---
title: 'Staff Software Engineer - Applied AI at 1X'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-applied-ai-1x-san-carlos-8z87n5eykg8t'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-20'
---

# Staff Software Engineer - Applied AI at 1X

- **Company:** [1X](https://feeny.ai/companies/1x)
- **Location:** San Carlos, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-20
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/1x/0ac33259-1b12-447c-95a3-d2d0c6b1a996

## Job description

## About 1X

We’re building humanoid robots that work in home - doing the chores, handling the tasks, and giving people their time back. Simple, but it’s not. To do this right, we have to solve robotics, AI, manufacturing - at the same time, at scale, in a form factor that has to be safe enough to live with your family. If you’re inspired by this, you’ll thrive here. We’ve been at this since 2014 and we’re at the point where the hard problems are behind us and the hard work is in front of us. NEO is our flagship - a home robot designed to move, learn, and operate in the real world alongside real people. We’re not demoing it - we’re shipping it. We’re excited to meet you, if this excites you. If you’ve spent your career working on problems that matter and want to see them actually reach the world - this is that moment. We’re scaling, we’re hiring with intention, and we need people who want to build something that will genuinely change how humans spend their time - safely creating abundance for all.

## About the Team

The Applied AI team owns all of the systems and services that integrate AI into the NEO platform including supporting data infrastructure for the World Model Lab. They ship platform APIs that allow our developers to collect data for fine-tuning, deploy inference at scale, and integrate AI elsewhere in the robot software stack.

## Your Charter

Build platform APIs for high-quality training data for our new world model. This will involve APIs for data validation, auto-captioning/annotation, and validation. You’ll operate at high scale, support a wide variety of developers, and work closely with our internal World Model team to pretrain a new world model. You will also find opportunities to integrate AI in other systems elsewhere in the stack.

## Key Outcomes

- Design, build, and ship production features for AI world models, from data collection through inference
- Build rigorous evaluation, data pipelines, and captioning APIs tightly integrated into simulators and robot hardware
- Optimize systems for latency, cost, and quality
- Work closely with world model researchers, product engineers, and customers to build systems that are reliable and easy to use
- Stay current with new developments in AI and bring recommendations to the platform and research teams.

## Key Competencies

- Deep expertise building developer tooling, simulation platforms, or game engine infrastructure.
- Strong systems thinking with experience designing scalable content pipelines and engineering workflows.
- Experience creating easy to use tools that empowers developers, designers, or technical artists.
- Excellent software engineering skills with a focus on performance, maintainability, and automation.
- Comfortable driving technical direction across multidisciplinary teams in a fast-moving startup environment.

## Minimum Requirements

- 5+ years of software engineering experience, with a meaningful portion spent building and shipping ML- or AI-powered systems in production.
- Strong programming skills in Python and JavaScript/TypeScript and proved experience building expandable, testable, and reliable software.
- Hands-on experience with modern AI/ML, AI frameworks, and cloud deployment
- Clear communication and collaboration to lead projects independently

## Preferred Skills

- Experience with shipping AI/ML systems at high scale.
- Contributions to open-source AI/ML projects or publications
- Domain experience in robotics

What does a successful 1X Team Member look like: Team members at 1X who thrive here are builders. They move fast, own their work completely, and treat time like it’s the one thing you can’t get back - because it is. They say what they mean, finish what they start, and hold themselves to a standard before anyone has to ask. We push each other to be better, and we do it with honesty and respect.

## Benefits

- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Generous paid time off, company holidays, and parental leave
- 401(k) plan with company match (100% on the first 3% of contributions, 50% on the next 2%)
- Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) options
- Commuter benefits (transit and parking)
- Short-term and long-term disability, and life insurance
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental health, financial, and personal support
- Onsite snacks and catered lunches

## Equal Opportunity Employer

1X is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, disability, military or veteran status, justice system impact, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.

## About 1X

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: 1X develops general-purpose humanoid robots for home and industrial environments, combining AI and hardware to automate everyday tasks.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B funding stage)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Bernt Øyvind Børnich

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Robotics Engineering / Artificial Intelligence
- **Target customers**: B2C (home consumers via NEO) and B2B/Enterprise (industrial tasks via EVE)
- **Mission**: Build a truly abundant society through general-purpose robots capable of performing any kind of work autonomously, allowing humans to focus on what they love.

