Senior Staff UX Designer - Human Robot Interaction

Boston Dynamics • Waltham, MA

4d • $155,000 - $185,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Boston Dynamics Human Robot Interaction team is looking for a Senior Staff UX Designer for our physical AI technology. Boston Dynamics builds the world's most exciting robots. Thousands of Spot robots help companies monitor their facilities and keep people out of harm's way and Atlas is the world's first production-grade humanoid, with advanced hardware and manipulation capabilities that will transform how warehouses and factories operate. The Interaction Design team designs the user interfaces, human-robot interaction paradigms, and next-generation concepts that help Boston Dynamics create a human-centric future with robots that assist, empower, and inspire. Robots are about to move out of the lab and into the world with us. As an HRI Designer you will help shape how that feels. You will design, prototype, and champion the way our robots express themselves and communicate with the people around them. You will use rapid prototyping tools to build "concept car" experiences of future interactions, and leverage your background in product design and human-robot interaction to invent the language, patterns, and paradigms for how people and robots share the world. You will define the expressive character of Boston Dynamics' robots — the signals that tell a person what a robot is doing, what it wants, and what it will do next. You will set the bar for excellence in human-robot interaction and shape the character of some of the highest-profile products in robotics. Boston Dynamics is a world leader in mobile robots, tackling some of the toughest robotics challenges. For years, our awe-inspiring viral videos on YouTube have shown the world what remarkably capable robots can do. Now we are quickly becoming a recognized leader in automation solutions for industrial applications and warehouse logistics.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of experience in interaction design, HRI, sound design, motion/character design, or a closely related field.
• Experience designing expressive or communicative behaviors for physical products, robots, or characters.
• Ability to drive discovery, facilitate workshops, and synthesize complex inputs into clear, actionable design strategies.
• Deep understanding of human-centered design, interaction architecture, accessibility, and usability testing—especially in complex or high-stakes environments.
• Strong cross-functional communication skills; capable of influencing across Action-oriented, “can do” attitude demonstrating a willingness to accept accountability and responsibility for individual actions.
• Software prototyping experience required.
• Highly motivated to explore through prototyping.
• Creativity with a "yes and" mindset.

Responsibilities

• Design, prototypes, and demo novel robot interactions and expressive behaviors.
• Quickly author and iterate on sound, movement, and lighting behaviors, evaluate them on real robots and in simulation, and refine based on feedback.
• Apply the latest human-robot interaction and design research principles to practice, cultivating a culture of HRI experimentation.
• Work with a cross-functional team to architect how expression is generated and controlled across our robot systems.
• Maintain knowledge of the state-of-the-art in human-robot interaction, sound design, motion design, and expressive robotics.
• Benchmark competitive products and publications, condense learning into sharable internal artifacts, and disseminate to the team.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed