Staff ML Engineer, VLA Training ($300k-$500k + Equity) at Nidus

Jack & Jill; New York (NY); On-site; USD 300,000 - 500,000; Full time

Job summary

Nidus, a NYC-based robotics startup, seeks a Staff ML Engineer to lead vision-language-action model development for intelligent robots. You will own end-to-end lifecycle from data curation to multi-node distributed training and on-robot validation in a hands-on role.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years in ML/robotics, strong distributed training skills, and will work in-person in New York City to advance state-of-the-art VLA systems across hardware and software teams.

Qualifications

• Five+ years of professional experience in machine learning or robotics.
• Expert-level proficiency in building distributed training pipelines and debugging complex systems.
• U.S. citizenship is required and willingness to work in-person in New York City.

Responsibilities

• Train and optimize large-scale vision-language-action models using PyTorch or JAX.
• Architect and operate distributed training pipelines across multi-node GPU clusters.
• Partner with robotics and hardware teams to run experiments on physical robots and translate results into autonomous capabilities.

Skills

PyTorch

JAX

Distributed training

Imitation learning

Behavior cloning

Diffusion policies

Job description

Job Title

Staff ML Engineer, VLA Training

Salary

$300k-$500k + Equity

Company Description

Nidus is a NYC-based robotics startup building the intelligence layer for autonomous manufacturing systems. Founded by experts from the intersection of defense technology and AI, Nidus has already secured 7-figure revenue from tier 1 prime customers to deploy AI-driven solutions that expand industrial capacity and productivity.

Job Description

As a Staff ML Engineer at Nidus, you will lead the development of vision-language-action (VLA) models that power intelligent robots. You’ll own the entire lifecycle—from dataset construction and distributed training on multi-node GPU clusters to on-robot validation. Your work directly enables robots to perceive, understand, and act in dynamic manufacturing environments.

Location

New York, USA

Why this role is remarkable

• High-impact ownership as a Staff IC, leading the modeling and infrastructure strategy for the core intelligence layer of a seed-stage robotics company.
• Exceptional traction with 7-figure revenue already closed from tier 1 prime customers since inception earlier this year, signaling strong market fit.
• Opportunity to work in-person in NYC with an elite team from defense and AI backgrounds, directly iterating on physical hardware and cutting-edge VLA models.

What You Will Do

• Train and optimize large-scale vision-language-action models using PyTorch or JAX, implementing architectures like imitation learning, behavior cloning, and diffusion policies.
• Architect and operate distributed training pipelines across multi-node GPU clusters, focusing on improving throughput, stability, and utilization for heterogeneous robot datasets.
• Partner with robotics and hardware teams to run structured experiments on physical robots, translating training results into reliable autonomous capabilities and task success.

The ideal candidate

• Five or more years of professional experience in machine learning or robotics, with a proven track record of training modern deep learning models at scale.
• Expert-level proficiency in building distributed training pipelines and debugging complex systems across input data, training dynamics, and real-world robot behavior.
• U.S. citizenship is required for this role due to the nature of our work and customers; must be willing to work in-person in New York City.