---
title: 'Senior Reinforcement Learning Engineer at Apptronik'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-reinforcement-learning-engineer-apptronik-sunnyvale-5w6gnvcpryef'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-03'
---

# Senior Reinforcement Learning Engineer at Apptronik

- **Company:** Apptronik
- **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-08-12
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-03
- **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/apptronik/jobs/6142286004?gh_jid=6142286004

## Job description

Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life. Our flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate thoughtfully with people, starting with critical industries such as manufacturing and logistics, with future applications in healthcare, the home, and beyond.

We operate at the cutting edge of Applied AI, applying our expertise across the full robotics stack to solve some of society's most important problems. You will join a team dedicated to bringing Apollo to market at scale, tackling the complex challenges like safety, commercialization, and mass production to change the world for the better.

## JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Reinforcement Learning  Engineer is a key, hands-on role focused on achieving state-of-the-art performance on our humanoid robots. This engineer will leverage their deep expertise in RL to solve critical locomotion and manipulation challenges and deliver breakthrough results on physical hardware. The primary focus of this role is to rapidly implement, iterate, and deploy advanced learning algorithms to push the boundaries of what our robots can do. As a senior member of the team, this individual will also be responsible for mentoring junior engineers, elevating the team's overall technical capabilities through their guidance and expertise.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES or KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

- Implement and deploy state-of-the-art RL algorithms to achieve ambitious, world-class performance on dynamic locomotion and manipulation tasks with physical hardware.
- Drive the entire development cycle, from prototyping in simulation to robustly transferring and fine-tuning policies on the robot.
- Optimize and scale the RL training pipeline for faster iteration, contributing to core infrastructure for high-throughput simulation and distributed training.
- Mentor junior engineers by providing technical guidance, conducting insightful code reviews, and sharing best practices in reinforcement learning and software development.
- Collaborate closely with the robotics and hardware teams to diagnose system-level issues and co-develop solutions that enable more complex learned behaviors.
- Analyze and present hardware results to guide future technical directions and demonstrate progress on key company objectives.
- Develop and refine motion retargeting pipelines to translate human demonstration data (mocap, teleoperation) into robust reference trajectories for reinforcement learning.

## SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

- Deep, hands-on expertise (5+ years) with common RL frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX) and high-fidelity physics simulators (e.g., MuJoCo, IsaacGym)
- Mastery of Python for rapid prototyping and training, alongside strong proficiency in C++ for developing performant, deployable code.
- Experience building or utilizing large-scale, distributed training pipelines and a strong intuition for their optimization.
- A strong theoretical understanding of modern reinforcement learning, including deep expertise in areas like imitation learning, model-based RL, and sim-to-real transfer techniques.
- A strong intuition for robot dynamics and controls theory, with the ability to apply these principles to guide and constrain learning-based approaches.
- A results-oriented mindset with a passion for seeing complex algorithms work on real-world hardware.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

- A PhD or MS in Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field, with 2+ years industry experience strongly preferred.
- A proven track record of successfully deploying learning-based policies on physical robotic systems, especially legged robots or manipulators.
- Demonstrated experience mentoring or providing technical guidance to other engineers in a team environment.
- A strong publication record in relevant conferences or journals (e.g., CoRL, RSS, ICRA) is a significant plus.

## PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

- Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
- Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times
- Vision to read printed materials and a computer screen
- Hearing and speech to communicate

Compensation: The annual compensation for this position is $230,000 - $260,000 (USD)

*This is a direct hire.  Please, no outside Agency solicitations.

Apptronik provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

## About Apptronik

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Apptronik builds advanced humanoid robots for real-world industrial applications, starting with manufacturing and warehousing, to address labor shortages and improve human productivity.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Funding Stage: Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Austin, Texas, United States
- **Founded**: 2016
- **Founders**: Founded as a spinout from the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin; leadership includes CEO Jeff Cardenas and CTO Nicholas Paine

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Robot Manufacturing, Humanoid Robotics, Industrial Automation, Artificial Intelligence
- Target customers: B2B / Enterprise — manufacturing facilities, warehousing and logistics operators, supply chain organizations
- Mission or purpose statement: “It is not Man vs. Machine, but Man + Machine” — building robots that empower humans to live to their fullest potential by solving labor shortages and reducing physical strain.

