Senior Research Scientist, Behavior Models

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a driven research scientist or research engineer with a strong background in embodied machine learning and a “make it happen” mentality. The ideal candidate is able to work independently when needed, but works well with a larger integrated group at the latest of state-of-the-art robotics and machine learning. Experience with robots or other embodied systems (such as autonomous vehicles) is strongly preferred, particularly in the manipulation domain.

If our mission of revolutionizing robotics through machine learning resonates with you, then let’s talk about how we can create the next generation of AI-powered capable robots together.

• Work as part of a dynamic, closely-knit research team building useful robots and general-purpose robot foundation models.
• Implement, extend, and create innovative methods for robot behavior learning from a mixture of interactive embodied data and online data sources.
• Design and implement high-performance machine-learning pipelines and optimize data and learning stacks for scalability, efficiency, and performance.
• Be a key member of the team and play a critical role in rapid progress measured by both the development of internal capabilities and high-impact external publication.
• Collaborate with internal research scientists and our partner labs at top academic research universities including MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, CMU, Columbia, and Princeton to drive pioneering research at scale.

• 4+ years of relevant industry experience or a PhD.
• Experience training large models and deploying them on embodied systems.
• Strong software development skills in Python, familiarity with mixed C++/Python codebases, and a focus on clean, maintainable code.
• Extensive experience with Machine Learning using a major framework such as PyTorch or Tensor Flow. Familiarity with data pipelines, model serving and optimization, cloud training, and dataset management.
• Strong understanding of the state-of-the-art in robot learning, including vision-language-action (VLA) models, reinforcement learning, and/or computer vision.
• Practical experience with robots and the system integration challenges inherent in conducting research and deploying onto physical hardware platforms.
• An ability to adapt quickly and switch between modes of rapid prototyping and robust implementation as required.
• A consistent track record of impact, either via first author research publications at top-tier machine learning or robotics conferences (RSS, NeuRIPS, ICML, ICLR, CoRL, ICRA, IROS, …), or via relevant contributions to successful industry initiatives.

• Experience with robotic middleware such as ROS 2 and common communication methods and protocols.
• Experience with modern ML infrastructure pipelines, approaches, and tools.
• Experience with VR-based teleoperation for real-time robot control.
• Background or familiarity with some of the following: motion control and actuation, whole-body control, reinforcement learning, robot teleoperation methods, common communication protocols, research robotic arms/systems, visual perception and depth sensors, machine learning, robotic simulation, force and tactile sensing systems, haptic interfaces.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $180,000 and $270,000/year for Massachusetts-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, business or organizational needs, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) eligibility, paid time off benefits (including vacation, sick time, and parental leave), and an annual cash bonus structure.

Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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