---
title: 'Helix AI Engineer, Robot Learning at Figure'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/helix-ai-engineer-robot-learning-figure-san-jose-gppt1yaj93qq'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-05'
---

# Helix AI Engineer, Robot Learning at Figure

- **Company:** Figure
- **Location:** San Jose, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-01-30
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-05
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/figureai/jobs/4649851006

## Job description

Figure is an AI robotics company developing autonomous general-purpose humanoid robots. The goal of the company is to ship humanoid robots with human level intelligence. Its robots are engineered to perform a variety of tasks in the home and commercial markets. Figure is headquartered in San Jose, CA.

We are looking for a Helix AI Engineer, Robot Learning with a strong robotics learning background to help develop and improve our visuomotor manipulation policies, with a heavy emphasis on real-robot deployment.

## Responsibilities

- Design, train, evaluate, and deploy learning-based visuomotor policies for humanoid robot manipulation
- Develop manipulation behaviors such as grasping, pick-and-place, object reorientation, door opening, bimanual manipulation, and basic assembly
- Apply and extend techniques including behavior cloning, reinforcement learning, and VLA reasoning
- Train models that are robust to real-world challenges such as sensor noise, partial observability, contact dynamics, and environment variability
- Own the full pipeline from data collection on real robots to model training, evaluation, and deployment
- Work closely with simulation and digital twin tooling where useful, while prioritizing real-world performance and transfer
- Collaborate with perception, controls, systems, and hardware teams to integrate policies into a full autonomy stack
- Evaluate tradeoffs between learning-based and classical approaches and make principled design decisions
- Write high-quality, well-tested software that ships to and runs reliably on physical humanoid robots
- Partner with integration and testing teams to continuously improve robustness, performance, and deployment velocity

## Requirements

- Hands-on experience developing and deploying robot learning systems on real robots
- Strong background in robot manipulation and visuomotor control
- Experience with behavior cloning, reinforcement learning, or related learning-based manipulation methods
- Proficiency in Python and/or C++ for robotics and ML systems
- Experience with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch)
- Ability to design experiments, analyze failures, and iterate quickly in real-world robotic systems
- Solid understanding of the tradeoffs between classical robotics approaches and learning-based methods
- Thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments where solutions require exploration and ownership

Bonus Qualifications

- Experience deploying learning-based manipulation systems in commercial or production robotic systems
- Prior work on humanoids or highly dexterous robotic platforms
- Publication record in robot learning, manipulation, or embodied AI
- Experience leading projects or mentoring other engineers
- Passion for building autonomous humanoid robots that operate in the real world

The US base salary range for this full-time position is between $200,000 - $400,000.

The pay offered for this position may vary based on several individual factors, including job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include additional components/benefits depending on the specific role. This information will be shared if an employment offer is extended.

## About Figure

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Figure is an AI robotics company building the world's first commercially viable autonomous general-purpose humanoid robot.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C, $1.9B total funding)
- **Headquarters**: San Jose, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Brett Adcock

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: AI Robotics / Humanoid Robotics / Machinery Manufacturing
- **Target customers**: Enterprise (manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, retail) and, in future iterations, consumer/home markets.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To bring a commercially viable general-purpose humanoid to market, making humans capable of more and addressing labor shortages.

## Products & Services
- **Figure 03**: The latest generation humanoid robot, designed for the home and the world at scale. Features a softer look and feel, advanced hand dexterity, and an integrated battery in the torso. It is powered by the company's AI model, Helix.
- **Helix / Helix 02**: Figure's in-house AI model for humanoid control. Helix 02 is described as their most powerful model to date, enabling the robot to perform complex tasks autonomously (e.g., using the whole body to do dishes end-to-end).
- **F.02 Fleet**: The previous generation robot used in a real-world deployment with BMW, where it contributed to the production of 30,000 cars over 11 months, running 10 hours per day.
- **BotQ**: Figure's manufacturing division, responsible for building the robots at scale.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company). Total funding is $1.9B.
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of $1,854,000,000.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Parkway Venture Capital (led Series A and Series C), Intel Capital (led Venture Round), Brett Adcock (led Seed Round). Key partner: BMW (11-month deployment).
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 128.8% YoY to 442 employees. Active job postings increased 223.5% YoY. The company is actively scaling its manufacturing arm (BotQ) and commercial operations. It operates in 12 countries.

## Competitive Advantages
- **First-Mover in Commercial Humanoids**: Figure has a significant head start with a real-world, 11-month deployment at a major automaker (BMW), proving the technology's viability.
- **Vertically Integrated AI & Hardware**: Unlike many competitors, Figure builds both the robot hardware and the AI software (Helix) in-house, creating a tightly integrated system.
- **Massive Data Advantage**: Through its "Project Go-Big" and partnership with BMW, Figure is building the world's largest humanoid pretraining dataset, a critical moat in AI.
- **Aggressive Talent Acquisition**: Has hired top talent from Tesla (60), Apple (34), Boston Dynamics (12), SpaceX (9), and others, concentrating deep expertise.

## Strategic Focus
- **Commercial Deployment**: Scaling from pilot programs (BMW) to widespread commercial deployment across logistics, warehousing, and manufacturing.
- **Home Market Entry**: The design of Figure 03 signals a clear strategic pivot toward the consumer/home market as the next major growth vector.
- **AI Leadership**: Continued investment in the Helix AI model to achieve full autonomy and general-purpose capability.
- **Manufacturing Scale**: Building out BotQ to mass-produce humanoid robots.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven & High Impact**: The company is laser-focused on a singular, ambitious mission: "to build the most groundbreaking company on the planet." Work is described as being "in the trenches together."
- **Culture of Speed & Fearlessness**: Core values include "Move Fast & Be Technically Fearless" and "Aggressively Optimistic." The environment is described as high-performance, with a "championship mindset."
- **On-Site, Collaborative Environment**: Employees work from physical offices in San Jose, CA (HQ) and a secondary location in Sunnyvale. The culture emphasizes in-person collaboration.
- **Generous Benefits**: Offers health insurance, generous parental leave, and family/childcare benefits.
- **Massive Growth Trajectory**: With 110 open roles, explosive headcount growth, and a clear path to market, employees have significant opportunity for career growth and impact.
- **Technical Challenges**: Work spans cutting-edge AI (reinforcement learning, perception, pretraining), hardware engineering (actuators, electrical, mechanical), and manufacturing at scale.

## Sources
1. [figure.ai](https://www.figure.ai/company)
2. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/figure-ai)
3. [Greenhouse Jobs](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/figureai)
4. [Built In](https://builtin.com/company/figureai)

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