Robotic AI Engineer/Applied Scientist - Foundation Models

<h1>Company Overview</h1> <p data-path-to-node="4"><strong data-path-to-node="4" data-index-in-node="0">Maven Robotics</strong> is building the world’s leading general-purpose robots and providing physical AI solutions for the most challenging industrial autonomy tasks.</p> <p data-path-to-node="5">Operating in stealth, we are assembling a team of world-class innovators who think from first principles. Our mission is to achieve human-level task success rates in complex environments, even when faced with limited fine-tuning data or evolving robotic hardware. We value unwavering truth-seeking, humility, and relentless determination.</p> <h1 class="p1">Role Description</h1> <p data-path-to-node="7">We are seeking exceptional AI researchers and engineers to architect the neural backbone of our general-purpose robots. You will design the <strong data-path-to-node="7" data-index-in-node="140">Vision-Language-Action (VLA)</strong> frameworks or <strong data-path-to-node="7" data-index-in-node="184">Action World Models</strong> that allow our robots to reason, adapt, and succeed where traditional automation fails.</p> <p data-path-to-node="8"><strong data-path-to-node="8" data-index-in-node="0">Note on Leveling:</strong> We are hiring across <strong data-path-to-node="8" data-index-in-node="39">all levels</strong> (from early-career to staff/principal). You are not expected to be a master of every domain listed below; however, you must be able to justify <strong data-path-to-node="8" data-index-in-node="193">world-class excellence in at least one core factor</strong> (e.g., model architecture, RL formulations, or high-scale data systems).</p> <p data-path-to-node="9"><strong data-path-to-node="9" data-index-in-node="0">In this role, you will:</strong></p> <ul data-path-to-node="10"> <li> <p data-path-to-node="10,0,0"><strong data-path-to-node="10,0,0" data-index-in-node="0">Architect Embodied Foundations:</strong> Design model architectures (VLA, World Models, etc.) that achieve ultra-high task success rates with minimal human demonstrations.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="10,1,0"><strong data-path-to-node="10,1,0" data-index-in-node="0">Master Data Efficiency:</strong> Develop novel co-training strategies and efficient learning algorithms that leverage diverse data sources—from Internet-scale video to sparse, high-fidelity human interventions.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="10,2,0"><strong data-path-to-node="5,0" data-index-in-node="0">Generalize Cross Embodiments:</strong> Build models capable of zero-shot or few-shot adaptation to new robot configurations, maintaining a high success rate even when proprietary hardware and actuation systems evolve.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="10,3,0"><strong data-path-to-node="10,3,0" data-index-in-node="0">Innovate Real-World RL:</strong> Formulate and deploy novel Reinforcement Learning and policy extraction methods specifically designed for physical, real-world manipulation.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="10,4,0"><strong data-path-to-node="10,4,0" data-index-in-node="0">Design the Data Loop:</strong> Collaborate on advanced data collection systems to capture critical human intervention data for model bootstrapping.</p> </li> </ul> <h1 class="p1"><strong>Qualifications</strong></h1> <p class="p3"><em>Must-have:</em></p> <ul class="ul1"> <li> <p data-path-to-node="13,0,0"><strong data-path-to-node="13,0,0" data-index-in-node="0">MS or PhD</strong> in CS, Robotics, Machine Learning, or a related field (or equivalent industry experience).</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="13,1,0"><strong data-path-to-node="13,1,0" data-index-in-node="0">Deep Technical Mastery:</strong> Advanced understanding of transformers, multi-modal alignment, and mapping perception to high-frequency motor control.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="13,2,0"><strong data-path-to-node="13,2,0" data-index-in-node="0">Specialized Excellence:</strong> Proven ability to innovate—not just implement—within one or more areas: VLA models, Real-world RL, or large-scale Data Infrastructure.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="13,3,0"><strong data-path-to-node="13,3,0" data-index-in-node="0">Software Excellence:</strong> Expert-level Python and deep familiarity with PyTorch or JAX</p> </li> </ul> <p class="p3"><em>Nice-to-have:</em></p> <ul class="ul1"> <li> <p data-path-to-node="15,3,0">A track record of high-impact publications (NeurIPS, ICRA, RSS, CVPR) or significant open-source contributions.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="15,1,0">Experience with large-scale distributed training and model compression.</p> </li> <li>Experience with deployment of models to edge devices (NVIDIA Jetson/Orin) for real-time inference.</li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="15,2,0">General knowledge of robotics principles (kinematics, dynamics).</p> </li> </ul> <h3 data-path-to-node="17"><strong data-path-to-node="17" data-index-in-node="0">Why Maven Robotics?</strong></h3> <p data-path-to-node="18">You will be working on a unique in-house robot platform that is evolving alongside your models. We don't just want to reach 90% success; we are building the architectural breakthroughs required to reach 99.9% in the real world.</p>