World Model Research Scientist- Physical AI

About the role

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. is seeking a World Model Research Scientist specializing in physical AI. The ideal candidate will design and train generative world models that synthesize realistic multi-camera video and LiDAR conditioned on ego trajectories, 3D scene context, and text. They will also research and implement conditional diffusion architectures for driving, including spatiotemporal attention, latent space design, and action-conditioned generation.

Responsibilities

• Design and train generative world models that synthesize realistic multi-camera video and LiDAR conditioned on ego trajectories, 3D scene context, and text
• Research and implement conditional diffusion architectures for driving, including spatiotemporal attention, latent space design, and action-conditioned generation
• Develop techniques for multi-view geometric consistency in generated outputs, drawing on neural rendering, cross-view attention, and 3D-aware generative approaches
• Build methods for joint multimodal generation that maintain cross-sensor consistency between camera, LiDAR, and radar outputs
• Design evaluation frameworks that measure world model quality beyond pixel-level metrics, including scenario fidelity and autoregressive stability
• Scale training pipelines to learn from thousands of hours of real-world driving data across multiple sensor modalities

Requirements

• PhD in Computer Science, AI, Robotics, or a related field, with a focus on generative modeling, neural rendering, or video synthesis
• Strong publication record or demonstrated research contributions in diffusion models, video generation, neural radiance fields, 3D-aware generative models, or world models
• Experience with neural rendering and view synthesis and an understanding of multi-view geometric consistency
• Proficiency working with multimodal sensor data (camera, LiDAR, radar) and familiarity with 3D representations such as BEV grids, voxel fields, or tri-planes
• Strong implementation skills in Python and PyTorch, with experience training large generative models at scale using distributed training

Qualifications

• Passion for building AI that understands and predicts the physical world to enable safe autonomous driving

Skills

• Generative Modeling
• Neural Rendering
• Video Generation
• Diffusion Models
• Latent Space Design
• Action-Conditioned Generation
• Multi-View Geometric Consistency
• Multimodal Sensor Data Handling
• Python and PyTorch
• Distributed Training

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses
• Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
• MetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance
• Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies
• Office perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging
• Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance
• Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation)
• Fidelity 401(k)
• Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)

Pay

California Pay Range: $190,000 - $250,000 USD

Schedule

Full-time

Contact

To apply for this position, please visit our careers page and submit your application.