Zeiss is an international technology enterprise in the optical and optoelectronic industries, headquartered in Oberkochen, Germany, and founded in 1846. The company develops, produces, and distributes a wide range of products including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, medical technology, industrial metrology, microscopy solutions, and consumer optics such as eyeglass lenses and camera lenses. Operating in nearly 50 countries with dozens of production sites and service locations worldwide, the group is wholly owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, one of the largest foundations in Germany.
HQ: Stuttgart, Germany • Test & Measurement • Semiconductor Manufacturing • Manufacturing • Vision Care & Ophthalmology • Health Care • Medical Devices • Hardware • Lasers & Photonics • 5000+ employees
Intern • In office (Karlsruhe, Germany) • Master's Degree • Internship • Intern • English
C++
Python
Robotics
Drake
LeRobot
Motion Planning
MoveIt
Pinocchio
ROS
ros2_control
ROS2
Apptronik is a humanoid robotics company spun out of a robotics laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin in 2016. Its Apollo robot is designed for logistics and manufacturing work such as case handling and machine tending, with force-controlled actuators built in-house. The company works with Google DeepMind on robot learning and has run pilots with large manufacturers and retailers.
HQ: Austin, United States • Artificial Intelligence • Design & Creative • Robotics • Est. 2016
≈ $146k – $320k per year (Estimated) • Senior • 5+ years exp • In office (Sunnyvale, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Senior
C++
C++
CMake
DevOps
CI/CD
Git
Robotics
Apollo
BehaviorTree.CPP
Drake
MuJoCo
ROS2
Sensor Fusion
≈ $180k – $325k per year (Estimated) • Senior • 5+ years exp • In office (Austin, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Senior
C++
C++
CMake
DevOps
CI/CD
Git
Robotics
Apollo
BehaviorTree.CPP
Drake
MuJoCo
ROS2
Sensor Fusion
≈ $156k – $311k per year (Estimated) • Middle • 3+ years exp • In office (Austin, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Middle
C++
Python
AI/ML
Reinforcement Learning
Computer Vision
Robotics
Drake
Imitation Learning
Isaac Sim
MuJoCo
Reinforcement Learning
Sim-to-Real
Teleoperation
Nimble (Nimble Robotics) is an AI-powered robotics and autonomous third-party logistics (3PL) company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2017 by Simon Kalouche, the company develops fully autonomous fulfillment networks powered by intelligent picking, packing, and sorting robots ("Superhumanoids") alongside cloud supply chain management software.
HQ: San Francisco, United States • Transportation & Logistics • Commerce • Logistics • 51-200 employees • Est. 2017
$190k – $250k per year • Senior • 5+ years exp • In office (San Francisco, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Senior
C++
Python
Rust
DevOps
RTOS
Robotics
Drake
Isaac Sim
MuJoCo
ROS
Sim-to-Real
Luma AI is an artificial intelligence company that specializes in building advanced 3D visual technology and generative AI tools. Founded in 2021, the company is best known for its realistic text-to-3D models, NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields) capture app, and its high-quality video generation model, Dream Machine. By enabling creators and developers to easily capture, generate, and edit photorealistic 3D assets and video, it aims to make next-generation digital media creation accessible to everyone.
HQ: Palo Alto, United States • Artificial Intelligence • Generative Image • Generative Video • Est. 2021
≈ $114k – $335k per year (Estimated) • Remote/Hybrid (Redwood City, United States) • Full-Time
C++
Python
JavaScript
AI/ML
LLM Evaluation
Frontend
Bootstrap
Game Dev
NVIDIA PhysX
Robotics
Drake
Isaac Sim
MuJoCo
Sim-to-Real
Bringing AI into the physical world. Most AI today exists solely in cyberspace. Physical reality is far more information rich, and automating physical tasks offers immense returns. We are building AI that will interact with and affect change in the real world.
San Mateo • Bengaluru • Pittsburgh • San Francisco • Robotics • Artificial Intelligence • Robotics AI
≈ $90k – $233k per year (Estimated) • In office (San Mateo, United States) • Master's Degree
C++
MATLAB
Python
MATLAB
Simulink
Robotics
Sim-to-Real
Drake
Isaac Sim
MuJoCo
Pinocchio
ROS
ROS2
Persona AI is a humanoid robotics startup founded in 2024 to build industrial robots for shipbuilding and heavy fabrication. Its founding team came from Apptronik, NASA's Valkyrie programme and conversational artificial intelligence startups. The company works with Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai on welding robots for dangerous shipyard tasks.
