Persona AI Inc is seeking a Robotics Machine Learning Engineer to report to the Head of Machine Learning . In this role, you will help advance the machine learning strategy behind humanoid robots designed for heavy industry, focusing on models and pipelines for manipulation, navigation, locomotion, and perception. This position is based onsite in Houston, TX .
Role Overview
You will contribute to the end-to-end lifecycle of machine learning systems, from development and testing to deployment and real-world monitoring. The work spans manipulation, navigation, locomotion, and perception, supported by the Persona ML software stack and related data collection efforts.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate on the design and development of the Persona machine learning software stack and support its application across manipulation, navigation, locomotion, and perception.
- Work with the machine learning team to create and execute a comprehensive plan for building machine learning models, staying current with state-of-the-art research and development.
- Develop, test, and deploy software, machine learning pipelines, and data collection pipelines.
- Monitor and evaluate model performance in real-world conditions.
- Collaborate with universities and other companies.
- Contribute to efforts to attract, nurture, and grow the machine learning and autonomy teams.
Requirements
- Courage and grit to tackle difficult problems in embodied AI.
- Enthusiasm for collaboration in a high-paced team environment.
- 3+ years of experience applying machine learning to robotics.
- Experience with deep learning frameworks, including PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow , or similar.
- Experience with cloud computing for model development and data storage, including AWS, Azure, or GCP .
- Strong understanding of the state of the art in robot learning, including behavior cloning for manipulation, reinforcement learning for locomotion, and world models.
- Understanding of the challenges involved in deploying neural network models in real-world settings.
- Experience deploying both traditional and learning-based approaches for robotics.
- Ability to write high-quality software.
- Capability to thrive in fast-paced and ambiguous environments.
- Strong first-principles thinking.
Technologies
- PyTorch
- JAX
- TensorFlow
- AWS
- Azure
- GCP
Bonus Skills
- An advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in computer science, robotics, machine learning, or a related field.
- Published papers at top ML and robotics conferences, including ICML, ICRA, CoRL, RSS, or NeurIPS.
- Experience deploying robots, collecting large datasets, and training large neural networks that operate in production environments.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive compensation
- Performance-based bonus
- 99% employer-covered medical benefits
- Early-stage equity
- Competitive PTO
- Company-wide paid winter break between December 24th and January 2nd
Additional Details
- Department: Machine Learning
- Reports to: Head of Machine Learning
- Employment type: Full-Time
- Location: Pensacola, FL or Houston, TX
- Travel: 10%
- Minimum experience: 3 years