## Products & Services
- **NEO**: A friendly home humanoid robot designed to integrate seamlessly into daily life and handle chores. Currently in early access after the NEO Beta (2024) and NEO Gamma (2025) iterations. [1x.tech](https://www.1x.tech/about)
- **EVE**: A wheeled industrial humanoid deployed in factories worldwide for autonomous industrial tasks. [1x.tech](https://www.1x.tech/about)
- **Revo1**: A high-torque-to-weight drive servo motor inspired by human tendon actuation, used in 1X robots. [1x.tech](https://www.1x.tech/about)
- **1X World Model**: A physics-grounded video model that enables NEO to learn autonomously from text or voice commands. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of $169M as of mid-2026, with a $100M Series B led by EQT Ventures in January 2024. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: EQT Ventures (lead), plus other investors in secondary rounds. Acquired Kind Humanoid in January 2025. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Headcount grew 121.2% YoY to 394 employees. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)
  - Full-scale production of NEO began in Hayward, CA, with capacity to build 10,000 units per year. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)
  - New Palo Alto HQ consolidated teams from Sunnyvale and Moss, Norway. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)
  - Appointed Mohi Khansari as Head of Robot Learning (January 2026) and Vikram Kothari as VP of Operations (August 2025). [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Vertical integration**: Owns manufacturing in Hayward (U.S.) and Moss (Norway), controlling the full production stack.
- **Proprietary hardware**: Revo1 servo motor offers world-leading torque-to-weight ratio, enabling flexible, low-gear-ratio robotics.
- **AI-first approach**: The 1X World Model allows robots to learn physical tasks via simulation and self-supervised video prediction, reducing need for manual programming.
- **Early home deployment**: NEO is one of the first humanoid robots entering private homes, giving 1X real-world data and feedback loops.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling NEO production and expanding early access to more households across the U.S.
- Enhancing AI capabilities through the World Model and reinforcement learning (e.g., Redwood mobility controller).
- Building a robust supply chain and service network for home robots.
- Continuing enterprise deployments of EVE while shifting emphasis to the consumer market.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Fast-paced, mission-driven environment focused on building humanoid robots that coexist with humans. Strong emphasis on AI, hardware, and real-world impact.
- **Work model**: Likely on-site for hardware and AI roles (multiple offices in Palo Alto, San Carlos, Sunnyvale, Hayward, and Moss). Some software roles may offer flexibility.
- **Notable perks**: Opportunity to work on cutting-edge robotics and AI, contribute to a product (NEO) that is already entering homes, and be part of a rapidly scaling company with strong funding.
- **Engineering culture**: High concentration of talent from Tesla, Apple, Google, and SpaceX. Active research in biomechanics, reinforcement learning, and simulation. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)
- **Open roles**: 65+ positions listed on the careers page across AI, hardware, software, operations, and manufacturing. [1x.tech](https://www.1x.tech/careers)

## Sources
1. [1x.tech](https://www.1x.tech/about)
2. [1x.tech](https://www.1x.tech/careers)
3. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1x-technologies)

## Other roles at 1X

- [Internship - CNC Machine Park](https://feeny.ai/job/internship-cnc-machine-park-1x-hayward-bdkw3zkk5pa2) — Hayward, CA
- [Production Supervisor - Body](https://feeny.ai/job/production-supervisor-body-1x-hayward-kasd33mpzjgt) — Hayward, CA
- [Production Supervisor - Hands](https://feeny.ai/job/production-supervisor-hands-1x-san-carlos-nagxpxvb4bza) — San Carlos, CA
- [Robot Assembly Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-assembly-technician-1x-hayward-b4yt43a0s439) — Hayward, CA
- [Robot Assembly Technician - Hands](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-assembly-technician-hands-1x-san-carlos-217s2y4txr3t) — San Carlos, CA
- [Recruiting Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/recruiting-coordinator-1x-san-carlos-7syy9m0c2esv) — San Carlos, CA
- [AI Researcher - Perception](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-researcher-perception-1x-san-carlos-ydyqjrthn02c) — San Carlos, CA
- [Internship - Manufacturing Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/internship-manufacturing-engineering-1x-san-carlos-w4x93jk7gwpw) — San Carlos, CA
- [Motor Test Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/motor-test-technician-1x-san-carlos-zsyhcdhha6ew) — San Carlos, CA
- [Operator - Data Collection (Swing Shift)](https://feeny.ai/job/operator-data-collection-swing-shift-1x-san-carlos-36y5yx97sgj2) — San Carlos, CA