Sunnyvale, CA
Research Engineer, Robotics Learning
Targeted start date: Immediately. Relocation provided.
The Research Engineer, Robotics Learning role involves developing full-stack infrastructure for simulation, data management, and learning as well as developing algorithms to improve sample-efficiency of our visuomotor policies. We are looking for senior-level candidates who have experience training deep neural networks for manipulation, navigation, and locomotion on real robot hardware.
1X mission is to create an abundant supply of physical labor through safe, intelligent androids that work alongside humans. Since 2014, we’ve designed our products with large-scale manufacturing in mind, so we can produce androids at a high enough volume to meet the world’s labor demand.
Our wheeled Android EVE, is engineered to work with you, from guarding to logistics, and our bipedal model, NEO, is designed to become a household android with broad deployment in various applications. Our products will understand both natural language and physical space, so they can complete useful tasks in any environment.
We’ve established our dual HQ in San Francisco and Norway. Our positions require in-person presence to ensure effective execution and seamless collaboration in our hardware-focused environment. We value passion for our work and encourage candidates who share our dedication to join our team.
Why this job is exciting
Your role on the team will be to scale up imitation learning and sim2real algorithms on state-of-the-art hardware
You will get to deploy code to many robots at customer sites
- We aim to (1) double the number of tasks the robot can perform and (2) half the error rate on existing tasks, quarter over quarter
The team works closely together to scale up a single approach to a production-ready system, rather than publishing research papers
Responsibilities
- Day to day: scale up datasets used for training end-to-end navigation and manipulation and locomotion
- Extend the “data engine” (frontend UI and backend) to review logs, clean, and label data
- Train and evaluate mobile manipulation policies in simulation
- Minimize the sim-to-real gap to reduce development iteration time
- Work with our robot operations team to scale up our datasets and model capabilities
REQUIREMENTS
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent
- 5+ years of experience in the field of robotic machine learning
- Published research in top ML conferences (CVPR, ICML, ICLR, etc.)
- Proficiency working with large codebases in Python, including testing
- Ability to rapidly prototype ideas in code in an independent manner
- Familiarity with linear algebra and supervised machine learning
- Experience with Deep Learning Frameworks (Pytorch, TF, JAX, etc.)
Qualities we're looking for:
- Fast thinker and learner
- Capable of performing world-class machine learning research, but also able to switch to working on data infra and productionizing of the fleet learning infrastructure when needed
- Good judgement in scoping research problems and infrastructure
- Perseverance and attention to detail
Added Bonuses:
- ROS/ROS2 experience
- Have built large programming projects on your own for fun (e.g. open source projects)
- Training large-scale ML models such as visual foundation models, large language models, pixel-level generative models
- You spend time reading r/LocalLLaMA/ and tinkering with open source LLM technology
Compensation
We offer a total compensation package including base salary from US$105,000 to US$250,000 annually, with generous stock options and other benefits.
Interview process
Introduction Stage - we have initial conversations to get to know you better
- [30m] Recruiter Screen with Win Yu
- [45m] Hiring Manager Screen with a AI team
Team Interview Stage - we then dive into your experience in more depth and introduce you to members of the team. This is also the stage where you will do your take-home challenge
- [90m] Technical Deep-Dive conversation with the AI team
Final Interview Stage - we move you to our final round
- [15m] Role expectation management with Eric Jang
- [30m] Conversation with CEO Bernt Øivind Børnich
Not sure if this is you?
If you’re excited about this role, but you’re not sure if you qualify, apply anyway! You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
Location
This position is based in Sunnyvale, California, USA, at our newly renovated AI headquarters. We offer visa sponsorship for exceptional candidates. Joining our team means becoming a valued member of one of the biggest brands in humanoid robotics, where you'll play a part in shaping the future of general purpose androids.
A value driven team
These are the ideas that express our team’s culture and how we work:
Be Nice
Collaboration is our driving force. Our team creates an open, trusting environment where everyone can be their most creative.
Stay Smart
A world-changing team needs the brightest minds in every discipline. This is where people come to work, learn, and grow to their full potential.
Make History
Everything we do gets us closer to one ambitious vision: general-purpose androids helping people around the globe. We believe what we build today will impact generations.
1X is an inclusive and equal-opportunity employer that values diversity. We consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected class. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don't hesitate to let us know during the interview process. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.
We're excited to have you on board!