Forward Deployed Engineer - AI Partnerships (Teradyne Robotics, San Jose, CA)
About The Position
At Universal Robots, part of Teradyne Inc., we are seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to join our AI Partnerships team. This role is at the intersection of robotics platforms, partner integration, and physical AI deployment. You will work directly with leading AI model builders, robotics startups, and strategic partners to help them build, validate, and deploy applications on Teradyne’s robotics platforms, including Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR). This position is deeply partner-facing and deployment-oriented, with the primary responsibility to ensure partners can successfully leverage our robotics platform stack to bring their products to life in real-world environments. While collaborating closely with AI/ML teams, the focus will be on robotics systems, interfaces, and performance in production environments.
Requirements
- BS/MS in Robotics, Mechatronics, Computer Science, or related field
- 4+ years of experience in robotics engineering or systems integration roles
- Strong hands-on experience with: ROS2 and Linux-based robotics systems
- Python development (production-level codebases)
- Robot control, kinematics, motion planning, and system integration
- Experience working directly with robot hardware (integration, debugging, bring-up)
- Ability to troubleshoot across hardware/software/system boundaries in real deployments
- Strong communication skills with the ability to work directly with external partners/customers
Nice To Haves
- Experience with industrial robot platforms (UR preferred) or similar systems
- Familiarity with: Robot programming environments (e.g., URScript, PLCs)
- Real-time control systems and motion optimization
- Perception pipelines and sensor integration (RGBD, LiDAR, etc.)
- Exposure to physical AI concepts (imitation learning, RL, or VLA models)
- Experience with simulation environments (e.g., NVIDIA Isaac Sim)
- Background working in startup, partner-facing, or customer-facing engineering roles
Responsibilities
- Partner-Facing Deployment & Integration: Work hands-on with strategic partners to integrate their applications onto UR and MiR platforms.
- Serve as the technical bridge between partner engineering teams and internal robotics/product teams.
- Debug and resolve issues across software, control, and system integration layers in real-world deployments.
- Support partner teams onsite when needed during critical development and validation phases.
- Robotics Platform Engineering: Enable partner success across key platform layers: Motion planning and optimization, Control interfaces and trajectory execution, Polyscope and URCap integration, Robot APIs, SDKs, and communication interfaces.
- Develop and maintain reference implementations, integration examples, and tooling for partners.
- Contribute feedback to internal product teams based on real-world partner usage patterns.
- Software Development & Systems Integration: Build and adapt software components using Python, ROS2, and Linux-based systems.
- Integrate partner software stacks with robot systems using standard and custom interfaces.
- Support debugging of latency, control loops, and system-level performance issues.
- Assist with simulation, testing, and deployment pipelines where relevant.
- AI & Physical AI Collaboration (Supportive): Work alongside AI/ML teams to ensure models interface effectively with robotic systems.
- Understand and support integration of perception, VLA, or learning-based components into robot workflows.
- Help bridge sim-to-real gaps from a robotics execution standpoint (e.g., control, timing, actuation).
Benefits
- Medical, dental, vision
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Retirement savings plans
- Life and disability insurance
- Paid vacation & holidays
- Tuition assistance programs
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
