--- title: 'Robotic AI Engineer/Applied Scientist - Foundation Models at Maven Robotics' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/robotic-ai-engineer-applied-scientist-foundation-models-maven-robotics-san-chdpp43cgs79' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-08' --- # Robotic AI Engineer/Applied Scientist - Foundation Models at Maven Robotics - **Company:** Maven Robotics - **Location:** San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - **Posted:** 2025-01-09 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08 - **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/mavenrobotics/jobs/4418017008?gh_jid=4418017008 ## Job description Company Overview Maven Robotics is building the world’s leading general-purpose robots and providing physical AI solutions for the most challenging industrial autonomy tasks. Operating in stealth, we are assembling a team of world-class innovators who think from first principles. Our mission is to achieve human-level task success rates in complex environments, even when faced with limited fine-tuning data or evolving robotic hardware. We value unwavering truth-seeking, humility, and relentless determination. ## Role Description We are seeking exceptional AI researchers and engineers to architect the neural backbone of our general-purpose robots. You will design the Vision-Language-Action (VLA) frameworks or Action World Models that allow our robots to reason, adapt, and succeed where traditional automation fails. Note on Leveling: We are hiring across all levels (from early-career to staff/principal). You are not expected to be a master of every domain listed below; however, you must be able to justify world-class excellence in at least one core factor (e.g., model architecture, RL formulations, or high-scale data systems). In this role, you will: - Architect Embodied Foundations: Design model architectures (VLA, World Models, etc.) that achieve ultra-high task success rates with minimal human demonstrations. - Master Data Efficiency: Develop novel co-training strategies and efficient learning algorithms that leverage diverse data sources—from Internet-scale video to sparse, high-fidelity human interventions. - Generalize Cross Embodiments: Build models capable of zero-shot or few-shot adaptation to new robot configurations, maintaining a high success rate even when proprietary hardware and actuation systems evolve. - Innovate Real-World RL: Formulate and deploy novel Reinforcement Learning and policy extraction methods specifically designed for physical, real-world manipulation. - Design the Data Loop: Collaborate on advanced data collection systems to capture critical human intervention data for model bootstrapping. ## Qualifications Must-have: - MS or PhD in CS, Robotics, Machine Learning, or a related field (or equivalent industry experience). - Deep Technical Mastery: Advanced understanding of transformers, multi-modal alignment, and mapping perception to high-frequency motor control. - Specialized Excellence: Proven ability to innovate—not just implement—within one or more areas: VLA models, Real-world RL, or large-scale Data Infrastructure. - Software Excellence: Expert-level Python and deep familiarity with PyTorch or JAX Nice-to-have: - A track record of high-impact publications (NeurIPS, ICRA, RSS, CVPR) or significant open-source contributions. - Experience with large-scale distributed training and model compression. - Experience with deployment of models to edge devices (NVIDIA Jetson/Orin) for real-time inference. - General knowledge of robotics principles (kinematics, dynamics). Why Maven Robotics? You will be working on a unique in-house robot platform that is evolving alongside your models. We don't just want to reach 90% success; we are building the architectural breakthroughs required to reach 99.9% in the real world. ## About Maven Robotics ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Maven Robotics is building the world's leading general-purpose AI robots, starting with an industrial robot that combines strength, dexterity, mobility, and reliable physical AI to unlock productivity across manufacturing and logistics. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed round raised in September 2024 with 3 investors) - **Headquarters**: Santa Clara, California, United States (with presence in Germany) - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: Hamza Derbas (Co-Founder & CEO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Robotics Engineering / Industrial Automation / AI Robotics - **Target customers**: Large global manufacturing and logistics organizations, with a cost-efficient design that also makes automation accessible to businesses of every scale (SMB to Enterprise). - **Mission**: "We believe the future of technology holds incredible promise, with many kinds of robots unlocking productivity, enhancing creativity, and improving life for humans everywhere. Our first step is to tackle real-world industry challenges, proving value and scalability to establish the foundation for a truly brighter future." ## Products & Services - **General-purpose industrial robot (prototype)**: A hardware/software/AI system purpose-built for industry, combining strength, adaptive dexterity, fluid mobility, and the most reliable physical AI to work safely alongside people. Designed to be cost-efficient for businesses of all scales. