Staff AI Research Engineer

Agility Robotics; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 216,000 - 338,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) Plan with 6% company match

Equity options

100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance

Flexible unlimited PTO for exempt employees

Catered lunches and healthy snacks

Tuition reimbursement programs

Job summary

Agility Robotics, based in California, is seeking an experienced AI Research Engineer to develop and deploy cutting-edge robot learning methods. Your role will involve mentoring junior engineers, establishing research standards, and building robust robot policies for various tasks.

The ideal candidate has over 7 years of experience in software engineering or AI/robotics, strong Python programming skills, and a Master's degree in a related field. This hybrid position offers competitive pay and various employee benefits.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in software engineering and/or AI/robotics.
• 3+ years developing reinforcement and imitation learning systems.
• Strong ability to guide junior engineers.

Responsibilities

• Establish team standards for research execution.
• Mentor junior engineers in project design and execution.
• Drive alignment across AI Research and Robotics teams.

Skills

Software engineering

AI/robotics

Mentoring

Python programming

Deep learning frameworks

Education

MS in Robotics or Computer Science

Tools

DiffusionPolicy

Mujoco

Isaac Sim

Job description

Agility’s commercially deployed humanoids operate alongside teams in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers—tackling physically demanding and repetitive tasks while enabling workers to focus on higher-value work. With industry-leading safety standards and years of proven deployment data, we’re pioneering a new era of automation that enhances human potential.

About The Role

The AI innovation team at Agility works on building and deploying next-generation robot foundation models and end-to-end policies on humanoid robots. Your goal will be to develop and test cutting‑edge methods for imitation learning and reinforcement learning on humanoid robots, in order to establish the techniques necessary for humanoid robots to perform different real‑world tasks. In addition to driving research direction, you will play a key role in shaping the technical roadmap for robot learning at Agility and leveling up a growing team of junior AI research engineers by providing mentorship, guiding project execution, and establishing strong research and engineering practices.

About the Work

• Establish team-level standards for research execution, including experiment tracking, evaluation protocols, and model benchmarking.
• Mentor and guide junior AI research engineers through project design, experiment execution, and technical problem solving.
• Drive alignment across AI Research and Robotics teams on methods, evaluation, and deployment readiness for learned policies.
• Review experimental design, code, and results to ensure rigor, reproducibility, and alignment with research goals.
• Help onboard new researchers and accelerate their effectiveness in robot learning and experimental workflows.
• Design, train, and deploy robust policies for locomotion, manipulation, and dynamic interactions with the environment.
• Develop core reinforcement learning infrastructure, including scalable training pipelines and evaluation frameworks.
• Design and implement new simulation environments and tasks to support training and deployment of control policies.
• Develop, design, and test imitation learning methods.
• Collaborate with Robotics Software and AI engineering teams to develop policies which can be transferred to production.

About You

• 7+ years of total experience in software engineering and/or AI/robotics.
• 3+ years of hands‑on experience developing and deploying learning‑from‑demonstration, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, foundation models, or related robot learning systems in real‑world or simulated robotics environments.
• Proven ability to mentor and develop junior engineers or researchers, raising the technical bar of a team.
• Track record of leading complex technical initiatives and influencing technical direction from research through deployment.
• Strong ability to translate ambiguous research problems into structured, executable work for a team.
• Strong programming skills in Python, with proficiency in deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch.
• Experience with modern learning‑from‑demonstration tools such as DiffusionPolicy.
• Experience with robot data collection, training, and testing on hardware for manipulation tasks.
• MS in Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field.

Bonus Points

• PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Publications in top ML or robotics conferences (e.g. NeurIPS, ICML, CoRL, RSS, ICRA).
• Familiarity with robot simulation environments (e.g. Mujoco, Isaac Sim) and sim‑to‑real transfer techniques.
• Experience with modern reinforcement learning techniques for locomotion, manipulation, and whole‑body control.
• Experience with writing performant, high quality software in C++.

This a hybrid position based out of one of our Salem, Pittsburgh, or Fremont offices.

Anticipated Salary Range: $216,000 — $338,000 USD.

In addition to base pay, our competitive total rewards package consists of the following for full‑time employees:

• 401(k) Plan: Includes a 6% company match.
• Equity: Company stock options.
• Insurance Coverage: 100% company‑paid medical, dental, vision, and short/long‑term disability insurance for employees.
• Benefit Start Date: Eligible for benefits on your first day of employment.
• Well‑Being Support: Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Time Off:
  • Exempt Employees: Flexible, unlimited PTO and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown.
  • Non‑Exempt Employees: 10 vacation days, paid sick leave, and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown, annually.
• On‑Site Perks: Catered lunches four times a week and a variety of healthy snacks and refreshments at our Salem and Pittsburgh locations.
• Parental Leave: Generous paid parental leave programs.
• Work Environment: A culture that supports flexible work arrangements.
• Growth Opportunities: Professional development and tuition reimbursement programs.
• Relocation Assistance: Provided for eligible roles.
• Annual Discretionary Bonus: Provided for eligible roles.

All of our roles are U.S.-based. Applicants must have current authorization to work in the United States.

Agility Robotics is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits unlawful discriminatory practices, including harassment. Therefore, it is the policy of Agility Robotics to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Agility Robotics prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.

Agility Robotics does not accept unsolicited referrals from third-party recruiting agencies. We prioritize direct applicants and encourage all qualified candidates to apply directly through our careers page. If you are represented by a third party, your application may not be considered. To ensure full consideration, please apply directly.