## Products & Services
- **[Apollo Humanoid Robot Platform]**: A full-electric, bipedal humanoid robot designed for industrial use. Combines advanced hardware, embodied AI, and fleet-level management software. Current applications include material handling, line-side tasks, palletizing, case picking, trailer unloading, and inspection. Built as a scalable platform that can extend into healthcare, eldercare, and home environments over time. (Type: Hardware + SaaS Platform)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Annual Revenue**: ~$3.5 million (estimated)
- **Total Funding**: ~$963.8 million (includes a Seed Round of $14.6M in 2022, a Corporate Round in 2025, and an undisclosed Series A round; notable investors include Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Google)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Google, Terex, Humanoid Global
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 98.1% year-over-year to 334 employees (2026 data). Named to the **2026 CNBC Disruptor 50** list. Recognized on the **Best Places to Work** list (2024, 2025). Won the **2025 IEEE Robotics & Automation Product Innovation Award**. Named **Most Innovative** (2025). Active job postings increased 238.5% year-over-year (88 open roles). Acquired Elevate Robotics Inc.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep heritage**: Spun out of UT Austin’s Human Centered Robotics Lab; team dates back to the DARPA Robotics Challenge (2015) and includes ex-NASA collaborators.
- **Full-stack vertical integration**: Covers hardware, embodied AI, and fleet-level management software — a complete, scalable platform rather than a one-off robot.
- **Safe, human-centric design**: Built for human environments from the ground up, with a focus on reducing physical strain and complementing human workers, not replacing them.
- **Early enterprise traction**: Active partnerships with major industrial players like Mercedes-Benz and Terex, proving real-world deployment over lab demos.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling Apollo for manufacturing and warehouse deployment (current core market).
- Expanding into more complex environments: construction, healthcare, eldercare, and the home.
- Continuous hardware and software upgrades (CEO Jeff Cardenas calls humanoid robotics “the space race of our time” and has signaled major upgrades to Apollo).
- Building out fleet-level tools for multi-robot management and learning.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven**: Work on the frontier of humanoid robotics with a stated ethos of “Man + Machine” — robots that improve human quality of life.
- **High-growth environment**: Doubled headcount year-over-year with massive funding and expanding job postings; strong career growth potential.
- **Culture values**: Passion, creativity, collaboration, integrity, curiosity, and humility are explicitly stated as core values.
- **Perks & Benefits**:
  - Flexible PTO (open, unlimited)
  - 401k retirement plan
  - Comprehensive Medical, Dental & Vision coverage
  - Parental leave
  - Flexible work hours
  - Collaborative and innovative work environment
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Not explicitly stated; 77% of workforce is in the United States (majority in Austin HQ). Specific roles may vary, but the company promotes a collaborative environment.
- **Talent sources**: Attracts talent from top robotics and tech companies — SpaceX, Tesla, Fox Robotics, Agility Robotics, Apple, iRobot, Neocis, and top universities (UT Austin).
- **Employee rating**: 3.9/5.0 on employer reviews (Work-Life: 3.5, Career: 3.7).

## Sources
1. [apptronik.com](https://apptronik.com/) — Company homepage
2. [apptronik.com/about-us](https://apptronik.com/about-us) — About Us / History / Mission
3. [apptronik.com/careers](https://apptronik.com/careers?gh_src=B+Capital+job+board) — Careers page / Perks & Culture
4. [apptronik.com/careers/job-listings](https://apptronik.com/careers/job-listings) — Open job listings
5. [linkedin.com/company/apptronik-inc.](https://www.linkedin.com/company/apptronik-inc.) — LinkedIn company profile (revenue, headcount, funding, employee breakdown)

## Other roles at Apptronik

- [Senior / Staff Sim-to-Real Engineer (Tendon-based Robotic Hands)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-sim-to-real-engineer-tendon-based-robotic-hands-apptronik-austin-gk7fhwf3907t) — Austin, TX
- [Engineering Manager - Controls](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-controls-apptronik-austin-xdqepp25s218) — Austin, TX
- [Senior Design Engineer - Electromagnetic (R&D)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-design-engineer-electromagnetic-r-d-apptronik-austin-92q30vmm0nm2) — Austin, TX
- [Sr. Software Systems Safety Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-software-systems-safety-engineer-apptronik-sunnyvale-az29spy6ht78) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Senior Hardware Test Engineer - Components](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-hardware-test-engineer-components-apptronik-austin-s8wjwx4kyaey) — Austin, TX
- [Senior Staff Test Engineer - Reliability](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-test-engineer-reliability-apptronik-austin-qdb992f998na) — Austin, TX
- [Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Assembly](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manufacturing-engineer-assembly-apptronik-austin-y1v13ms3zta9) — Austin, TX
- [Manager, Operations Engineering - Supply Chain](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-operations-engineering-supply-chain-apptronik-austin-fncc1hnh3rsn) — Austin, TX
- [Software Engineer - Manipulation](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-manipulation-apptronik-sunnyvale-gwpc3yte34k5) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [Staff Systems Safety Engineer (Compliance)](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-systems-safety-engineer-compliance-apptronik-sunnyvale-kjxjw2nk6pf6) — Sunnyvale, CA