Hiring: Staff Software Engineer – Applied ML Research Company: Pickle Robot Company Location: Boston, MA Job Posted Time: 2026-09-10 10:15:23 Employment Type: Hybrid Target Skills & Keywords : AI, Data Pipeline, GCP, Machine Learning, Python About the job Experience: •Proven ML Track Record: 6+ years of experience shipping end-to-end machine learning systems — spanning data pipelines, training, evaluation, and deployment — and maintaining ownership in production. (An MS degree counts as two years of experience). •6+ years of experience shipping end-to-end machine learning systems — spanning data pipelines, training, evaluation, and deployment — and maintaining ownership in production. (An MS degree counts as two years of experience). Required Skills: •Spearhead Robotic Grasping: Take end-to-end ownership of the intelligence driving our robots' physical interactions, dynamically determining optimal gripper configurations and tool selections for diverse, complex objects. •Bridge Research and Reality: Translate cutting-edge machine learning research into robust production systems. You will modify novel architectures, orchestrate training pipelines, deploy directly to our robotic fleet, and drive continuous improvement based on real-world field telemetry. •Architect Ground-Truth Evaluation: Design and implement rigorous evaluation infrastructure that proves model efficacy in live, chaotic environments (like real trailers) — moving beyond static benchmarks to guarantee true operational performance. •Pioneer Simulation-First Development: Engineer and validate sophisticated grasping and manipulation strategies within high-fidelity simulations to ensure flawless execution before deploying to physical hardware. •Drive Cross-Functional Technical Vision: Collaborate closely with perception and motion planning experts, setting the technical bar through rigorous code reviews, innovative design discussions, and collaborative debugging. •Leverage Force-Multiplying Workflows: Utilize advanced AI coding assistants and modern development paradigms to accelerate engineering velocity, allowing you to achieve outsized impact and move faster than traditional teams. Qualifications: •Applied Robotics Expertise: Demonstrated success deploying machine learning models within complex, active physical robotic systems. •Architectural Depth: Deep expertise in bespoke model design. You don't just rely on off-the-shelf APIs; you possess the ability to fundamentally reshape neural networks to solve unique, domain-specific challenges. •Cloud ML Proficiency: Fluency and comfort in architecting and running medium-to-large-scale training pipelines in cloud environments. •Engineering Excellence: Mastery of Python and modern software engineering best practices. •Foundational Robotics Knowledge: A solid grasp of classical robotics concepts, including motion planning, kinematics, geometry, and perception. •Academic Foundation: A BS or higher in Robotics, Computer Science, or a closely related technical field. •Cross-Disciplinary Communication: The ability to distill complex ML concepts and collaborate effectively with engineers across different specialized domains. •Local Collaboration: Ability to work from our dynamic Charlestown, MA headquarters at least 3 days a week in a hybrid capacity. •A background spanning both perception and motion planning. •Simulation tooling for robotics development (Isaac Sim, MuJoCo). Interested candidates, please apply directly through the job posting on company's career page or try via AI auto apply on this platform. Don't miss this opportunity to join a forward-thinking team!