---
title: 'Systems Engineer, Robotics Hardware, Large Wheeled Platforms at FieldAI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/systems-engineer-robotics-hardware-large-wheeled-platforms-fieldai-irvine-jfnq8d2w1vtp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-15'
---

# Systems Engineer, Robotics Hardware, Large Wheeled Platforms at FieldAI

- **Company:** FieldAI
- **Location:** Irvine, CA
- **Compensation:** $100k–$200k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-15
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/field-ai/f26ea8d7-81d6-45b2-9af6-28d67406815d

## Job description

## About Us

Field AI is transforming how robots interact with the real world. We are building risk-aware, reliable, and field-ready AI systems that address the most complex challenges in robotics, unlocking the full potential of embodied intelligence. We go beyond typical data-driven approaches or pure transformer-based architectures, and are charting a new course, with already-globally-deployed solutions delivering real-world results and rapidly improving models through real-field applications.

Systems Engineer Role As a Systems Engineer on the Hardware Team at Field AI, you will bring new robot platforms into our fleet and ensure that they operate at high standards in real world environments. This will involve integrating our control systems, autonomy stack, and payloads onto new robotic platforms. Your work will span across areas including platform abstraction, robot control, autonomy, sim-to-real validation, and electro-mechanical integration. Responsibilities may include the full lifecycle from initial platform bring-up through safety qualification and field deployment. You will collaborate closely with the Autonomy/RL, Manipulation, Mechanical, and Electrical teams to build tightly integrated solutions ready for deployment in challenging field environments. Additionally while your focus will be on platform integration, you may contribute across hardware, field operations, and autonomy domains.

## What You Will Get To Do

1. Platform Integration & Controls Platform Abstraction: Build software abstraction layers between each robot's native control stack (such as ROS/ROS2) and our own systems, enabling payloads to move across platforms. Robot Controls & Navigation: Ensure navigation and controls stacks running correctly on physical hardware across quadruped, humanoid, and wheeled platforms. Electro-Mechanical Integration: Work with mechanical and electrical engineers on designing and integrating mechanical (saddles) and electrical (power distributions boards) interfaces . Sim-to-Real: Validate and adapt RL-based autonomy policies from simulation (Isaac, Gazebo, MuJoCo) to real-world performance on terrain, stairs, and uneven ground.
2. Cross-Team Collaboration & Fleet Scaling Cross-Functional Integration: Coordinate across Autonomy/RL, Manipulation, Mechanical, and Electrical teams to bring new platforms online. Testing & Validation: Use SIL/HIL testing to ensure integrated systems are safe, reliable, and ready for field operation. Test features such as safety features and operations under different Operational Design Domains (ODDs). New Robots: Identify, procure, test, and integrate diverse new robotic systems. Multi-Platform Support: Support multiple robot morphologies including legged, quadruped, biped/humanoid, and wheeled UGVs.
3. Safety & Infrastructure Safety Systems: Implement e-stop and redundancy/fault-tolerant safety layers, contributing to functional safety (ISO 26262, ASIL) as practices mature. Charging & Docking Infrastructure: Support charging station and docking infrastructure for charging, data offload, and communications. Field Deployment Logistics: Handle the hands-on logistics of standing up new robot platforms for field deployment across construction, mining, and oil & gas environments.

## What You Have

Education: B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field. Experience Level: We are looking to fill this role with someone with 3-9 years of experience. Software: Hands-on experience with middleware (ROS/ROS2) and computing languages (python, C++). Robotics Software Generalist: Strong generalist robotics software background spanning controls, navigation, and systems integration across legged and wheeled platforms. Sim-to-Real Experience: Comfort working across the sim-to-real gap, validating RL or autonomy policies from simulation (Isaac, Gazebo, MuJoCo) on physical hardware. Cross Functional Hardware Knowledge: Working familiarity with motors, actuation, BLDC motor controllers, and power distribution or electrical systems. Communication Protocols: Familiarity with CAN bus, EtherCAT, or similar real-time robotics communication protocols. Systems Thinking: Ability to work across mechanical, electrical, controls, and autonomy domains to make integrated systems function reliably on real hardware.

What Will Set You Apart Multi-Platform Experience: Experience integrating software across multiple robot platforms, including legged/quadruped, humanoid, and wheeled UGVs (e.g., Unitree, Boston Dynamics, Clearpath). Field Environments: Experience deploying robots in harsh, diverse industrial field environments such as construction, mining, and oil & gas. Functional Safety: Background in functional safety standards (ISO 26262, ASIL, SOTIF/ISO 21448) and safety-critical systems testing and validation. Advanced Controls: Experience with whole-body control, impedance/admittance control, MPC, or trajectory optimization for legged or manipulator systems. Fleet & Infrastructure: Experience with multi-robot fleet operations, auto-docking/charging infrastructure, or teleoperation systems

## About FieldAI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: FieldAI is building the first risk-aware, physics-first foundation model (the Field Foundation Model) that makes robots autonomous in complex, unstructured, and safety-critical real-world environments.
- **Entity Type**: Private (latest funding: Venture Round / Corporate Round; total funding ~$497M)
- **Headquarters**: Irvine, California, United States (with an office in Mission Viejo)
- **Founded**: 2023 (originally known as "AI for Humanity")
- **Founders**: Dr. Ali Agha (CEO) – former NASA JPL Principal Investigator and DARPA challenge winner; Dr. Shayegan Omidshafiei (President & Chief Scientific Officer) – former DeepMind Research Scientist

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Robotics Engineering / Artificial Intelligence (Embodied AI)
- **Target customers**: B2B, Enterprise, Government / Federal agencies, Commercial field operators (construction, industrial, urban operations, mission-critical)
- **Mission / purpose**: "Deploy autonomous robots at scale in any unstructured environment" without reliance on GPS, maps, or pre-trained routes.

