Senior Machine Learning Engineer , Perception R&D

Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Perception R&D

Pickle Robot Company is looking for a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to revolutionize the future of warehouse automation.

Base pay range: $/yr - $/yr

Pickle is on the hunt for a dynamic and driven Senior Machine Learning Engineer to revolutionize the future of warehouse automation. This role will focus on pushing the boundaries of what is possible in robotic perception. You will use Foundation Models, Vision‑Language Models (VLMs), and Generative AI to solve the "long-tail" of rare events in the supply chain. You will be bridging the gap between cutting‑edge academic research and reliable, real‑world robotic deployment.

• Tame the Long Tail:
  Develop strategies to detect and handle rare events (novel packaging, damaged goods, occlusion) that break traditional detectors.
• Leverage Foundation Models:
  Adapt and fine‑tune large‑scale foundation models for specific robotic manipulation tasks, toward zero‑shot generalization capabilities.
• Model Optimization:
  Take massive, compute‑heavy models and distill them into efficient, lightweight networks that can run with low latency on edge compute (NVIDIA Orin).
• Drive Technical Excellence:
  As a senior member of the team, stay ahead of the curve on CV/ML research, translate relevant breakthroughs into production‑grade solutions and mentor junior engineers.

• 5+ years of experience in Computer Vision and Deep Learning, with a specific focus on applied research or advanced R&D.
• Hands‑on experience with modern architectures:
  Transformers (ViT), Self‑Supervised Learning (SSL), Vision‑Language Models (VLMs), or Zero‑Shot detection.
• Expert‑level Python and PyTorch skills.
• Focus on the "hard" problems (occlusions, reflective surfaces, variable lighting), and know when to use a large model versus a simple heuristic.
• Experience with Model Distillation (Student‑Teacher networks) and Quantization.
• Ability to demystify complex AI research and articulate performance implications to engineering and product stakeholders.
• Familiarity with Docker, AWS/GCP (S3, EC2) and experiment tracking tools.

Not Applicable

Full‑time

Engineering and Information Technology

Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage

Additional information:
Pickle is a fast‑growing, VC‑backed robotics company that builds systems that companies and their teams love. Our Unload Systems work with teams on loading docks to make the job safer, faster, and more efficient. We provide benefits including health, dental, vision insurance; unlimited vacation; 401K contributions; travel supplies; and other perks.

We may use artificial intelligence tools to support parts of the hiring process, but final hiring decisions are made by humans. For more info about data processing, contact us.