Field AI is transforming how robots interact with the real world. We are building risk-aware, reliable, and field-ready AI systems that address the most complex challenges in robotics, unlocking the full potential of embodied intelligence. We go beyond typical data-driven approaches or pure transformer-based architectures, and are charting a new course, with already-globally-deployed solutions delivering real-world results and rapidly improving models through real-field applications.
About the Job
You’ll build and own the simulation stack that powers development and testing for legged robots, humanoids, and car‑like platforms. The work spans software‑in‑the‑loop (SIL) and hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL) setups, GPU‑accelerated physics and learning loops, synthetic data generation, and rigorous Monte Carlo evaluation—with clear, visual reporting. You’ll also scale sim farms and data pipelines in AWS and work hands‑on in Gazebo/Ignition and NVIDIA Isaac Sim.
What You’ll Get To Do
- Own SIL/HIL simulation infrastructure
- Design, implement, and maintain SIL/HIL rigs, including real‑time loops, I/O, and fault‑injection.
- Integrate simulators into CI/CD for repeatable, automated regression testing.
- Develop sensor/actuator interfaces and bring‑up procedures for lab and field use.
- Model robot and vehicle dynamics
- Build and validate dynamics models for legged systems, humanoids, and car‑like platforms.
- Implement contact/friction models, parameter identification, and sensor/terrain effects.
- Create configurable scenarios, environments, and disturbances for coverage testing.
- Accelerate workloads on GPU
- Parallelize simulation, perception, and policy evaluation using CUDA and PyTorch.
- Profile and optimize kernels, memory movement, and mixed CPU/GPU pipelines.
- Scale Monte Carlo campaigns across local GPUs and AWS (e.g., EC2/EKS/Batch) for fast iteration.
- Generate data and close the ML loop
- Produce synthetic datasets with domain randomization and high‑fidelity annotations.
- Connect simulation output to training pipelines; track dataset versions and metrics.
- Manage datasets in AWS S3 and wire up distributed processing for large data volumes.
- Plan experiments and report results
- Design statistically sound Monte Carlo studies and acceptance tests.
- Visualize performance with plotting libraries (e.g., Bokeh/Matplotlib); publish dashboards.
- Summarize findings in clear engineering reports and reviews.
- Integrate with robotics software
- Build ROS/ROS 2 nodes, messages, and tooling; simulate sensors and networks.
- Develop and test in Gazebo/Ignition and NVIDIA Isaac Sim (plugins, sensor models, physics configs).
- Create reproducible dev environments (Docker, CMake) and enforce code health (linting, tests).
What You Have
- 3+ years building robotics simulation or controls software (or equivalent research/industry experience).
- Strong coding in Python and C/C++, plus solid Linux, Git, CI/CD, and containerization practices.
- Hands‑on experience building SIL/HIL setups, including real‑time constraints and hardware I/O.
- Proficiency with ROS and ROS 2 development (nodes, topics, services, bags).
- Hands‑on with Gazebo and NVIDIA Isaac Sim (sensor plugins, physics configuration).
- Solid background in rigid‑body kinematics/dynamics, contact/friction, and basic state estimation.
- Proven GPU experience: CUDA programming and PyTorch for accelerated simulation/ML loops.
- AWS experience for simulation and data pipelines (e.g., EC2 GPU instances, EKS/Batch, S3, IAM).
- Ability to design and run Monte Carlo simulations and report results with Bokeh/Matplotlib.
- Synthetic data generation for ML training (domain randomization, labeling, dataset versioning).
The Extras That Set You Apart
- Deep expertise with simulator internals and advanced features (Isaac Sim/Omniverse USD, Gazebo/Ignition plugins), plus MuJoCo or Chrono.
- Prior work on legged/humanoid control or car‑like dynamics (trajectory planning, MPC, tire/ground models).
- Sensor simulation depth (cameras, LiDAR, IMU) with realistic noise and distortion models.
- Distributed compute for large‑scale simulation (multi‑GPU, Ray/Kubernetes) and AWS infra‑as‑code (Terraform/CloudFormation).
- Safety‑critical mindset and familiarity with robotics/automotive standards
- Publications, patents, or significant open‑source contributions in simulation, control, or robotics tooling.
- Experience bringing up real robots and closing the sim‑to‑real gap through calibration and validation.
Compensation and Benefits
Our salary range is between ($70,000 - $300,000 annual), but we take into consideration an individual's background and experience in determining final salary; base pay offered may vary considerably depending on geographic location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Also, while we enjoy being together on-site, we are open to exploring a hybrid or remote option.
Why Join Field AI?
We are solving one of the world’s most complex challenges: deploying robots in unstructured, previously unknown environments. Our Field Foundational Models™ set a new standard in perception, planning, localization, and manipulation, ensuring our approach is explainable and safe for deployment.
You will have the opportunity to work with a world-class team that thrives on creativity, resilience, and bold thinking. With a decade-long track record of deploying solutions in the field, winning DARPA challenge segments, and bringing expertise from organizations like DeepMind, NASA JPL, Boston Dynamics, NVIDIA, Amazon, Tesla Autopilot, Cruise Self-Driving, Zoox, Toyota Research Institute, and SpaceX, we are set to achieve our ambitious goals.
Be Part of the Next Robotics Revolution
To tackle such ambitious challenges, we need a team as unique as our vision — innovators who go beyond conventional methods and are eager to tackle tough, uncharted questions. We’re seeking individuals who challenge the status quo, dive into uncharted territory, and bring interdisciplinary expertise. Our team requires not only top AI talent but also exceptional software developers, engineers, product designers, field deployment experts, and communicators.
We are headquartered in always-sunny Irvine, Southern California and have US based and global teammates.
Join us, shape the future, and be part of a fun, close-knit team on an exciting journey!
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Candidates and employees are always evaluated based on merit, qualifications, and performance. We will never discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.