Research Engineer, Robot Character

About 1X
We’re an AI and robotics company based in Palo Alto, California, on a mission to build a truly abundant society through general‑purpose robots capable of performing any kind of work autonomously.
We believe that to truly understand the world and grow in intelligence, humanoid robots must live and learn alongside us. That’s why we’re focused on developing friendly home robots designed to integrate seamlessly into everyday life.
We’re looking for curious, driven, and passionate people who want to help shape the future of robotics and AI. If this mission excites you, we’d be thrilled to hear from you and explore how you might contribute to our journey.

Role Overview
As a Research Engineer, Robot Character, you will build multi‑modal foundation models that combine emotive intelligence, personality, and body language with task‑focused AI capabilities. You will define architectures, lead projects from research through to production, and contribute to creating the magical human‑robot interaction experience through both verbal and non‑verbal communication. You will also grow and lead a team focused on robot character development.

Responsibilities

• Define the long‑term vision, architecture, and milestones for an intelligent and friendly assistant character

• Develop low‑latency streaming multi‑modal neural network architectures combining language, audio, non‑verbal cues, expressive behavior, and speech

• Own the character‑building process from research to production, focusing on delivering an integrated product experience across all interaction modes of the robot

• Build and lead a high‑caliber team focused on robot character and interaction

• Establish quality standards and guardrails to ensure robots evoke trust, warmth, and competence in their interactions with people

• Strong background in machine learning, especially multi‑modal models (language, audio, vision / style)

• Experience with real‑time or streaming model architectures or systems

• Ability to take research ideas into production systems

• Proven leadership experience, including mentoring or managing team members

• Good sense of human‑robot interaction, including non‑verbal communication, expressiveness, and UX as they relate to robot behavior
  

Benefits & Compensation

• Salary Range: [Not publicly stated]

• Health, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) with company match

• Paid time off and holidays
  

Equal Opportunity Employer
1X is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.