force/torque, tactile) and foundation models
• Translate experimental protocols into executable physical procedures and smooth, collision-free trajectories by using VLMs and developing task and motion planning pipelines
• Training robots to solve contact-rich manipulation tasks through a combination of imitation learning, reinforcement learning, and high-performance control
• Building real-world systems that perform discovery, manufacturing, testing, and validation procedures with extremely high reliability and efficiency
• Integrating these systems into real-world biological experiment workflows
• Collaborating with research scientists in the Seattle Robotics Lab to elevate early-stage research findings and integrate them into a mature automation and autonomy stack
• Collaborating with research scientists and engineers in the NVIDIA + Lilly Co-innovation AI Lab with deep expertise across a wide variety of fields (e.g., computational biology and chemistry, generative and agentic AI, bioinformatics, simulation)
• Periodically co-authoring publications on technological achievements at high-impact scientific journals and conferences

What we need to see:

• A PhD in Robotics, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• At least 3 years of research and engineering experience after completing the PhD; 5+ years is preferred.
• Deep knowledge of both the theory and practice of robotics and AI, with particularly strong expertise in real-world robotics applications.
• Exceptional communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills, with significant experience working on teams as both a leader and a contributor.
• Exceptional programming skills in Python; in addition, familiarity with C++, CUDA, and Warp is a plus.
• A track record of writing clean, high-quality code in collaboration with team members, using standard methodologies in software engineering (e.g., unit tests, version control, CI/CD).
• Fluency in modern deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch and JAX, as well as training deep learning models on GPU clusters.
• Significant experience with robotics frameworks such as ROS2 and physics simulation frameworks such as Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, and MuJoCo.
• Deep comfort in working through the complexities of simulation and real-world robotics, including debugging physics simulators and renderers under rapid development; selecting, setting up, maintaining, and enhancing complex robotics hardware; debugging communication systems (latency, bandwidth, race conditions); and designing robust workflows for model training and evaluation.
• A willingness to embrace and experiment with rapidly-developing robotics and AI technology, such as robotics foundation models, world models, and agentic AI as well as rapidly get up-to-speed on biology and chemistry fundamentals, laboratory tasks, laboratory hardware, laboratory automation standards, and safety and regulatory constraints.
• Direct experience in scientific and laboratory automation is a significant plus.

The following areas of expertise are of particular interest:

• Bimanual manipulation
• Mobile manipulation and humanoid loco-manipulation
• Simulation, sim-to-real, and real-to-sim
• Multisensory perception (e.g., vision, force/torque, tactile)
• Task and motion planning
• Grasp and manipulation planning
• Imitation learning and reinforcement learning
• High-performance control
• Robotics foundation models

Widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers, NVIDIA has some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world inventing the future for us.

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 184,000 USD - 287,500 USD for Level 4, and 224,000 USD - 356,500 USD for Level 5. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until April 12, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

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