Applied Researcher

Physical Intelligence

$120K — $150K *
Consumer Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of experience deploying robots or autonomous systems in real-world settings
  • Strong engineering proficiency in Python and system integration
  • Ability to debug systems across the full stack, including hardware and software
  • Practical mindset focused on operational success rather than theoretical exploration
  • Excellent communication skills for cross-functional collaboration with researchers and operators

Responsibilities

  • Deploy and debug robotic policies across the entire stack of perception, control, and hardware
  • Train and refine policies while curating data to enhance real-world performance
  • Develop production-quality code to integrate with existing infrastructure
  • Cooperate with operators to establish testing protocols and data collection systems
  • Collaborate with partners to observe and understand deployment use cases
  • Translate research developments into operational systems and provide feedback on failure modes
  • Envision and articulate a long-term strategy for effective real-world robot deployments

Benefits

  • Collaborative environment bridging research and practical application
  • Opportunity to influence real-world robotics deployments
  • Engaging with a network of partners in a cutting-edge field
  • Focus on practical problem-solving rather than traditional research approaches
Full Job Description
In This Role You Will

- Deploy and debug learned policies on physical robots, diagnosing failures across the full stack (perception, policy, control, hardware).

- Train and tune policies, curate data, and iterate to improve real-world performance.

- Write production-quality code that interfaces with Pi's infrastructure.

- Work with operators to set up tests, evals, and data collection pipelines.

- Engage with partners to understand use cases and observe robots in deployment contexts.

- Bridge research and operations: translate research advances into deployable systems, and surface real-world failure modes back to researchers and (software and hardware!) engineers.

- Define and shape a vision for what real-world deployments will look like in the long-term

What We Hope You'll Bring

- Hands-on experience deploying robots or autonomous systems in real-world environments

- Strong engineering skills: clean Python, ability to interface with infrastructure, debugging instincts

- Ability to debug the full stack from perception to control

- Practical mindset: motivated by making things work, not by open-ended research

- Clear communication with researchers, operators, and occasionally partners

Bonus Points If You Have

- Founded or worked at an early-stage robotics or AV company

- PhD in relevant field

- Intuition for policy training, neural network debugging, and data curation

- Experience with robot manipulation platforms

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