VP of Robotics Research - Remote Full-Time
Listing checked September 30, 2026 · pay as published by Micro1
Overview
micro1 seeks a VP of Robotics Research to lead its research organization in advancing physical AI and robot learning. You will set the direction for how frontier robotics models are trained, evaluated, and improved, with a focus on vision-language-action (VLA) models, world models, and embodied intelligence. The role involves building data and evaluation infrastructure to accelerate progress toward general-purpose robotic intelligence. You will lead a team of Robotics Researchers while staying hands-on with technical research and experimentation. This is a full-time remote position with a pay range of $100 - $120 per hour.
What You'll Do10
- 1Set and lead micro1's robotics research agenda across physical AI, embodied intelligence, robot learning, and multimodal foundation models.
- 2Direct research into vision-language-action (VLA) models, world models, imitation learning, reinforcement learning, and general-purpose robotic policies.
- 3Create new methods for evaluating frontier robotics models, including hardware evaluations, safety assessments, generalization, and failure analysis.
- 4Design experiments on physical robots and in simulation to study spatial reasoning, physical understanding, manipulation, planning, and action-conditioned prediction.
- 5Advance research on robotics data representations such as egocentric video, teleoperation trajectories, proprioception, action sequences, and multimodal annotations.
- 6Develop data-centric approaches to improve robot learning by identifying which data, environments, and supervision signals most improve model performance.
- 7Establish benchmarks and evaluation frameworks to measure model capabilities, identify failure modes, and track progress across model generations.
- 8Build, mentor, and grow a team of Robotics Researchers while maintaining a culture of scientific rigor and rapid experimentation.
- 9Collaborate with frontier AI labs, robotics companies, and internal engineering teams to turn research challenges into experiments, datasets, and evaluation infrastructure.
- 10Drive research from hypothesis through experimentation, validation, and deployment, contributing to publications and the broader embodied AI community.
Requirements10
- 1Significant hands-on research experience in robotics, embodied AI, robot learning, or closely related machine learning areas.
- 2Proven experience developing, training, evaluating, or improving robotic learning systems, beyond purely theoretical work.
- 3Deep technical understanding of modern robotics learning approaches, including VLA models, imitation learning, reinforcement learning, world models, or multimodal foundation models.
- 4Strong grasp of robotic manipulation, perception, spatial reasoning, planning, and generalization across tasks and environments.
- 5Experience designing rigorous experiments, developing benchmarks, and investigating model behavior and failure modes.
- 6Practical experience with physical robotic systems, simulation environments, or large-scale robotics datasets.
- 7Strong research track record shown through publications, impactful contributions, open-source work, or deployed robotic learning systems.
- 8Experience leading research initiatives and mentoring technical talent while remaining actively involved in research.
- 9Ability to identify important open research questions, develop sound approaches, and execute experiments with measurable outcomes.
- 10Strong programming skills and familiarity with modern machine learning and robotics research infrastructure.
Who Should Apply
This role suits researchers with a track record in embodied AI, robot learning, or physical AI, who have hands-on experience with robotic systems and a deep understanding of VLA models, imitation learning, or reinforcement learning. Ideal candidates have led research teams, published at top conferences like CoRL, RSS, or ICRA, and can balance strategic direction with active experimentation. The position is less suitable for those without practical robotics experience or whose work is purely theoretical. Candidates often get rejected for lacking demonstrated experience in evaluating or improving robotic learning systems, or for not showing a strong publication or open-source record in embodied AI.
Salary Insight
The pay range for this full-time position is $100 - $120 per hour. The national base salary range is $250,000 – $350,000, with eligibility for equity compensation and performance-based bonuses. Benefits include up to 100% reimbursement for health-insurance premiums, paid time off, and a 401(K) plan with company match.
Pay and demand for Machine Learning & AI roles
AggregatedTypical pay
$75/hour
This role
$100–$120/hr
Most Machine Learning & AI roles pay $55–$105 per hour. This role's pay sits above that range.
