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Clera

Research Engineer / Research Scientist, Robotics and Physical AI

Clera

Location
Onsite (San Francisco, California)
Compensation
$100k - $300k/yr
Employment
Full-time
Level
Mid Level
Posted 6 days ago

About the Role

Clera is an early-stage AI training data company focused on physical AI and robotics. This hands-on research and engineering role involves developing learning systems, world models, and vision-language-action models for robotic platforms, bridging the gap between simulation and real-world deployment.

Skills

Robotics Artificial Intelligence C++ Python Deep Learning Reinforcement Learning Computer Vision Simulation Isaac Lab MuJoCo Embedded Systems Transformers Diffusion Models World Models Vision-language-action Models Imitation Learning

Full job details

About the Role

This is a hands-on research and engineering role at a small, early-stage AI training data company focused on physical AI and robotics. You will work across the full stack, from learning algorithms and simulation to real-world robot deployment, helping push the frontier of how robots perceive, plan, and act in the physical world.

What You'll Do

  • Develop learning systems for robots, including policies, world models, and vision-language-action models.

  • Build and maintain simulation environments and evaluation frameworks for robotic tasks.

  • Apply and advance computer vision and perception algorithms for autonomous robots.

  • Build pipelines connecting simulation and real-world robot deployment, covering real-to-sim and sim-to-real workflows.

  • Work directly with robot hardware, sensors, actuators, and embedded systems to prototype and validate capabilities.

  • Train and evaluate reinforcement-learning and imitation-learning systems for manipulation, locomotion, or mobile platforms.

  • Integrate and experiment with robot platforms to test algorithms in the physical world.

  • Create tools and infrastructure that accelerate robotics research and development.

  • Collaborate with external robotics companies and research labs on technical problems.

What We're Looking For

  • Demonstrated research or engineering experience in robotics and AI, beyond academic experiments alone. New graduates with strong robotics backgrounds are welcome.

  • Strong software skills in both C++ and Python.

  • Practical experience with deep learning, reinforcement learning, and computer vision.

  • Hands-on experience with real-to-sim or sim-to-real robotics workflows.

  • Familiarity with simulation platforms such as Isaac Lab, MuJoCo, MJX, or Genesis.

  • Experience working with robotics hardware, sensors, embedded systems, and 3D modeling tools.

  • Comfort moving fluidly across research, engineering, experimentation, and product development with end-to-end ownership.

  • Exposure to modern multimodal AI approaches, such as transformers, diffusion models, world models, vision-language-action models, LLMs, or AI agents, is a plus.

  • An individual contributor mindset with motivation to ship in a small, collaborative team.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: $100,000 to $300,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available; candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

Location

On-site in San Francisco, California. This role is not remote.