VP of Robotics Research

Remotebridge; United States; Remote; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Performance-based bonuses

Remote-first workforce

Health-insurance premium reimbursement

401(K) plan

Job summary

micro1 is seeking a VP of Robotics Research to define and lead our Physical AI research agenda. You will direct efforts across robotics, embodied agents, learning, data, evaluation, and physical-world automation, building agents that operate with robots, machines and instruments.

You will oversee world-class research in vision-language-action models, imitation and reinforcement learning, world models, and multimodal policies, while developing scalable data-generation and evaluation

Qualifications

• Deep Physical AI expertise in robotics, embodied AI, robot learning or related fields.
• Strong learning and agentic systems intuition across vision-language-action models, imitation learning, reinforcement learning, world models, planning and control.
• Physical systems intuition including sensing, calibration, control, actuation, latency and hardware constraints.
• Exceptional research taste and ability to identify high-impact problems for AI in the physical world.
• Experimental rigor with hypotheses, controlled experiments, baselines and evidence-backed conclusions.
• Strong evaluation judgment on generalization, distribution shift, and hardware-specific effects.

Responsibilities

• Set the Physical AI research agenda across robotics, embodied agents, learning, data, evaluation and real-world automation.
• Build agents that act in the physical world by connecting foundation models to robots and instruments.
• Advance general-purpose robot learning through vision-language-action models, imitation learning and reinforcement learning.
• Develop a science of physical-world data by studying demonstrations, trajectories and sensor streams.
• Create scalable data-generation systems using human demonstrations, teleoperation, simulation and hybrid workflows.
• Build rigorous benchmarks for manipulation, spatial reasoning, planning and safety across tasks.
• Bridge simulation and reality, guiding sim-to-real transfer and real-world experimentation.
• Lead and grow the research team, mentor talent and publish consequential work.

Skills

Physical AI expertise

Robotics

Robot learning

Autonomous systems

Multimodal models

Imitation learning

Reinforcement learning

World models

Planning

Control

Systems thinking

Experimentation

Sensing and calibration

Hardware constraints

Education

Master’s or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, Engineering

Tools

ROS/ROS2

MuJoCo

Isaac Gym

ManiSkill

Job description

Job Title: VP of Robotics Research

Job Type: Full-time

Location: Remote

The Role

As VP of Robotics Research at Our team, you will define and lead our research agenda for Physical AI — intelligent systems that can understand, reason about, and act in the physical world.

Our research focuses on four connected areas:

• Physical Agents & Robotics — building agents that perceive, reason, plan, and act through robots, machines, instruments, and other physical systems.
• Learning & Data — studying how demonstrations, trajectories, sensor data, simulation, feedback, and autonomous experience improve physical-world intelligence.
• Evaluation & Generalization — developing rigorous methods to measure physical reasoning, manipulation, planning, robustness, safety, and transfer across tasks and environments.
• Physical-World R&D Automation — exploring how agents can accelerate scientific and engineering workflows through simulation, experimentation, design, fabrication, and real-world tools.

What You’ll Do

• Set the Physical AI research agenda. Identify the highest-leverage problems across robotics, embodied agents, learning, data, evaluation, and physical-world automation.
• Build agents that act in the physical world. Develop systems that connect foundation models and agents to robots, machines, instruments, and other physical interfaces.
• Advance general-purpose robot learning. Lead research across vision-language-action models, imitation learning, reinforcement learning, world models, and multimodal policies.
• Develop a science of physical-world data. Study which demonstrations, trajectories, sensor streams, environments, and supervision signals best improve learning and generalization.
• Build scalable data-generation systems. Develop methods for generating high-quality interaction data through human demonstration, teleoperation, autonomous rollout, simulation, and hybrid human–agent workflows.
• Advance evaluation and generalization. Build rigorous benchmarks for manipulation, spatial reasoning, planning, tool use, robustness, safety, and transfer across tasks and embodiments.
• Bridge simulation and reality. Study how simulated and real-world experience should be combined and where sim-to-real transfer breaks down.
• Advance physical-world R&D automation. Build agents that operate across scientific and engineering workflows, including simulation, experimentation, design, fabrication, and laboratory systems.
• Build research that compounds. Create reusable datasets, environments, simulators, hardware testbeds, evaluation infrastructure, and research tools.
• Build and lead the research team. Recruit and develop exceptional researchers and engineers, partner with leading labs, and publish consequential research.

What We’re Looking For

• Deep Physical AI expertise. Significant experience in robotics, embodied AI, robot learning, autonomous systems, or related fields.
• Strong learning and agentic systems intuition. Deep understanding of modern robot learning, multimodal models, imitation learning, reinforcement learning, world models, planning, and control.
• Physical systems intuition. Strong understanding of sensing, calibration, control, contact, actuation, latency, uncertainty, and hardware constraints.
• Exceptional research taste. You identify problems that can meaningfully expand what AI systems can do in the physical world.
• Experimental rigor. You turn open questions into strong hypotheses, controlled experiments, meaningful baselines, and evidence-backed conclusions.
• Strong evaluation judgment. You understand generalization, distribution shift, benchmark design, hardware-specific effects, and the failure modes of physical AI evaluations.
• Systems thinking. You reason across models, agents, data, hardware, simulation, tools, and evaluation as parts of a single system.
• Technical range. You are comfortable moving between model training, agent design, simulation, evaluation infrastructure, and physical experimentation.
• Research leadership. You have experience setting direction, mentoring exceptional technical talent, and leading ambitious research programs under uncertainty.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, Engineering, or a related field.
• Research experience at a leading AI, robotics, or embodied intelligence organization.
• Strong publication record at venues such as CoRL, RSS, ICRA, IROS, NeurIPS, ICML, or CVPR, or equivalent high-impact technical work.
• Experience with generalist robot policies, cross‑embodiment learning, robot foundation models, or large‑scale imitation and reinforcement learning.
• Hands‑on experience with robotic platforms and frameworks such as ROS/ROS2, Isaac Lab, MuJoCo, ManiSkill, or equivalent systems.
• Experience building robotics benchmarks, simulation environments, teleoperation systems, safety evaluations, or physical‑world data engines.
• Experience building agents for engineering, scientific, manufacturing, or laboratory workflows.

Compensation & Benefits Notice

The national pay range for this full-time position is base salary of $250,000 –$350,000.

All employees are eligible for equity compensation, and employees may also receive performance-based bonuses, dependent on role and subject to company policies. micro1 provides a comprehensive benefits package, including up to 100% reimbursement for health-insurance premiums, paid time off, a 401(K) plan with a company match, and additional benefits designed to support a high-performing, remote-first workforce.

micro1 is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances.

If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation during the application process, reach out to [e-mail].

Our hiring process utilizes artificial intelligence tools to assist in candidate screening and assessment. Our AI tools are designed to complement, not replace, human decision-making.