Research Engineer, Robotics

About the Team

Our mission is to expand the capabilities of foundational models to support general-purpose robotics in dynamic, real-world environments, ensuring reliable and safe operation. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, action generation, motion planning, world modeling, and real-time communication through voice and emotions.

We work across the entire robotics stack, integrating cutting-edge hardware, sensors, end-effectors, and models to explore a diverse range of robotic form factors. Our goal is to develop models that provide state-of-the-art intelligence combined with seamless physical skills under the practical constraints of robotic platforms.

About the Role

As a research engineer for our robotics initiative, you will develop foundational models, and shape the direction of our early-stage robotics efforts at OpenAI. Your expertise will be instrumental in defining our strategy and establishing a strong foundation for future advancements.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

• Own and pursue a research agenda to improve model capability and performance.

• Contribute to the team's efforts through the design, review, and implementation of various technical aspects.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams within the robotics effort and across the broader Research organization.

• Mentor and support team members, helping them achieve their professional goals and maximize their impact.

You might thrive in this role if you: 

• Have a research background in robotics, multimodal foundational models, scaling laws, and imitation learning or reinforcement learning.

• Have proven experience managing high-performing teams of research engineers and research scientists.

• Thrive in ambiguity and adapt to rapidly evolving research and product initiatives.

If you're passionate about pushing the boundaries of robotics and AI, we'd love to hear from you.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement .

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable law, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form . No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link .

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.

Compensation

$295K – $530K + Offers Equity