---
title: 'Research + Modeling at Mind Robotics'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/research-modeling-mind-robotics-palo-alto-1ejmx8vxgw71'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-16'
---

# Research + Modeling at Mind Robotics

- **Company:** Mind Robotics
- **Location:** Palo Alto, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-01-26
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mindrobotics/665176a1-58c3-4103-8052-0426df82da73/application

**Skills:** Robotics, Machine Learning, Large-scale Generative Models, Foundation Models, Vision-Language Models

> This role involves building the foundations of general-purpose robotics by developing new approaches, scaling training systems, and working hands-on with robots. The ideal candidate will bridge research and engineering to translate ideas into real-world robot behavior.

## Job description

About Mind: Mind Robotics is building Physical AI for real-world industrial deployment, starting with the factory floor. We believe the hardest problems in AI are solved when researchers and engineers are hands-on with the physical world every day - and we're looking for people who are passionate about robotics, value ownership, and are excited to tackle difficult problems. Join us if you want to move beyond digital intelligence and put intelligence into motion.

About the team and the role: At Mind Robotics, we’re building generalized physical AI—robotic systems capable of dexterous, adaptive, and reasoning-intensive work in real-world industrial environments. Our models sit at the core of this effort, bridging cutting-edge foundation model techniques with real-world robotic execution. We’re looking for a Research & Modeling Engineer to build and train the core models that power our systems, and ensure they perform reliably on real robots in production environments.

Responsibilities:

- Design and run large-scale training pipelines for multimodal / VLA systems.
- Own the full loop: data → training → evaluation → deployment on real robots.
- Develop scalable infrastructure for data ingestion, training, and iteration.
- Translate model outputs into reliable, high-performance robotic actions.
- Work hands-on with robots to debug, iterate, and improve behavior.
- Define data strategy (quality, scale, diversity) and evaluation frameworks.
- Continuously improve performance across real-world tasks and environments.

Requirements:

- Built and trained large-scale models (LLMs, VLMs, or robotics foundation models).
- Deep understanding of modern ML, training dynamics, and optimization at scale.
- Experience with distributed systems and data pipelines for large-scale training.
- Comfortable operating end-to-end: from data → model → real-world deployment (including robots).
- Domain strength in at least one: robotics, VLA systems, or training LLMs/VLMs from scratch.
- Strong Python proficiency.

Nice to Have:

- Experience with dexterous manipulation or complex robotic tasks.
- Experience deploying models in real-world, production environments.

## About Mind Robotics

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Mind Robotics builds AI-driven robotic systems for industrial deployment, focusing on creating general-purpose physical intelligence for the world's most demanding manufacturing challenges.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2025
- **Founders**: Not publicly disclosed (founding technical team includes Sriramana Sankar, Ruijie He, Vishal J., and Ury Zhilinsky as Founding Technical Members)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Robotics Engineering, Industrial Automation, Artificial Intelligence
- **Target customers**: B2B, Enterprise (industrial manufacturing, factory floors)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Building the generalized physical intelligence required to solve the world’s most demanding industrial challenges." The company believes the path to general-purpose robotics begins where the need is most acute and the environment is most structured: the factory floor.

## Products & Services
- **AI-Enabled Industrial Robots**: Intelligent robotic systems designed for industrial deployment, focusing on creating collaborative platforms for manufacturing environments. The company builds "physical AI" for real-world industrial challenges, emphasizing hardware-in-the-loop development where researchers and engineers work hands-on with hardware.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of **$615M** across two rounds
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz (co-lead Series A), Accel (co-lead Series A), Kleiner Perkins (led most recent round), Eclipse (seed), Prysm Capital, Menlo Ventures. Partners include Silicon Valley Robotics.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Raised a $115M seed round in late 2025, followed by a massive $500M Series A in March 2026 co-led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz
  - Closed an additional funding round in May 2026 led by Kleiner Perkins
  - Headcount of ~21 employees with a monthly growth rate of +42.9%
  - LinkedIn following of 9,654 with +38.5% monthly growth
  - Talent sourced from top companies including Tesla, Rivian, Databricks, and Physical Intelligence

## Competitive Advantages
- **Massive capital advantage**: With $615M in total funding raised within its first year, Mind Robotics is one of the best-capitalized early-stage robotics startups, enabling aggressive hiring and R&D investment.
- **Top-tier investor backing**: Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, and Kleiner Perkins — some of the most prestigious venture firms in the world.
- **Hardware-in-the-loop philosophy**: The company emphasizes that the hardest problems in AI are solved when researchers and engineers are hands-on with hardware, creating a unique engineering culture focused on real-world deployment.
- **Lean, high-impact team**: With only ~21 employees and massive funding, each individual has outsized ownership and impact.

## Strategic Focus
- **Industrial deployment first**: Targeting factory floors as the most structured environment for deploying general-purpose robotics, believing this is the fastest path to broadly capable robots.
- **Physical AI development**: Building the intelligence layer for robots that can operate in messy, complex real-world environments.
- **Aggressive scaling**: With $615M in funding, the company is rapidly expanding its team across hardware engineering, software, and data platform roles.

## Why Work Here
- **Massive impact per person**: The company explicitly states it is "building a lean, collaborative team where every individual has a massive impact" — a rare promise for a company with over half a billion in funding.
- **Hardware-in-the-loop culture**: Engineers and researchers work directly with physical hardware daily, solving real-world problems rather than just simulation.
- **Top-tier team**: Colleagues include alumni from Tesla, Rivian, Databricks, and Physical Intelligence, creating a high-caliber peer group.
- **Work policy**: Hybrid workspace (combination of remote and on-site work) with a strong in-office presence in Palo Alto, CA. Most roles appear to be on-site or hybrid.
- **Open roles**: 22 active positions across hardware engineering (actuation, motor design, electrical design, tactile sensing), software engineering (robotics, firmware, controls, ML infrastructure), and data platform roles.
- **Culture highlights**: The company looks for "builders who are passionate about robotics and live for the challenge of making systems work in messy, complex environments." They emphasize a lean, collaborative team where every individual has massive impact.

## Sources
1. [mindrobotics.com](https://www.mindrobotics.com/)
2. [mindrobotics.com/careers](https://www.mindrobotics.com/careers)
3. [LinkedIn - Mind Robotics](https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindrobotics)
4. [Built In - Mind Robotics](https://builtin.com/company/mind-robotics)
5. [Ashby Jobs - Mind Robotics](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mindrobotics)

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- [Field Technician, Data Collection](https://feeny.ai/job/field-technician-data-collection-mind-robotics-normal-15vnxcrxc24p) — Normal, IL
- [Communications Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/communications-lead-mind-robotics-palo-alto-t7d5nwyggs2f) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Software Engineer, Edge & Field Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-edge-field-systems-mind-robotics-normal-t75nwdgtchv5) — Normal, IL
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- [Software Engineer, Data Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-data-platform-mind-robotics-palo-alto-h9nnhq30rhnc) — Palo Alto, CA
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