{"id":3836392,"url":"https://alion.io/job/roboforce-staff-research-engineer-robot-learning-systems","title":"Staff Research Engineer, Robot Learning Systems","company":{"id":686554,"name":"RoboForce","domain":"roboforce.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/roboforce","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":77,"open_postings":17,"ghost_share":0.294,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":94,"computed_at":"2026-11-08T05:47:12Z"}},"role":"Robotics","role_family":"Robotics","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Milpitas, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":225000,"max":265000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":265000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Embodied AI","optional":false},{"name":"Imitation Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Physical AI","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"ROS","optional":false},{"name":"ROS2","optional":false},{"name":"Teleoperation","optional":false},{"name":"Vision-Language-Action","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-05T19:43:16Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-05","last_verified_at":"2026-11-08T13:06:56Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":2,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":2},"description":"Why RoboForce\nRoboForce is an AI robotics company developing Physical AI-powered Robo-Labor for dull, dirty, and dangerous work. The company's robots are engineered for demanding industrial environments, with a focus on real-world deployment and scalability.\nWe are looking for a Staff Research Engineer, Robot Learning Systems to lead and own the engineering of the systems that turn embodied AI into real-world robot behavior. You will be the technical owner and lead for the full embodied systems stack - the onboard AI system, the data collection system, the teleoperation systems, and the on-robot reinforcement learning system - driving the direction hands-on and closing the loop between data, models, and action in the physical world.\nResponsibilities\nLead and own, from the engineering side, the embodied systems that power RoboForce's data flywheel - the onboard AI (inference) system, the data collection system, the teleoperation systems and the on-robot reinforcement learning system.\n\nSet the technical direction and architecture for how learned models run, are evaluated, and improve on real robots.\n\nDeliver these systems end-to-end on physical robots - from bring-up through reliable, real-time operation in demanding industrial environments.\n\nOwn on-robot deployment and closed-loop evaluation of policies, turning real-world performance into measurable improvements.\n\nPartner with and influence the robotics software team and the ML research team to align interfaces and priorities across the stack.\n\nGrow the direction - mentor engineers and raise the technical bar for embodied systems work.\n\nRequirements\nBachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or related field with significant relevant experience, or a PhD degree.\n\nTrack record of leading complex robotic or embodied systems end-to-end and setting technical direction for other engineers.\n\nStrong proficiency in both C++ and Python, with solid systems programming and real-time / performance-critical engineering skills.\n\nHands-on experience with ROS/ROS2 and robot middleware, including real-time integration of sensing, control, and compute.\n\nExperience integrating and deploying ML models/policies into real-time robotic or autonomous systems - system ownership and building, rather than model training or research.\n\nRequires 5 days/week in-office collaboration with the teams.\n\nBonus Qualifications\nExperience with teleoperation and data-collection systems (e.g., VR, UR, GELLO, UMI) and the challenges of collecting high-quality robot data at scale.\n\nExperience with on-robot reinforcement learning or closed-loop policy-improvement systems.\n\nFamiliarity with robot learning policies (VLA, imitation learning, behavior cloning) and their real-time inference and control-integration characteristics.\n\nFamiliarity with manipulation stacks, whole-body control interfaces, or real-time middleware tuning.\n\nBenefits\nCompetitive stock options/equity programs.\n\nHealth, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) plan.\n\nVisa sponsorship and green card support for qualified candidates.\n\nLunches and dinners, a fully stocked kitchen, and regular team-building events.\n\nCompensation: Salary $225,000-$265,000 USD + Bonus + Equity\nThe base salary range above represents the expected compensation for this full-time U.S. position. Final compensation will be determined based on role scope, level, location, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training, and may fall outside the listed range in exceptional cases.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3542,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Stock options","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Robotics AI","Industrial Robotics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-05T21:11:20Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"adverts_offering_sponsorship_24m":11,"sanctioned_now":false,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 18 · green card filings: 3","filings_12m":18,"filings_prev_12m":2,"green_card_filings_12m":3,"median_offered_wage_usd":168214,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-11-08T10:45:15+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)","Alion: sponsorship offered in the employer's own job adverts (24 months)"],"filings_for_role_12m":10}],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":2,"expected_fill_days":94,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-08T05:47:12Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":265000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/roboforce-staff-research-engineer-robot-learning-systems","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/roboforce-staff-research-engineer-robot-learning-systems.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-08T16:20:23Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":34517,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-09T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":686554},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=686554"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Froboforce-staff-research-engineer-robot-learning-systems"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Froboforce-staff-research-engineer-robot-learning-systems"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Froboforce-staff-research-engineer-robot-learning-systems"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/roboforce-staff-research-engineer-robot-learning-systems\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Froboforce-staff-research-engineer-robot-learning-systems"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3836392}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"roboforce.ai","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3836392},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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