HQ: Houston, United States • Humanoid Robots • Military Robotics • Robotics AI • 201-500 employees • Est. 2024
≈ $87k – $193k per year (Estimated) • Middle • 3+ years exp • In office (Houston, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Full-Time • Middle
Python
AI/ML
Reinforcement Learning
Synthetic Data
DevOps
CI/CD
Docker
Game Dev
NVIDIA PhysX
Unreal Engine
Robotics
Digital Twin
Drake
Gazebo
Isaac Lab
Isaac Sim
MuJoCo
NVIDIA Omniverse
Reinforcement Learning
ROS
≈ $106k – $211k per year (Estimated) • Senior • 7+ years exp • In office (Houston, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Full-Time • Senior
C++
Python
AI/ML
Computer Vision
Reinforcement Learning
Robotics
Drake
Isaac Sim
Motion Planning
MoveIt
MuJoCo
Reinforcement Learning
ROS
Digital Twin
Dexmate is a robotics company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and founded in 2024 by doctoral researchers from MIT, UC San Diego, and Carnegie Mellon. The company builds Vega, a foldable wheeled humanoid with two arms, dexterous hands, and an extending torso that reaches from floor level to overhead. It sells the platform to research groups and commercial pilots working on dexterous manipulation, and has taken strategic investment from NEC.
HQ: Santa Clara, United States • Logistics & Warehouse Robotics • Robotic Software & Control Systems • Robotics AI • Humanoid Robots • Artificial Intelligence • Robotics • 201-500 employees • Est. 2024
$100k – $300k per year • Middle • 3+ years exp • In office (Fremont, United States) • Bachelor's Degree • Full-Time • Middle
Python
AI/ML
Fine-tuning
JAX
PyTorch
Reinforcement Learning
TensorFlow
Robotics
Drake
Imitation Learning
Isaac Gym
Isaac Sim
MuJoCo
Reinforcement Learning
Sim-to-Real
$100k – $300k per year • Senior • 5+ years exp • In office (Fremont, United States) • Master's Degree • Full-Time • Senior
C++
Python
AI/ML
Reinforcement Learning
Robotics
Model Predictive Control
Motion Planning
Sensor Fusion
Crocoddyl
Drake
Isaac Sim
MuJoCo
Reinforcement Learning
$120k – $300k per year • Middle • 3+ years exp • In office (Fremont, United States) • PhD • Full-Time • Middle
Python
AI/ML
Fine-tuning
LLM
PyTorch
Reinforcement Learning
TensorFlow
VLM
Robotics
Drake
Imitation Learning
Isaac Gym
Isaac Sim
MuJoCo
Reinforcement Learning
Dyna Robotics is a robotics foundation model company headquartered in Redwood City, California, and founded in 2024. The company trains general purpose manipulation models that let a single robot arm learn commercial tasks such as folding, packing, and handling from demonstration rather than explicit programming. It targets repetitive physical work in laundries, restaurants, and light manufacturing, and publishes model progress through its DYNA series of releases.
HQ: Redwood City, United States • Multimodal AI • Service & Hospitality Robotics • Robotics AI • Artificial Intelligence • Robotic Software & Control Systems • Robotics • 51-200 employees • Est. 2024
$200k – $400k per year • Senior • 5+ years exp • In office (Redwood City, United States) • Master's Degree • Full-Time • Senior
Python
AI/ML
Multimodal AI
JAX
PyTorch
Robotics
Imitation Learning
Drake
MuJoCo
Tutor Intelligence is an industrial AI and robotics software company headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts. Spun out of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in 2021 by Josh Gruenstein and Alon Kosowsky-Sachs, the venture-backed firm has raised over $40 million from investors including Union Square Ventures, E14 Fund, and Initialized Capital.
HQ: Watertown, United States • Transportation & Logistics • Hardware • Logistics • Artificial Intelligence
$100k – $300k per year • Senior • In office • Full-Time • Senior
Python
Python
flake8
Mypy
AI/ML
Computer Vision
Reinforcement Learning
Robotics
Drake
Motion Planning
OMPL
Reinforcement Learning
SLAM
Salary range
| Seniority |
Jobs |
25% |
Median |
75% |
| All levels |
8 |
$159K |
$225K |
$234K |
Few employers in this selection publish pay, so these figures are Alion estimates built from comparable listings by role, level and country. Gross annual, converted to USD.
The market right now
Alion currently lists 16 open Drake jobs from 9 companies. 1 of them was posted or refreshed in the last seven days. 5 of the employers have posted something in the last three months, which is the pool worth watching if you are starting a search now. Every listing links straight to the employer, so you apply on their own board rather than through an intermediary.
What these roles pay
Most employers in this selection do not publish a figure, so the range below is Alion's own estimate, derived from 8 comparable listings priced by role, level and country. Across them the middle half of the market sits between $159K and $234K a year, with a median of $225K. Figures are gross annual amounts converted to US dollars, so roles in different currencies stay comparable.
Where the work is
6% offer a hybrid arrangement, while the rest expect you on site.
Who is hiring
The employers with the most open Drake jobs right now are Apptronik (5), Dexmate (3), Persona AI (2), Zeiss (1), Nimble Robotics (1), and Luma AI (1). Each company page on Alion carries its size, funding stage, tech stack and every other position it has open, so you can judge the employer before you spend an evening on the application.
What employers ask for
Reading across the current listings, the tools that come up most often are Drake (16), Python (14), MuJoCo (14), Isaac Sim (11), C++ (11), Reinforcement Learning (9), Reinforcement Learning (9), and Sim-to-Real (7). The counts are how many of these openings name each one, which is a better guide to what is actually being hired for than a generic skills list.
