Forward Deployed Research Engineer
Job Summary
A hybrid role combining Forward Deployed Engineer and Research Engineer responsibilities. Focus on solving real customer problems, uncovering missing capabilities, designing evaluations, collecting data, adapting models, and turning field learnings into reusable product/research improvements. Not a support or solutions engineering role.
Responsibilities
- Own customer/deployment problems end-to-end (workflow understanding to field failure diagnosis)
- Work directly with robotic systems in commercial/industrial environments with variability and ambiguity
- Translate deployment friction into research/product questions (missing capabilities, data needs, evaluations, stack improvements)
- Build/adapt systems across deployment loop (data collection, task-specific fine-tuning, evaluation design)
- Collaborate with core research and platform teams to make field learnings reusable
- Contribute to forward deployment practice and knowledge sharing
- Help define operating model for humanoid system deployment, improvement, and scaling
Qualifications
- Deep expertise in at least one relevant technical domain (perception, navigation, manipulation, or teleoperation)
- Experience deploying AI/robotics/embodied systems in real environments (not just lab)
- Comfortable working outside specialization when deployment demands
- Experience collecting/cleaning/curating deployment data for model improvement
- Experience designing evaluations/benchmarks for real-world interactive systems
- Able to explain complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences
- Energized by ambiguity, motivated by ownership, wants work to survive real-world contact
Bonus Points
- Comfortable moving between software, research, operations, and user conversations
- Evidence of building trust with users while maintaining strong technical viewpoint
- Prior forward deployed or customer-facing technical role at fast-moving company
Why Join
Work at the intersection of core systems: agent platform, simulation infrastructure, motor control/policy training, Asimov reference platform, data engine. Opportunity to help define category and operating model for deployable robotic systems.
AI Note
Intellectual curiosity and AI fluency expected for relevant roles; AI used as collaborator to enhance thinking and work.
Equal Opportunity
Menlo Research is an equal opportunity employer. Accommodations available during application process upon request to recruiter.
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