Roboticist, Robot Foundation Model

Wayve

$184K — $240K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Experience in robot manipulation and working with robot hardware.
  • Proficient in C++ and Python in robotics or ML environments.
  • Strong foundation in robotics and machine learning principles.
  • Published research in top-tier conferences (ICRA, CoRL, IROS) is highly valued.
  • PhD preferred; MS acceptable with strong relevant experience.

Responsibilities

  • Build, maintain, and operate robot hardware for experiments.
  • Implement and maintain C++ and Python software for control and planning.
  • Develop infrastructure for policy deployment and data collection.
  • Run experiments on robots and define data collection pilots.
  • Troubleshoot software, hardware, and policy failures in lab environments.
  • Create deployment and regression tests for reliability and repeatability.

Benefits

  • Join a new, well-resourced robotics initiative focused on foundation models.
  • Work on generalist robot models, enhancing data architecture and deployment.
  • Engage with real robots at significant scale.
  • Own a meaningful technical scope in a dynamic research environment.
  • Help shape the future of foundation model research into reliable embodied intelligence.
Full Job Description
About the role

We are looking for a Roboticist to join the Multi-Embodiment Generalist Agent (MEGA) team within Wayve Labs as a founding member.

MEGA is building foundation models for general-purpose robots beyond self-driving vehicles. Our focus is on creating intelligent agents that can perceive, reason, move and manipulate the physical world across diverse embodiments, including mobile manipulators, dual-arm platforms and humanoids.

This is a high-impact role with genuine 01 ownership. You will have the opportunity to work across the entire robot stack: you will select, build, integrate, and maintain robot hardware; develop the software needed to deploy and test robot policies; and work closely with research teams to shape data collection, model evaluation, and the learning loop. The goal is work on compelling and publishable research, but also to turn it into systems that demonstrate increasingly general, robust and useful behavior in the physical world.

You will collaborate closely with researchers, ML engineers, roboticists and hardware teams to move ambitious ideas rapidly from research hypotheses to large-scale experiments and impressive real-world capabilities.

This is a rare opportunity to help build a general robotics effort from the ground up-combining frontier foundation-model research with the immediacy and complexity of intelligence embodied in real machines.
What youll do
  • Build, maintain, and operate robot hardware for research and deployment experiments.
  • Implement and maintain C++ and Python robot software, including control, planning, and ROS/ROS2-based systems.
  • Develop infrastructure for policy deployment, data collection, and the robot learning data flywheel.
  • Run experiments on robots and define data collection pilots that accelerate model development.
  • Debug and troubleshoot robotic software, hardware, and policy failures in lab environments.
  • Build comprehensive deployment and regression tests to improve reliability and repeatability.
What were looking for
  • Experience in robot manipulation; working with robot hardware.
  • Experience with C++ and Python in robotics or ML environments.
  • Strong robotics and machine learning fundamentals, with the ability to translate research into robust systems.
  • Publications in top-tier conferences such as ICRA, CoRL, or IROS are highly valued.
  • PhD preferred; MS acceptable with strong relevant experience.
What makes this role exciting
  • Join a new, well-resourced effort at the intersection of foundation models and robotics.
  • Work on generalist robot models and help build the full flywheel around data, architecture, deployment, and evaluation.
  • Work with real robots at serious scale.
  • Own meaningful 01 technical scope in a fast-moving research environment.
  • Help define how foundation model research becomes reliable embodied intelligence.


This role is a full-time role based in Sunnyvale, CA (hybrid) and the reasonably estimated salary for this role ranges from $184,200 to 240,000, plus a competitive equity package. Actual compensation is based on the candidates skills, qualifications, and experience. At Wayve we want the best of all worlds so we operate a hybrid working policy that combines time together in our offices and workshops to fuel innovation, culture, relationships and learning, and time spent working from home. We operate core working hours so you can determine the schedule that works best for you and your team.

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