## Products & Services
- **[Field Foundation Model (FFM)](https://www.fieldai.com/careers)**: An AI platform that acts as the "general-purpose brain" for robots. It combines data-driven learning with physics-based methods, assesses uncertainty, establishes risk, and adapts autonomously in field conditions. Works across any robot type and continuously improves through a virtuous data flywheel.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric (Total Funding)**: ~$497M across multiple rounds (Seed: $91M, Venture rounds, Corporate round led by Hyundai Motor Group, Series A: $980K led by Temasek Holdings and Prysm Capital) [[linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/fieldai)] [[cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/field-ai)]
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Hyundai Motor Group (corporate round lead), Temasek Holdings, Prysm Capital, plus other visionary institutions.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount of 217 employees (+227.8% YoY) [[linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/fieldai)]
  - LinkedIn followers grew +580.4% in the last year (51,728 total) [[linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/fieldai)]
  - Technology deployed globally for a decade – from 900 feet underground to advanced commercial, federal, and mission-critical operations [[fieldai.com/careers](https://www.fieldai.com/careers)]
  - Won segments of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge (Urban phase) [[fieldai.com/team](https://www.fieldai.com/team)]

## Competitive Advantages
- **First risk-aware, physics-first foundation model** – unlike pure data-driven or transformer-only approaches.
- **Field-proven reliability** – systems work without GPS, maps, or pre-programmed routes, and dynamically adapt to uncertainty.
- **Virtuous data flywheel** – each deployment increases model reliability across the entire fleet.
- **Exceptional team** – drawn from DeepMind, NASA JPL, Boston Dynamics, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla Autopilot, Cruise, Zoox, Toyota Research Institute, and SpaceX [[fieldai.com/team](https://www.fieldai.com/team)]
- **Strong IP & DARPA pedigree** – led by veterans who have shaped the field of autonomous robotics for nearly two decades.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale deployment** of the Field Foundation Model across commercial, industrial, and federal sectors.
- **Expand federal division** (FieldAI Federal) led by former DARPA PM and Toyota Research Institute exec Dr. Eric Krotkov [[fieldai.com/team](https://www.fieldai.com/team)]
- **Hire top-tier talent** in embodied AI, software engineering, robotics hardware, and field operations to accelerate product development and real-world impact [[fieldai.com/careers](https://www.fieldai.com/careers)]

## Why Work Here
- **Impact**: Directly shape how intelligent systems operate in the real world – from underground mines to urban search-and-rescue.
- **Culture**: "Creativity, resilience, and bold thinking" – a supportive environment that encourages pushing beyond conventional methods [[fieldai.com/careers](https://www.fieldai.com/careers)].
- **Team**: Work alongside world-class researchers and engineers from DeepMind, NASA JPL, Boston Dynamics, and leading autonomy companies.
- **Resources**: Backed by over $100M in funding with strong institutional support – rapid execution and fast-paced growth.
- **Work model**: Likely office-centric given the hardware/robotics focus; headquarters in Irvine, CA, with a distributed presence across 9 countries (US, India, Singapore, Japan, Spain, etc.) [[linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/fieldai)].
- **Perks / recognition**: Rated 4.5/5 on employer reviews (16 reviews), with top marks for Culture (4.3) and Career (4.4) [[linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/fieldai)].

## Sources
1. [fieldai.com/careers](https://www.fieldai.com/careers)
2. [linkedin.com/company/fieldai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/fieldai)
3. [fieldai.com/team](https://www.fieldai.com/team)
4. [cbinsights.com/company/field-ai](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/field-ai)
5. [jobs.lever.co/field-ai](https://jobs.lever.co/field-ai)

## Other roles at FieldAI

- [Robotics Research Intern, Robot Learning & Manipulation (Spring, Summer & Fall 2027)](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-research-intern-robot-learning-manipulation-spring-summer-fall-2027-661t926zt1g1) — Irvine, CA
- [Robotics Research Intern, Embodied AI (Spring & Summer 2027)](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-research-intern-embodied-ai-spring-summer-2027-fieldai-irvine-zaveaq0km9ea) — Irvine, CA
- [Robotics AI Engineer – Calibration, Localization, and Mapping](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-ai-engineer-calibration-localization-and-mapping-fieldai-boston-wv80jcj7tq7h) — Boston, MA
- [Mechatronics Engineer, Robotics Hardware](https://feeny.ai/job/mechatronics-engineer-robotics-hardware-fieldai-irvine-svta1gk62c3k) — Irvine, CA
- [Mechanical Engineer Internship, Robotics Hardware](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-internship-robotics-hardware-fieldai-boston-x7ynwtzgaa67) — Boston, MA
- [Project Manager, Robotics Deployment](https://feeny.ai/job/project-manager-robotics-deployment-fieldai-singapore-246fdyfz8f04) — Singapore
- [Robotics Test Engineer (Federal)](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-test-engineer-federal-fieldai-irvine-qp2d5cywrck1) — Irvine, CA
- [Robotics AI Engineer – Calibration, Localization, and Mapping](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-ai-engineer-calibration-localization-and-mapping-fieldai-irvine-94pjsq7v8n1c) — Irvine, CA
- [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-fieldai-south-korea-w34z8pyypfaw) — South Korea
- [Research / Software Engineer - Humanoid Whole Body Learning](https://feeny.ai/job/research-software-engineer-humanoid-whole-body-learning-fieldai-boston-nv33b6kkr128) — Boston, MA