Boston Dynamics

AI Software Engineer, Stretch Manipulation

Boston Dynamics$192K — $255K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field; industry experience is an advantage.
  • Proficiency with modern ML frameworks/ecosystem such as PyTorch, Jax, or TensorFlow.
  • Strong programming skills in Python and C++ within a Linux environment.
  • Excitement for integrating and evaluating learned policies on-robot.
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

  • Advance Stretch's manipulation capabilities using AI/ML techniques.
  • Implement data processing and model evaluation pipelines for robots.
  • Develop and deploy models in real-world environments.
  • Collaborate with infrastructure engineers to scale AI/ML systems.
  • Integrate learned components into the autonomy stack through teamwork.

Benefits

  • Generous medical, dental, and vision insurance.
  • 401(k) plan with employer contributions.
  • Paid time off for work-life balance.
  • Annual bonus structure based on performance.
Full Job Description
Stretch is Boston Dynamics' mobile manipulation robot built to handle multiple applications in warehouse environments.

We are seeking a technically talented software engineer with a background in AI/ML to help advance Stretch's manipulation capabilities through the application of data-driven techniques.

As a member of the Stretch Manipulation team, you will be a key contributor to tackling some of the most challenging technical problems in robotics. Your role will focus on the hands-on implementation of data processing and model evaluation pipelines, and model development and deployment in real-world settings. Success in this position requires a highly collaborative mindset, ambitious ideas, and rapid and meticulous execution within a dynamic, fast-paced team.

To thrive in this role:
  • You are keen on applying advancements in ML/AI (e.g., reinforcement learning, imitation learning) to robotics applications: you stay in the know on latest innovations in the ML/AI space, actively look for ways to apply them, and develop and deploy learned models to enhance Stretch's manipulation capabilities and increase robot performance.
  • You recognize the value and necessity of ensuring data pipelines, evaluation frameworks, etc. scale as our business and deployed robot fleet grows: you're excited to collaborate closely with infrastructure engineers to build and iterate on AI/ML development systems, spanning simulation, data collection, model training, validation, and deployment on real robots.
  • You're excited to collaborate with members of the manipulation team (and adjacent teams) to integrate learned components into the broader autonomy stack.
  • You're eager to contribute to cross-company efforts enabling scalable AI experimentation and deployment.
  • You have a strong desire and ability to mentor and up-skill other engineers (for more senior applicants).


We're Looking For
  • Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field; additional industry experience is a plus.
  • Proficiency with modern ML frameworks/ecosystem (e.g., PyTorch, Jax, TensorFlow, RLlib, ONNX, inference servers like NVIDIA Triton).
  • Familiarity with modern model architectures and learning techniques and their applications/tradeoffs.
  • Strong programming skills in Python and C++ within a Linux environment; familiarity with modern agentic programming workflows (e.g., claude code, copilot, etc.).
  • Excitement for integrating, running, and evaluating their learned policies on-robot.
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills.


Preferred
  • Experience shipping learned models in a production environment.
  • Experience in robotics or warehouse automation.
  • Experience building and leverage high-fidelity simulation environments (e.g., Isaac Sim, MuJoCo) or augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR).
  • Experience training and deploying RL policies for complex behaviors on real robots or simulated characters; experience with diffusion policy, ACT, or other modern BC architectures.
  • Publications in top-tier ML conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CoRL).


The base pay range for this position is between $192,000 to $255,000 annually. Base pay will depend on multiple individualized factors including, but not limited to internal equity, job related knowledge, skills and experience. This range represents a good faith estimate of compensation at the time of posting. Boston Dynamics offers a generous Benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401(k), paid time off and a annual bonus structure. Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer for employment.

About Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics is an American engineering and robotics design company founded in 1992 as a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company is best known for the development of BigDog, a quadruped robot designed for the U.S. military. Boston Dynamics has also developed a number of other robots, including Spot, a four-legged robot designed for indoor and outdoor operation, and Atlas, a humanoid robot designed for a variety of search and rescue tasks. In 2013, the company was acquired by Google X, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. In 2020, the company was acquired by Hyundai Motor Group. Boston Dynamics is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Learn more about Boston Dynamics
Size
300 employees
Industry
Founded
1992

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