Robotics data engineer

Company Description

We are an early-stage robotics startup working on building multi-purpose mobile robots that can do complex manipulation tasks. We're seeking a creative and technically exceptional Robotics Data Engineer to join our founding team in Santa Clara, CA (on-site). You'll architect and build the data infrastructure that enables our robots to learn from experience-from teleoperation systems that capture human expertise to large-scale pipelines that transform raw robot data into training datasets for foundation models.

Your work will directly accelerate our path from research to deployed systems performing real manipulation tasks.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement state-of-the-art teleoperation systems (VR, hand tracking, etc.) for intuitive robot control and high-quality demonstration capture
• Build scalable data collection pipelines handling multi-modal sensor data (cameras, proprioception, etc.) with robust synchronization and storage
• Architect efficient data infrastructure connecting human demonstrations to ML training pipelines, enabling rapid iteration from data collection to deployed policies
• Develop novel algorithms and methods for collecting diverse, high-quality robot data more efficiently
• Write production-grade code to build robust systems that work reliably in real-world conditions
• Work closely with other engineers to optimize data formats, preprocessing pipelines, and training workflows

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field; OR Master's degree with 1+ years industry experience; OR Bachelor's degree with 3+ years industry experience
• Strong programming skills in C++, Rust, or Python with demonstrated ability to build production systems
• Deep understanding of robot kinematics, control, and motion planning
• Experience with one or more: teleoperation systems, VR/AR development, human-robot interaction, data collection infrastructure
• Understanding of machine learning workflows, particularly for robotics (imitation learning, reinforcement learning, or foundation models, etc)
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to work across the full stack
• Genuine passion for robotics-you love working with robots and are excited to dedicate yourself to pushing the boundaries of what they can do
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment where your work directly impacts our trajectory

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing VR/AR applications (Unity, Unreal Engine, etc.) for robotics or simulation
• Background in localization systems (SLAM, visual odometry, motion capture, etc.)
• Hands-on experience building large-scale data collection infrastructure or ML data pipelines
• Knowledge of state-of-the-art robot learning algorithms (behavior cloning, diffusion policies, LBMs/LBFs)
• Experience with distributed systems, workflow orchestration, and cloud infrastructure
• Familiarity with robot simulators (Isaac Sim, Mu Jo Co , Drake, etc.) and sim-to-real transfer
• Publications or open-source contributions in robotics, ML, or computer systems
• Experience with real-time systems, sensor fusion, or computer vision
• Background working with ROS/ROS2 or similar robotics middleware
• Track record of shipping production robotics or ML systems