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding amount not publicly available (Seed round with 3 investors, September 2024) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not named in available sources; the company states they are "working with some of the largest global manufacturing and logistics organizations." - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew 52.4% year-over-year to 28 employees (as of mid-2025) [linkedin.com] - High-profile talent sourcing: alumni from Apple (9), Tesla (1), Ford, Aptiv, Caterpillar, and others [linkedin.com] - Active hiring across 14+ roles as of July 2025: robotic AI, ML perception, manipulation, motion planning, embedded software, mechanical and electrical engineering, Data Collection Operator [mavenrobotics.ai] ## Competitive Advantages - **First-principles, customer-focused approach** – the company prioritizes solving real industrial pain points before generalizing, ensuring near-term traction - **Small, elite team** – composed of engineers and scientists with deep experience from top tech and robotics companies (Apple, Tesla, Ford, Intuitive Surgical, etc.) - **Cost-efficiency** – the robot is designed to be affordable enough for SMBs, not just large enterprises, widening the addressable market - **Full-stack robotics** – in-house capabilities in hardware design (actuators, mechanisms), embedded systems, AI/ML (perception, manipulation, foundation models), motion planning, and simulation ## Strategic Focus - **Near-term**: Prove value and scalability in industrial manufacturing and logistics through customer deployments; ship the first generation robot - **Long-term**: Use the industrial foundation to build general-purpose robots that can tackle diverse real-world challenges, ultimately "unlocking human potential through intelligent robotics" ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Described as a small team of engineers and scientists with "bold ambition, relentless curiosity, and belief in unlocking human potential through intelligent robotics." Emphasis on inventing, creating, and innovating from Silicon Valley. - **Work model**: On-site or in-office workspace at the Santa Clara, CA headquarters. BuiltIn lists offices as "In-Office or Remote" but also states employees work from physical offices; typical time on-site is not specified. The careers page implies hands-on hardware/software work that likely requires presence. [builtin.com] - **Notable perks/engineering culture**: Deep technical challenges across AI, perception, controls, embedded, mechanical, and electrical engineering. The team includes world-class experts from Apple, Tesla, Ford, etc. Opportunities to shape a product from prototype to deployment. Open roles include robotic AI, ML engineering, motion planning, embedded software, and hardware engineering. - **Growth trajectory**: Rapidly growing startup (52% YoY headcount increase) with strong investor interest and a clear industrial go-to-market strategy. ## Sources 1. [mavenrobotics.ai](https://www.mavenrobotics.ai/) 2. [mavenrobotics.ai/join-us](https://www.mavenrobotics.ai/join-us) 3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/maven-robotics) 4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/maven-robotics) 5. [craft.co](https://craft.co/maven-robotics) ## Other roles at Maven Robotics - [Robot System Testing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-system-testing-engineer-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-area-california-c3gq4w3ad5eg) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - [Robotic System Integration Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robotic-system-integration-engineer-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-area-h5a1q2h8t9x4) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - [Robot Field Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-field-engineer-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-area-california-snmz665ffkcn) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - [Robot Autonomy Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-autonomy-engineer-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-area-california-6jscrk7znyzj) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - [Modeling and Simulation Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/modeling-and-simulation-engineer-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-area-1t3thxfx1x72) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - [Lead Fleet Operations Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-fleet-operations-software-engineer-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-area-msrbbqrrhw7a) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - [ML Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ml-infrastructure-engineer-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-area-california-htzaxk4sntfz) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - [Robot Field Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-field-engineer-maven-robotics-stockton-1q7t89rtmn08) — Stockton, CA - [Data Collection Operator](https://feeny.ai/job/data-collection-operator-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-area-california-ppkrgnq30g77) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States - [Embedded Software Engineer - Real-Time Linux](https://feeny.ai/job/embedded-software-engineer-real-time-linux-maven-robotics-san-francisco-bay-eekemkqp7mat) — San Francisco Bay Area California, United States