R&D Director

Overview

• Position:
  Director of Research and Development
• Company:
  Vin Dynamics
• Division - Department:
  Research and Development
• Report to:
  Chief Technology Officer
• Location:
  
  Reno, Nevada, USA

• Define and execute the long-term R&D roadmap for humanoid robotics
• Lead and mentor two engineering divisions:
  Hardware/Mechatronics Team (mechanical, EE, embedded, actuators) and Software/AI Team (controls, planning, perception, AI/ML, simulations)
• Drive innovation in manipulation, loco‑manipulation, autonomy, and robot hardware.
• Oversee development of low‑level and high‑level control stack (state estimation, whole‑body control, MPC, RL policies)
• Coordinate cross‑functional collaboration between hardware, firmware, and software/AI
• Set technical standards, architecture principles, and engineering processes

• Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, or related field
• 5+ years of experience in advanced robotics, legged robots, with at least 2 years in leadership roles
• Proven experience leading multi‑disciplinary engineering teams
• Deep technical expertise in software architecture and AI models for humanoid or legged robots
• Advanced experience learning approaches (i.e., reinforcement learning, imitation learning, large behavior models, VLA) for locomotion and manipulation
• Hands‑on experience with real‑time systems, ROS/ROS2, or robotic middleware/high level
• Knowledge about model‑based approach (i.e., MPC, optimal control, LQR) is a plus
• Experience in full humanoid stack from actuators, sensors, electronics, control, planning, AI, and data infrastructure

• Strong interpersonal, organizational and leadership skills
• Proactive, dedicated, business‑oriented, responsible and willing to learn
• Good communication skills, creative problem‑solving skills and attention to detail