Based on 444 similar roles that publish pay · 91 publish only a top rate; those count at the rate they gave
Rates shown per hour. Yearly and monthly pay converted; one-time fees and non-USD pay are not included.
- Live similar roles
- 513
- Listed in last 30 days
- 333
- Remote
- 97%
Hiring most right now: micro1 (208) · Mercor (71) · SME Careers (62)
Most requested skills · share of roles
- python20%
- technical writing10%
- ai training8%
- ai evaluation8%
Figures from Machine Learning & AI roles live on NearSkill when this page loaded. A role can close before you apply, so check the listing itself.
Compare your resume against these rolesLocation
Compensation
$100–120/hr
Required Skills
Application Tip
Highlight specific projects where you developed, trained, or evaluated robotic learning systems, especially those involving VLA models, imitation learning, or reinforcement learning. Quantify outcomes, such as improvements in success rates or generalization, and list publications at conferences like CoRL, RSS, or ICRA to demonstrate research impact.
See NearSkill jobs more often in your search
Application & verification flow
1Instant rubric match
Your resume is scanned against this role’s requirements to check qualification fit.
2Screened before the employer sees it
Only profiles that clear screening are passed on.
3Outcome by email
We notify you at the address on your resume once the screening is reviewed.
Similar open positions
Explore active roles that match your skills and interests.
Micro1
VerifiedMember of Technical Staff, Robotics Research
Join micro1 as a remote full-time Robotics Researcher and help shape the future of robotics data. You’ll explore how datasets, collection methods, and evaluation frameworks support next‑generation robot learning and perception. You’ll work with top AI and robotics teams to turn research challenges into scalable data solutions for real‑world physical AI. Expect to contribute to world models, egocentric video, robot trajectories, sensors, and simulation data strategies. Bold Robotics Data, Embodied AI, and data pipelines as part of your daily focus.
Micro1
VerifiedDirector of Robotics Research
As the Director of Robotics Research, you'll lead a team focused on building the data infrastructure that powers robot learning. You'll define how robotics data is collected, structured, and evaluated, creating a Robotics Data Engine to enable more capable systems. This role sits at the intersection of robotics, perception, and large-scale data, requiring both technical vision and hands-on research. You'll collaborate with AI researchers and engineers while mentoring a team of exceptional researchers.
Micro1
VerifiedResearch Engineer, Reinforcement Learning
micro1 is hiring a Research Engineer to work at the frontier of Reinforcement Learning. You will build novel RL environments, training pipelines, and evaluation systems that push the limits of modern AI models. This role blends research and production, turning experimental ideas into scalable, high-performance systems. The position is full-time and remote, with a national pay range of $180,000 to $260,000 USD.
Handshake AI
VerifiedRobotics Engineering Expert - Remote Part-Time
Handshake AI runs a part-time fellowship for robotics engineers who want to improve AI models in their field. You will apply hands-on experience in control systems, motion planning, or robotic systems design to review and grade AI-generated answers. The work centers on ROS/ROS2 workflows, sim-to-real deployment, and full sim-to-solution builds that mirror real engineering tasks. You set your own hours, choose your tasks, and work alongside a current role. No fixed schedule or minimum hour count applies.
Micro1
VerifiedStrategic Project Lead, Robotics
This role puts you in charge of robotics data pipelines from the first frame captured to the final handoff. You will work with multi-camera rigs, RGB/stereo/IMU sensors, and FPS constraints to keep quality high while scaling operations. The position sits at the intersection of engineering, operations, and finance, so expect to translate client needs into systems that actually run. It is a full-time, remote role with a national salary range of $120,000 to $160,000 plus equity and performance bonuses.
Micro1
VerifiedMember of Technical Staff, Frontier AI
micro1 seeks a Member of Technical Staff to own research and evaluation projects that sharpen model and system performance. You will design ML-oriented data systems, run failure analysis, and build evaluation frameworks that turn messy real-world behavior into structured signal. Working alongside researchers, domain experts, and operators, you will act as a quality gate, deciding when findings are solid enough to share. This full-time remote role pays $100 to $130 per hour.