Targeted start date: Immediately. Relocation provided.

Research Engineers in simulation are generalists who build the simulation stack and close the sim-to-real gap. A typical day involves building contact-rich physics simulation, scaling up reinforcement learning algorithms, or solving the sim-to-real gap in the visual or physics domains. You will own simulation and focus on making simulation as widely used as possible within the company. By making simulation a trusted proxy of the real world, you will drive AI model evaluation and iteration speed. You will work closely with other AI team members and also develop independently.

1X's mission is to create an abundant supply of physical labor through safe, intelligent androids that work alongside humans. Since 2014, we’ve designed our products with large-scale manufacturing in mind, so we can produce androids at a high enough volume to meet the world’s labor demand.

Why this job is exciting

• Your role on the team will be to build ML robotics simulation and close the sim-to-real gap

• You will work across the AI stack and solve gaps in model training and inference

• We aim to (1) double the number of tasks the robot can perform and (2) half the error rate on existing tasks, quarter over quarter

• The team works closely together to prioritize direction and scale up a single approach to a production-ready system

Responsibilities

• Day to day: ship AI stack for non-technical robot operators, scale up AI model training workloads, and own model inference reliability

• Bring real-world tasks and projects into simulation via real-to-sim

• Build the data engine (frontend UI and backend) to log, clean, and label data for foundation model training

• Work with our robot operations team to scale up our datasets and model capabilities

Must-Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent

• 3 years of professional, full-time experience building simulation

• Experience with physical simulators (Pybullet, IssacSim, Mujoco, etc.) and training policies in simulation

• Experience with physics simulation (contact dynamics, system identification, physics engines)

• Experience learning-based approaches to close the sim-to-real gap (domain adaptation, randomization)

• Experience generating simulated assets and environments (Blender, Maya)

• Ability to rapidly prototype ideas in code in an independent manner

• Published research in top Simulation or ML conferences (SIGGRAPH, NeurIPS, CoRL, RSS, etc.)

Nice-to-haves 

• Experience with high-fidelity, real-time rendering

• Experience with GPU simulation

• Have built large programming projects on your own for fun (e.g. open source projects)

• Training large-scale ML models such as visual foundation models, large language models, pixel-level generative models

• Have implemented highly performant software

Compensation

We offer a total compensation package including base salary from US$105,000 to US$250,000 annually, with generous stock options and other benefits.

Interview process

Introduction Stage - we have initial conversations to get to know you better

• [30m] Recruiter Screen with Win Yu
• [45m] Hiring Manager Screen with a AI team

Team Interview Stage - we then dive into your experience in more depth and introduce you to members of the team. This is also the stage where you will do your take-home challenge

• [90m] Technical Deep-Dive conversation with the AI team

Final Interview Stage - we move you to our final round

• [15m] Role expectation management with Eric Jang
• [30m] Conversation with CEO Bernt Øivind Børnich

Not sure if this is you?
If you’re excited about this role, but you’re not sure if you qualify, apply anyway! You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Location

This position is based in Sunnyvale, California, USA, at our newly renovated AI headquarters. We offer visa sponsorship for exceptional candidates. Joining our team means becoming a valued member of one of the biggest brands in humanoid robotics, where you'll play a part in shaping the future of general purpose androids.

A value driven team
These are the ideas that express our team’s culture and how we work:
Be Nice
Collaboration is our driving force. Our team creates an open, trusting environment where everyone can be their most creative.
Stay Smart
A world-changing team needs the brightest minds in every discipline. This is where people come to work, learn, and grow to their full potential.
Make History
Everything we do gets us closer to one ambitious vision: general-purpose androids helping people around the globe. We believe what we build today will impact generations.

1X is an inclusive and equal-opportunity employer that values diversity. We consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected class. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don't hesitate to let us know during the interview process. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.

We're excited to have you on board!