Senior / Staff AI Research Engineer, Embodied Systems Lead

RoboForce; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Health, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) plan

Lunches and team events

Job summary

RoboForce is seeking a Senior / Staff AI Research Engineer, Embodied Systems Lead to own the embodied systems stack for real-world robot behavior. You will lead the onboard AI, data collection, teleoperation, and on-robot reinforcement learning systems.

You will set the technical direction, deliver end-to-end robotic systems, and drive real-world performance improvements while collaborating with robotics software and ML teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in CS/Robotics/EE or PhD.
• Track record leading complex robotic or embodied systems end-to-end.
• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python with real-time systems experience.
• Hands-on ROS/ROS2 experience and robot middleware integration.
• Experience deploying ML models into real-time robotic systems; system ownership.
• Requires 5 days/week in-office collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead and own the embodied systems powering the data flywheel: onboard AI, data collection, teleoperation, and on-robot RL.
• Set technical direction and architecture for running and evaluating learned models on real robots.
• Deliver end-to-end systems on physical robots with reliable real-time operation.
• Own on-robot deployment and closed-loop evaluation of policies in real-world settings.
• Partner with robotics software and ML research teams to align interfaces and priorities.
• Grow the direction by mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar.

Skills

C++

Python

Real-time systems

System design

Embodied AI

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/Robotics/EE (or PhD)

Tools

ROS/ROS2

Robot middleware

Job description

RoboForce is an AI robotics company developing Physical AI-powered Robo-Labor for dull, dirty, and dangerous work. The company's robots are engineered for demanding industrial environments, with a focus on real-world deployment and scalability.

We are looking for a Senior / Staff AI Research Engineer, Embodied Systems Lead to lead and own the engineering of the systems that turn embodied AI into real-world robot behavior. You will be the technical owner and lead for the full embodied systems stack — the onboard AI system, the data collection system, the teleoperation systems, and the on-robot reinforcement learning system — driving the direction hands-on and closing the loop between data, models, and action in the physical world.

Responsibilities

• Lead and own, from the engineering side, the embodied systems that power RoboForce's data flywheel — the onboard AI (inference) system, the data collection system, the teleoperation systems and the on-robot reinforcement learning system.
• Set the technical direction and architecture for how learned models run, are evaluated, and improve on real robots.
• Deliver these systems end-to-end on physical robots — from bring-up through reliable, real-time operation in demanding industrial environments.
• Own on-robot deployment and closed-loop evaluation of policies, turning real-world performance into measurable improvements.
• Partner with and influence the robotics software team and the ML research team to align interfaces and priorities across the stack.
• Grow the direction — mentor engineers and raise the technical bar for embodied systems work.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related field with significant relevant experience, or a PhD degree.
• Track record of leading complex robotic or embodied systems end-to-end and setting technical direction for other engineers.
• Strong proficiency in both C++ and Python, with solid systems programming and real-time / performance-critical engineering skills.
• Hands-on experience with ROS/ROS2 and robot middleware, including real-time integration of sensing, control, and compute.
• Experience integrating and deploying ML models/policies into real-time robotic or autonomous systems — system ownership and building, rather than model training or research.
• Requires 5 days/week in-office collaboration with the teams.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with teleoperation and data-collection systems (e.g., VR, UR, GELLO, UMI) and the challenges of collecting high-quality robot data at scale.
• Experience with on-robot reinforcement learning or closed-loop policy-improvement systems.
• Familiarity with robot learning policies (VLA, imitation learning, behavior cloning) and their real-time inference and control-integration characteristics.
• Familiarity with manipulation stacks, whole-body control interfaces, or real-time middleware tuning.
• Competitive stock options/equity programs.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) plan.
• Visa sponsorship and green card support for qualified candidates.
• Lunches and dinners, a fully stocked kitchen, and regular team-building events.