Lead Robotics Data Engineer

Lead Robotics Data Engineer

Location:

Austin, TX (On-Site). Job . Number of Openings: 1.

Lead Robotics Data Engineer owns the technical soul of the data capture operation: designing capture protocols, setting dataset standards, and translating them into SOPs for the cross‑border collection pipeline. This role combines experimental design, data standards, and operational discipline.

• Author capture protocols and define dataset schemas, metadata standards, versioning conventions, and acceptance criteria.
• Run 20–100 pilot demonstrations per task family in Austin; review failure modes and iterate.
• Operate egocentric, exocentric multi‑camera, motion capture suit, and UMI‑style demonstration rigs; calibrate and maintain all sensor systems before each capture session; implement and refine human teleoperation setups as the program matures.
• Convert Austin pilot protocols into operator‑ready SOPs for the Juárez capture team and train the Juárez Supervisor; certify the capture process; approve equipment kits.
• Monitor protocol drift and recertify operators as dataset families evolve.
• Support training and evaluation of VLMs and VLAs on robot arms and other platforms in Austin; close the loop between data collection and model evaluation outcomes to stop collecting low‑value data quickly.
• Chair weekly protocol reviews: new task families and failure analysis.
• Collaborate with the Data Engineer and MLOps to build ingestion, versioning, metadata integrity, and dataset packaging workflows; monitor metadata completeness and key performance indicators such as time‑from‑capture‑to‑packaged‑dataset; contribute to partner‑grade documentation and train/validation splits.
• Present experimental findings internally and to external partners; produce technical reports and maintain a clear dataset release log; contribute to talks, demos, and video presentations.

• Hands‑on robotics experiment design and protocol authorship.
• Experience with capture architectures: egocentric, exocentric, mocap, UMI‑style.
• Strong, production‑quality scripting in Python.
• Practical experience with ROS and ROS
  2.
• Knowledge of dataset standards: metadata schemas, versioning, QA acceptance criteria.
• Ability to translate protocols into Juárez operator‑ready SOPs.
• Cross‑functional communication skills with engineers, operators, partners.
• Self‑directed, owning outcomes without close supervision.

• Experience responsible for interviewing, selecting, and building a robotics division; full ownership over team performance, execution, and success.
• Master’s degree in Robotics, CS, Mechanical Engineering, or related.
• Experience with imitation learning and robotic learning pipelines.
• Experience operating human teleoperation systems.
• Familiarity with open‑source VLM and VLA models such as LLaVA, OpenVLA, RT‑X.
• Motion capture suit calibration and management.
• Experience with humanoid robot platforms.
• Prior experience writing training or QA documentation for operators.

• Within three months: three protocol families running with documented SOPs and measurable acceptance criteria.
• Pilot datasets reviewed and validated against quality standards.
• Juárez Supervisor trained and certified on at least one protocol.
• Operating dashboard shows stable throughput and first‑pass acceptance rate trends.
• Data Engineer and MLOps have a clear and usable ingestion and packaging pipeline.

• First technical hire: architect the data factory.
• Work at the frontier of Physical AI and humanoid robotics.
• Partner access to the largest technology and robotics companies.
• Hands‑on work with robot arms, motion capture, and multimodal AI pipelines.
• Meaningful equity in a data infrastructure company.
• Direct line to VP of Data Collection; decisions made quickly.

Job Type: Full‑time, Internal Employee
Reports To: Director, Robotics and Data Acquisition
Pay: $110,000–130,000 yearly salary, paid semi‑monthly
Location: Austin, TX – Office based, required; relocation may be offered for the right candidate; must be able to commute daily
Travel: Some travel may be required

Voxelmaps is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. Supplier shall not discriminate against any worker based on age, disability, ethnicity, gender, marital status, national origin, political affiliation, color, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, union membership, protected veteran status, genetic information or any other status protected by country law, in hiring and other employment practices.

Supplier shall not require pregnancy or medical tests, except where required by applicable laws or regulations or prudent for workplace safety, and shall not improperly discriminate based on test results.