Research Engineer, Foundation Models

Targeted start date: Immediately. Relocation provided.

Research Engineers in foundation models are generalists who build and maintain end-to-end responsibility for our AI models. A typical day involves implementing new model architectures, developing full-stack infrastructure for ramping up our data engine, or implementing new ways to evaluate general-purpose robot policies. You will train and scale deep neural networks for manipulation, navigation, and locomotion on real robot hardware and improve both the breadth of skills and level of success of our androids. 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. Our wheeled Android EVE is engineered to work with you, from guarding to logistics, and our bipedal model, NEO, is designed to become a household android with broad deployment in various applications. Our products will understand both natural language and physical space, so they can complete useful tasks in any environment.

We’ve established our dual HQ in San Francisco and Norway. Our positions require in-person presence to ensure effective execution and seamless collaboration in our hardware-focused environment. We value passion for our work and encourage candidates who share our dedication to join our team.

Why this job is exciting

Your role on the team will be to scale up learning algorithms on state-of-the-art hardware. You will build upon one of the largest android datasets, which is continuing to grow exponentially. 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

1. Implement and scale up models for end-to-end navigation, manipulation, and locomotion.
2. Build the data engine (frontend UI and backend) to log, clean, and label data for foundation model training.
3. Solve the general-purpose evaluation problem and bring robot skills to 99%+ success.
4. Train and evaluate policies in simulation and solve sim-to-real.
5. Work with our robot operations team to scale up our datasets and model capabilities.

Requirements

Must-Haves:

1. Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent.
2. Published research in top ML conferences (NeurIPS, CVPR, ICML, ICLR, CoRL, RSS, etc.).
3. Proficiency working with and testing large codebases in Python.
4. Ability to rapidly prototype ideas in code in an independent manner.
5. Familiarity with linear algebra and supervised machine learning.
6. Experience with Deep Learning Frameworks (Pytorch, TF, JAX, etc.).

Nice-to-haves:

1. ROS/ROS2 experience.
2. Have built large programming projects on your own for fun (e.g., open source projects).
3. Training large-scale ML models such as visual foundation models, large language models, pixel-level generative models.
4. You spend time reading r/LocalLLaMA/ and tinkering with open source LLM technology.
5. 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 the 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

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.

Company Culture

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.