What are the responsibilities and job description for the Research Engineer, Embodied AI position at Feather Robotics?
About the Job
We're seeking an engineer passionate about advancing general-purpose labor through robotics. You'll play a central role in developing the AI systems that make Physical AI practical and commercially viable. This isn't a narrow role - you'll thrive in a small, driven team where ownership, speed, and creativity matter. You'll hustle, get your hands dirty, and help build the core intelligence behind robots that will change the world.
Your mission will be to design, implement, and optimize learning systems that power the brains of our robots - bridging cutting-edge research with real-world deployment.
Company:
We're a VC-backed startup that is assembling a world-class team to build general-purpose robots. While competitors pursue end-to-end integration, we are relentlessly focused on creating the best labor platform, akin to Apple and Nvidia, for others to build, monetize, and scale on.
Responsibilities
- Develop, train, and deploy machine learning models for general-purpose robotics.
- Implement and optimize algorithms in areas such as imitation learning, RL, diffusion policies, VLA, and navigation.
- Collaborate with robotics engineers to integrate perception, control, and cognition into a unified system.
- Conduct applied research that pushes Physical AI forward, with an emphasis on commercial viability.
- Analyze performance, debug complex behaviors, and continuously improve model robustness in the real world.
Qualifications
- MS or PhD in EECS, Robotics, CS, AI, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience
- Strong background in machine learning with applied work in robotics or embodied AI
- Experience with one or more of: Vision-Language Models (VLAs), Imitation Learning, Diffusion Policies, Reinforcement Learning, Navigation.
- Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow).
- Track record of impactful projects, whether in academia, open-source, or industry.
Why join us?
- You’ll have the opportunity to architect and design an end-to-end intelligence system for a humanoid robot - not just a small piece of the puzzle.
- You’ll take real ownership and help shape the future of Physical AI at a company that moves fast and executes with purpose.
- This is your chance to bet on yourself, create impact far beyond the lab, and share in the upside of what you build.