Senior Software Engineer, Robot Data Collection

Welocalize, Inc; California; On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Welocalize, Inc. is seeking a senior software engineer to own the data collection platform, teleoperation tooling, and fleet that powers our robot foundation models.

You will design, build, and maintain the end-to-end data pipeline, including automated validation, data formatting, and versioning, while leading a team of teleoperators. You will deploy and upgrade the stack across the fleet, ensure station health, and drive throughput and data quality.

Qualifications

• MS/BS with practical robotics software experience.
• 3+ years building software for real robot systems.
• Experience shipping a system others depend on daily.

Responsibilities

• Own the collection platform, teleoperation tooling, data pipeline and fleet stack.
• Design, build, and maintain software behind data collection stations (teleoperation, multi-camera recording, session tooling).
• Deploy and upgrade stack across fleet without interrupting collection; maintain workstations and containers.
• Own the data pipeline end-to-end: validation, conversion, upload, metadata, versioning.
• Build QA tooling to catch dropped frames, desync, bad calibration, and mislabeled episodes before data reaches training.
• Lead teleoperators: define SOPs, onboard on tasks, review session quality, unblock daily work.
• Ensure fleet reliability: calibration, firmware pipelines, sensor integration, fault analysis, vendor escalation.
• Bring up new stations and embodiments; report throughput and data health.

Skills

Python

Linux

ROS 2

Docker

Git

CI/CD

Telemetry tooling

Education

MS in CS/Robotics/EE/ME or BS with hands‑on

Tools

ROS 2 SDKs

Job description

Job Responsibilities:

GEAR Lab builds robot foundation models, trained on data we collect ourselves — every day, on real robots. We are looking for a senior software engineer to own the system behind that operation: the collection platform, the tooling our operators run on, the pipeline the data flows through, and the fleet it all runs on. This is an engineering role. Day-to-day teleoperation is performed by a dedicated operator team that you direct — you build what they run on, and you own what comes out of it. What you’ll be doing Design, build, and maintain the software behind our data collection stations — teleoperation stack, multi-camera recording, and session tooling. Deploy and upgrade that stack across the fleet without stopping collection; keep workstations, containers, and networking healthy. Own the data pipeline end to end: automated validation, conversion into our dataset format, upload, metadata, and versioning. Build the QA tooling that catches dropped frames, stream desync, bad calibration, and mislabeled episodes before data reaches training. Direct a team of teleoperators — define task protocols and SOPs, onboard them on new tasks and embodiments, review session quality, and unblock them daily. Own fleet reliability: calibration and firmware pipelines, sensor and end‑effector integration, root‑cause analysis of recurring faults, and vendor escalation. Bring up new stations and new embodiments; report throughput, yield, and data health to the research team.

Additional Job Details:

What we need to see MS in CS, Robotics, EE/ME, or a related field (or BS with equivalent hands‑on experience). 3+ years building software for real robot systems — not simulation only. A system you designed and shipped that other people depended on daily, and that you kept running. Strong Python and Linux; Docker, git, CI, and SSH‑based fleet administration. Robot middleware and real‑time multi‑sensor recording — ROS 2 or equivalent vendor SDKs. Experience supporting a data collection or teleoperation operation: you have built the tools operators depend on and owned throughput and quality numbers. Comfortable around robot hardware — arms or humanoids, dexterous hands, RGB‑D cameras, and the calibration that keeps them honest. Able to lead operators without formal authority: you write clear SOPs, train people, and communicate status without being asked.

Ways to stand out from the crowd

Humanoid or bimanual platforms (Unitree, Fourier, ALOHA/ARX‑class rigs) and dexterous hands. XR teleoperation: Quest / PICO / Vision Pro, motion‑capture gloves, whole‑body retargeting. Imitation‑learning data tooling — LeRobot, HDF5/Zarr episode stores, dataset versioning, S3 at TB–PB scale. Built internal dashboards or tooling for a production line or high‑throughput lab. Open‑source contributions to robotics data or teleoperation tooling.

Welocalize is a leading technology‑enabled provider of translation, localization, and AI‑driven content solutions, helping businesses communicate, innovate, and grow globally. Specializing in complex and regulated industries, Welocalize delivers precise, scalable multilingual content through a powerful combination of advanced AI technologies and expert human talent. At the core is Welocalize’s AI‑enabled OPAL platform, which transforms translation workflows by integrating machine translation (MT) and large language models (LLMs) to provide fast, accurate, and culturally relevant content in over 300 languages. With a commitment to excellence, Welocalize holds 7 ISO certifications. Welocalize is headquartered in New York with offices all over the globe.