1.54 Research Engineer – Humanoid Manipulation (Mountain View/Boston)

Field AI • Boston, MA

103d • $70,000 - $200,000

About The Position

We are looking for a Research Engineer for our humanoid manipulation efforts. In this role, you’ll work at the intersection of robotics research and applied engineering—building, testing, and refining manipulation capabilities that will accelerate autonomous control and loco-manipulation of humanoids. You’ll collaborate closely with engineers, research scientists, and product leads to conceptualize and design novel manipulation strategies, develop experimental platforms, and deliver impactful systems that directly feed into Field AI’s robot learning pipelines. Crucially, you will also play a key role in pushing the frontiers of development of robotics foundation models—designed to be embodiment agnostic, with your initial efforts focused on humanoid platforms. This role is about steering the frontiers of robotics research toward practical, real-world use cases, ensuring that breakthroughs in humanoid manipulation translate into scalable autonomy for robots of diverse forms.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or related field.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience in robotics manipulation (academic or industry).
• Expertise in robot kinematics, dynamics, and control, particularly for manipulation.
• Strong problem-solving mindset, able to thrive in fast-moving, collaborative teams.
• Strong software development skills in C++ and/or Python, with experience in robotics middleware (ROS, ROS 2, or similar).
• Track record of implementing and evaluating robotic systems in real-world environments.
• Passion for tackling challenging problems and the courage to challenge the status quo.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with humanoid robots or multi-fingered robotic hands.
• Prior work in learning-based manipulation (imitation learning, reinforcement learning, etc.).
• Familiarity with teleoperation systems and human-robot interaction.
• Publications or open-source contributions in robotics conferences/journals.
• Experience with large-scale data collection and dataset management.
• Passion for bridging research frontiers with practical, field-ready robotics.

Responsibilities

• Drive humanoid manipulation projects from ideation to deployment.
• Design, prototype, and evaluate manipulation strategies across diverse tasks.
• Translate research insights into working robotic systems for real-world use.
• Ensure systems are robust, reproducible, and aligned with data-collection needs.
• Contribute to large-scale data collection and learning pipelines powering foundation models.
• Ensure model development remains embodiment agnostic, enabling transfer across diverse robotic platforms.
• Collaborate with research scientists to integrate manipulation data into scalable robot learning systems.
• Partner with mechanical/electrical engineers on robot hardware integration.
• Work with teleoperators to refine interfaces and improve manipulation outcomes.
• Act as a bridge between autonomy research and applied robotics.
• Prototype quickly and run experiments in the field.
• Balance research exploration with fast, tangible progress for immediate goals.

Benefits

• Generous salary range ($70,000 - $200,000 annual), with consideration for background and experience.
• Open to exploring hybrid or remote work options.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees